Jono Manson - 1973
This music became the soundtrack to early 1980s thru early 1990s underground New York as The Worms began to epitomize an eclectic collective that spawned a generation of artists who would be deemed modern jam band icons. Jono was at the epicenter of it all as something of a benevolent figurehead; a mentor who always had time to advise and help out the up and coming artists.
Jono Manson is a prolific singer-songwriter, instrumentalist, master storyteller, and an accomplished audio engineer and producer. During a storied career that spans over five decades he has played everywhere from the local dive to Madison Square Garden and has amassed an impressive discography that includes major label and indie releases on three continents. His work has been covered by numerous artists and has been featured in major motion pictures on network television, and in national advertising campaigns. Jono has produced albums for Grammy winners and local heroes alike.
On his 2020 album, Silver Moon, the swaggering “Face The Music” captures a telling, formative vignette: In the song, Jono and his childhood buddies are pantomiming to the hits of the day, posing out and pretending to sign autographs like The Beatles when his mom suddenly crashes the fantasy, pleading for Jono to come to dinner. The adoring fantasy fans will have to wait until the morning.
Over the course of many lifetimes in the music business—beginning with his first all-original band in 1968, formed with those same adolescent rock n’ roll play pals—Jono may have not scaled the heights of The Fab Four, but he has undeniably made his mark, proving that with talent, dedication and the ability to improvise, onstage but more importantly off, it is possible to have a long, vibrant career, without necessarily becoming a household name.
Jono Manson's "Magic Requests" - 1968
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING ABOUT JONO'S NEW ALBUM:
“It’s an instant Americana Classic, with tracks so deep in lyrical profundity and A-List musicianship, you might even say it’s his masterpiece.” Mike Greenblatt, Goldmine (May 2023)
"....exquisitely beautiful, predictably well-produced, with a sound that captures every nuance of these beautiful songs, sung with impeccable skill" - Buscadero Magazine (February 2023)
"This is an album that wriggles and twists whenever an attempt is made to pigeonhole the genres covered. It's a genuinely wonderful offering featuring blues, country, soul, funk, rock and Americana. For my money, it's probably going to be one of the best albums of 2023 - it really is that good!" - Blues Matters Magazine (April 2023)
"Listening to Jono Manson's stories is really like sitting next to a friend, and sharing moments of closeness and positivity in music. Listening to his record, moreover, is rejoicing in a sincere creation, sung with soul and played by authentic artists." - Mescalina (March 2023)
"Legendary producer, Jono Manson steps out from behind the soundboards for his latest release, Stars Enough To Guide Me. Drawing on his four decades in the music business, Manson creates a multilayered Americana album that draws from Piedmont blues, folk, bluegrass, soul and honky-tonk country. His dusty, Guy Clark meets Aaron Lee Tasjan voice adds a sense of gravitas to the songs which range from playful to somber....From poignant poet to playful prankster, Jono Manson is a shining star in his own right."
- Turnstyled, Junkpile Roots Music Magazine (March 2023)
"Manson is a fine songwriter and almost seamlessly makes couplets or verses rhyme. He surrounds himself with some empathetic musicians, most of whom are old friends, and some excellent vocalists including Eliza Gilkyson on the last track, the really excellent ‘Late Bloomer’" - AmericanaUK (March 2023)
"From the very first bars of the energetic Lights Go Out, a Southern Rock jewel, the listener finds themself immersed in the world of Manson, who, to use an overused term, makes resilience his trademark...A real hymn to those who may have felt knocked out in recent years, but have been able to find the strength not to turn off the light on hope; all sprinkled with an energetic dose of rhythm and with a voice that improves with each record..."
- Mescalina (March 2023)
"In any other business but the notoriously unfair music biz, singer-songwriter, producer, and sideman Jono Manson would have a higher profile....He is a master of his craft and deserving of far more recognition."
- Glide Magazine (March 2023)
"His songs have that poetic luminosity which is like lighting from stars on a clear night in Alaska. Jono Manson's album is just like the Northern Lights, telling stories to listen to by the glow from the campfire. A beautiful collection of songs, whose spirit is the very story in its purest feeling."
- Blaskans Vänner, Sweden (March 2023)
In 1998, Jono's album "One Horse Town" was released in Italy on the Club de Musique label and he began touring the peninsula and elsewhere in Europe. One thing led to another, and it wasn't long before Italy became something of a second base of operations for Manson. To date, ten of his albums have been released there, including his collaboration with guitarist Paolo Bonfanti, and he has produced numerous projects for Italian rock bands and singer/songwriters including four albums for cult rockers The Gang (Sony), albums for The Barnetti Bros. Band (Universal), Momo (Sony/BMG), Beatrice Campisi, Stefano Barotti, Jimmy Ragazzon, two albums for Italy's longest-running "Americana" band, The Mandolin Brothers, and a theatrical project with rock icon Edoardo Bennato.
Jono Manson has shared the stage with Pete Seeger and backed up Bo Diddley. He has travelled to Pakistan as part of his long-standing collaboration with sindhi sufi/rock stars The Sketches, and played on an album by Dean Ween. He appeared in a Kevin Costner film, which used one of his songs as the central theme, and wrote the official song for his kid's elementary school. He has co-written with and produced American Idol finalist Crystal Bowersox, and shepherded countless projects for local musicians. He's played at Folk City and Max's Kansas City.
One such young band was Blues Traveler who, fresh out of high school, cut their teeth opening for Jono and Company at the now legendary NYC hole-in-the-wall Nightingales. Since those early days, Manson has played an ongoing role the group's musical journey. He appeared on their multi-platinum-selling album "Four" and was the front-man for the 90's band High Plains Drifter, featuring Bobby Sheehan and Chan Kinchla from Blues Traveler. Manson also co-wrote and produced frontman John Popper’s solo projects "John Popper and the Duskray Troubadours" (2011) and "Bootlegger Days!!" (2023). And, Traveler's Sheehan, Kinchla and Popper all appear on Manson's 1996 album "Almost Home" (A&M Records). This story came full-circle in 2023 when Jono joined Blues Traveler as opener and special guest on their national fall tour. This is just one of many creative relationships, forged
Not surprisingly, he once again put down deep roots in the local community, as a performer, educator, organizer and producer. He is the founder and chief engineer Santa Fe's “The Kitchen Sink” recording studio where, for decades, he has nurtured creative projects for countless artists, emergent and established alike and has collaborated with everyone from Tom Paxton to Amanda Palmer, KT Tunstall to Ray Wylie Hubbard, T Bone Burnett, Terry Allen, Eliza Gilkyson, Tom Russell, The Limeliters and The Mother Hips, to name just a few. Jono has six times been named “Producer of the Year” by the New Mexico Music Awards. The Santa Fe Reporter called him "a beloved and iconic member of the local music community.”
Manson's songs are diverse and genre-bending, drawing on roots, rock, soul, pop and country traditions as they paint vivid portraits of resilient characters standing tall in the face of time’s relentless march, and his performances are similarly determined, delivered with a passion and conviction that’s as honest as it is empathetic. While it would be easy for him to rest on his laurels at this point in his career, each new release is anything but a trip down memory lane; but rather the start of a brand-new chapter, the work of an inspired artist determined to continue forging his legacy one song at a time.
Born and raised in New York, Manson began his professional career in the 1970s as a teenager in the city’s dirty dive bars, where six-hour gigs were the norm and nights out rarely ended before sunrise. By the early ’80s, Manson was a highly respected figure on the club circuit and his band, Joey Miserable and The Worms, a six-piece party band that seamlessly melded jump blues, funk, rockabilly, country, and R&B, were a force to be reckoned with. The New York Times called the group “local heroes” and credited them with influencing “countless” other acts, including the likes of Joan Osborne, who hailed them as “master entertainers” who “always had the crowds eating out of their hands.”
decades ago, which continue to flourish to this day; a testament to Manson's character and unshakeable work ethic.
Indeed, the mid-1980s was an incredibly vital time, in a scene that was characterized by a deep spirit of collaboration, and no shortage of opportunities to perform in venues that seemed to springing up everywhere around New York. Manson recalls playing over 365 gigs per year without ever setting foot outside of the city. It was also during this period that Jono built his first recording studio in Brooklyn, and began his parallel career as a recordist, mixer and producer. Though he would move on to pitch his tent in Northern New Mexico in 1992, Manson will always be associated with New York City.
VH1 Interview (1996)