I love coffee and music.  Put them together...let's just say this is going to be a good night.

Hosted By:
Rarebird Records

When:
November 6, 2009

Where:
Redhill Coffee Trade
85 Hempstead Dr.
Mississauga

Description:
Redhill Coffee Featured artists night with Shelley Adams, Terns and Jason Paul Johnston. Free samples! Great Music! A killer - only $5

Click Here To View Event

Hey Ya'll:

Lots of exciting news in the land of Jason Paul Johnston music.  Below is a recap of some of news from this last summer.  If you would like to be on my regular mailing list, please signup in the space provided at the bottom.  I would love to stay in touch!

WILLOW MOTEL IS FOR SALE!
You can now purchase my album directly from my website either in downloadable form or as a CD - shipping to every part of the known universe.  Click here to go to my website right now - just click to add the album to your cart, and then pay via paypal or credit card and get the album and pdf liner notes instantly. We are getting some great reviews of the album and I was very happy with the final product all around. Please let me know what you think.

CD RELEASE - THANKS TO ALL WHO CAME
The CD release at the Cadillac Lounge July 18th in Toronto was a great sucess. Thanks to all who came. I should have some more sound clips and videos up from that night for the next newsletter. Click here for my Blog entry with pictures with a full recap.

PRESS / REVIEWS
Just had a really nice review of Willows Motel at musesmuse.com by Chip Withrow. I swear - all I gave him was a free CD! Click here for a new review in Americana-uk.com .  It's a website I've read for years and so I was pleased when that came through.  I also had my first Dutch review in Altcountryforum.nl - you can click here for the original in Dutch or click here for an approximate google translation.  And you can click here for another review in Music News Nashville.

 I just had my song "Vines" featured on the Freight Train Boogie podcast #38 - click here for the podcast - The current #38 podcast also features a number of other great artists  - see the full list below.  Thanks, Freight Train!

SAM BAKER – Cotton Cotton
THE CORDUROY ROAD – The Tree Bends Love Is A War
ANGELA EASTERLING – One Microphone Blacktop Road
8 BALL AITKEN – Cowboy Movie Rebel With A Cause
PORTERDAVIS - Carter’s Tune Porterdavis
RITA HOSKING - Precious Little Come Sunrise
JASON PAUL JOHNSTON - Vines / Willows Motel
SAM BAKER – Mennonite / Cotton
THE GIVING TREE BAND – Peace On The Mountain Great Possessions
BEARFOOT – Heaven Doors & Windows
THE KIERAN RIDGE BAND

Check it out: the first look at the new album cover for my upcoming CD "Willows Motel."  

The Cd will have 11 original songs and one old gospel tune.  I'll be posting more info and some song previews in the weeks to come.  The CD is currently in replication.  I'll be sending it out to reviewers first (if you would like to review my CD for your publication or blog, please let me know).  The single "Willows Motel" will be sent to Americana type stations in the North America and the UK in June.

Keep your eyes and ears open - more to come!

- Jason

Jason Paul Johnston on iLike - Add iLike to your MySpace

Life happens despite goals and plans and hopeful thinking.  Sometimes it's good, sometimes bad.  This year has been a couple bundles of good.  My wife and I had twins, Boy and Girl this past summer:  Luke Paul and Jana Lynn.  Amazing.  Life changing.  And time altering in so many ways.

So the album has been slowed in process over this last 7 or 8 months, but it continues to brew.  Tracking is complete.  Bruce has taken the lead on mixing and we will have a near final mix by Christmas.  Then it's on to mastering and duplication, promotion and what-not that will take a few months.  We're looking at spring of 2009 to release, with a few tidbits coming out here an there before then.  Thank you for your patience and please come back soon for updates.  Life is good.  Music is a slow process right now, but it is coming.  I believe with the process of time it will be more like wine than coffee:  better with age.

Just an update for anyone reading. The tracking for the album is finally coming to a close. We are putting some finishing touches recording some banjo (Chris Coole from the Foggy Hogtown Boys) and some strings (Beth and Kyle Bultman) last week. This week we recorded some electric guitars yesterday and Dafydd Hughes is coming in for some piano tomorrow.



Our hope is to be mixing by the beginning of June. Expect a fall release after mastering, duplicating etc. It's exciting to see it all come together. These song are really important to me and I hope they become favourites of yours. They fit together so well as an album and can't wait to let you listen to the final product.

Hey Ya'll

Are you on Facebook? See my latest pictures, blog posts, inside info and become my "iLike" friend at:

Jason Paul Johnston Music official Facebook Page

Or you can go directly to the iLike page here:
Jason Paul Johnston Music official iLike Page

I even have a couple of full rough versions of songs up there you can listen to and post on your page, if you so desire.

thank ya kindly,

Jason

Our day of recording yesterday was cut in half as they were doing renovations next door. Even with all the work put into sound proofing, there was not much to be done for hammering and power tools.

So, Bruce and I were able to have a coffee and just talk about the vision for album. It is interesting how it is coming together almost like a book. Characters will make entrances from song to song. The store moves from place to place. The protagonist stays the same. The songs are almost fitting together like chapters. It is an amazing experience seeing the songs come together.


The banging stopped for a while in the afternoon and so we were able to continue. I rewrote musical what may become a title track for the album "Secret Prayers." And so we put down a rough version of that, plus the final acoustic guitars. We'll be back in the studio on Saturday...renovations next door permitting.

A quick update on the album: We are currently in the studio working on the bed tracks (guitar and vocals in this case.) It is going very well and we're encouraged by the results. We hope you will be as well.





It is amazing working with Bruce Anthony producing me. I am so used to being on the control room side, it is such a pleasure to be the artist and have someone take such a keen interest in my work. I think I have a collection of songs that really need to be heard and Bruce is taking this task very seriously. We are having a good time with it as well, but a seriously good time...

Tomorrow (Friday Aug 24). We will lay down the vocals for at least three songs: Anyone Inside, Millie Pertuis and She's a Friend. We have the vocals and acoustic finished now for Dark Year of the Soui, Willows Motel and Vines. And we have mostly finished Traveling Map (as many of you have heard) and another song "Shadow." Of course, these are mostly just names to you at this point. So let me throw out one more: Secret Prayers. The title of a key track and the working title of this project.

I'll be updating this blog more as the project unfolds. Thanks for reading...

Jason

Check out the new pre-release version of "Traveling Map." (This is not the final version) This is a taste of what Bruce and I are working on together. (I'm glad I finally cleaned the needle on that record player...) More to come in the months ahead....Let me know what you think!

In other news, "Traveling Map" has just been picked up by Noteborn Music Publishing company in a non-exclusive agreement. They will pitch the song to TV and Film and try to get placement on my behalf. It will be interesting to see what kind of film the music might connect with. Maybe the next Hulk or Spiderman? Ha ha...probably more like the next Little Miss Sunshine....

Jason