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John Butler was born on April 1, 1975 in Torrance, California to an Australian father and American mother. His father moved the family back to Australia when John was eleven years old. At the age of sixteen he started to learn to play guitar. His grandmother gave him his grandfathers old squarenecked resonator. This was something of a family tradition, the first child to learn to play the guitar in the family got his father's guitar. However, neither his father nor his uncles ever learned to play, so he inherited it. He still has the guitar, and it remains one of his most treasured guitars.
In 1996 he started at Curtin University, studying to become an art teacher. While at Curtin he learned to use open tunings in his playing, opening up doors to many new styles of music. He started playing open-mic nights and on the streets around Perth, his home town. His home grown intrumental music earned him something of a reputation and in mid 1996 he released a cassette of his instrumental music, entitled Searching for Heritage, eventually selling 3,000 copies in and around Perth.
A local music promoter and bar owner named Phil Stevens had gotten a copy of Searching for Heritage and offered John a gig playing every Tuesday night at his bar. He eventually expanded to an entire trio featuring an upright bass and drums. This first incarnation of the John Butler Trio was recorded on the album John Butler in December of 1998. They gained a very strong reputation throughout Australia.
In April of 2000, they released JBT EP in an effort to get a few songs out that were short enough to earn radio play. Flying J radio picked up "Pickapart" and put it in a constant rotation.
In April of 2001 the band released Three, the first full album recorded as a band. Three stayed in the Australian alternative charts for nine months reaching as high as number 3, truely outstanding success for an independent band. Three was released in the US in 2002. JBT spent much of 2002 supporting Dave Matthews and John Mayer on various tours, as well as putting in an Appearance at Bonnaroo.
In late 2003 John entered the studio with a new set of band members to record his next album Sunrise Over Sea. The album debuted at number 1 in Australia on March 15, 2004 and achieved gold record status in its first week of release.
Since the release of Sunrise Over Sea, JBT has been touring America, Australia, Europe and Asia extensively. I first heard JBT at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in 2005 (a trend you might notice among other artist of the weeks). His unique blend of rock, blues, bluegrass, funk and reggae made my ears perk up and I immediately bought Sunrise Over Sea upon returning home.
John plays an 11-string guitar (he removes the octave of the G) fingerstyle with a slide often times. He uses synthetic fingernails in place of fingerpicks. He also plays lap style, both resophonics and Weisenborns. He overlay's effects such as distortion and wah into much of his playing, giving him a very intresting tone. He will occasionally play the banjo as well.
Albums to check out: Sunrise Over Sea and Three.
Songs to check out: Betterman, Zebra, Pickapart, Peaches and Cream, Company Sin, Bound To Ramble, Damned To Hell.
Next week, one of my favorite bands at the moment, Nickel Creek.
:::Edit::: sources for this post came from Wikipedia and johnbutlertrio.com
This post has been edited by matt_theripper: 29 January 2006 - 03:42 PM
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