A Southern Singer-Songwriter speaks …

I’ve got this new project now, like I needed another one. But it’s a lot of fun.
That’s Soundacious is a guided podcast tour through the world of independent folk music. Check out the first episode!

Hope you guys like it. I literally just finished this up last night. Feel free to download and pass the link around, okay?

Alright, folks, it’s a new year, and with your help I’m going to record one hell of a good album. Agreed?

The details are all at johnvoorhees.com/awesomeyear. Cheers!

Finally managed to get my foot in the door at the lovely Mockingbird Cafe in Bay St. Louis, MS! Tanya and I will be there this Friday for a Songwriter’s Circle, and next Friday as well.

So in a nutshell, this is the schedule for the next few weeks:

Friday, December 10, 2010 – Acoustic Song Circle at Mockingbird Cafe in Bay St. Louis, MS
7-10 pm
110 South Street, Bay St. Louis, MS
Tips only

Friday, December 17, 2010 – John and Tanya at Mockingbird Cafe in Bay St. Louis, MS
8-10 pm (Poetry featured at 7 pm)
110 South Street, Bay St. Louis, MS
Tips only

Thursday, December 30, 2010 – John and Tanya at the Neutral Ground Coffeehouse in New Orleans
8-9 pm
5110 Danneel Street, New Orleans, LA
Tips only

If you take a look at the Shows page, you’ll see that I suddenly have a bit going on over the next couple of weeks, mostly revolving around two new songwriter festivals in the immediate area. Half of those shows will be with my beautiful wife, performing under the cryptic name “John and Tanya”. Hope to see some of you around!

Here, in a nutshell, is what’s going on:

Friday, October 22, 2010 – MS Songwriters Festival in Ocean Springs, MS
8-9 pm (part of Songwriter Circle)
The Julep Room
(in cellar of Aunt Jenney’s Catfish Restaurant)
1217 Washington Ave, Ocean Springs, MS
$10 Cover (artists performing from 6 to 10pm)

Saturday, October 23, 2010 – John and Tanya at the MS Songwriters Festival in Ocean Springs, MS
8-9 pm (part of Songwriter Circle)
The Julep Room
(in cellar of Aunt Jenney’s Catfish Restaurant)
1217 Washington Ave, Ocean Springs, MS
$10 Cover (artists performing from 6 to 10pm)

Friday, November 12, 2010 – John and Tanya at the Neutral Ground Coffeehouse in New Orleans
9-10 pm
5110 Danneel Street, New Orleans, LA
Tips only

Saturday, November 13, 2010 – New Orleans Songwriters Festival
8-9 pm
Turtle Bay Food & Spirits (across from the French Market)
1119 Decatur Street, New Orleans, LA
Tips only

If you mostly know me from the Internet over here, you might not be aware that I do a better than halfway decent job at playing lots of songs that I didn’t actually write! I’m trying to expand the sorts of gigs I get (birthdays, weddings, bar mitvahs, etc.) and I really needed to be able to document some of these cool things I do.

So this weekend, my lovely wife Tanya shot a few awesome videos of me doing a few of my favorite tunes in front of our sparkly fireplace. Hope you enjoy them!

We’re bound to do more of this sort of thing, so if you’d like to keep up, please subscribe to my new YouTube account, JohnVoorheesSings.

This song was originally released in 1996 on The Swing. Whenever I play it, I introduce it thusly:

“This is a song about someone who can’t find anything in life to be good at, so he learns to be good at being bad at things.”

That sums it up pretty well.
Continue reading →

April Snow originally appeared on Asking For Trouble (2000), and it’s a pretty straightforward description of my mindset as a Vermont winter stretched on and on. But you don’t have to live in a cold climate to appreciate the sentiment at work here. It’s a song about anything you desperately want, and you know it’s coming, probably pretty soon, but it’s still not here and it hasn’t been here for a long time. It’s an unanswered prayer for patience.
Continue reading →

This is the first track on the “Walls” segment of Windows and Walls (1994) and boy, is it ever a shutdown. There’s the potential for a real relationship here, but our narrator will not let himself get dragged in. After all, he has to pick up the dry cleaning or something, right? Gee, look at the time.
Continue reading →

This Windows and Walls (1994) track sounds eerily like a leftover from Jim Croce. The narrator is hoping against hope that his lover might change her mind. After all, she hasn’t left yet, has she? He might be right, who knows? The song only lasts so long, but the story continues somewhere.
Continue reading →