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Booking
Jon Self Music
jon@jonself.com
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Quotes
"I've never seen anything like that, it brought tears to my eyes."
Folk legend Utah Phillips, after seeing Jon perform at The Red and Black Cafe.
"I was listening from back stage and it sounded like two or three guitarists were up there jamming!"
Drew Emitt (from Leftover Salmon)
"Jon Self, playing a single-mic tweener set in the midday sun, was the best surprise of the festival for me. His sound is reminiscent of the late Michael Hedges. Meticulous fingering, tapping and harmonics add texture to the music such that a complex fabric is woven in song."
Write Here Now (Review of Bob Horning's Hoedown)
"...one bright spot today came from a street musician I happened to hear at lunch. On an amplified acoustic-electric he was playing some really incredible stuff using a tapping technique which reminded me of Trey Gunn. I spoke with him and bought one of his CD's which is similar in feel to Tony Geballe's Native of the Rain. He told me he had been a construction worker and in a serious accident cut part of his left forearm very badly. He developed a technique of playing guitar which uses an economy of effort (he said he could keep it up for about 6 hours) and an overhand fretting technique like Belew sometimes does, but with capos."
Jim Gomez, Portland Circle
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Press Kit
Bio
Jon Self was born in 1969 and adopted into the small timber community of Curlew Washington. Nestled between the Colville Indian Reservation and the Canadian border in the northeast corner of the state, Curlew, with a population of 140 is one of the few surviving gold-rush towns in existence. As a child, yearning for more than a life of working at the local timber mill, Jon would read every book he could get his hands on and lie awake at night listening to the only radio station he could receive, and his only connection to the world that lay beyond the wooded hills of Curlew. One night, in the midst of this isolation, Eddie Van Halen's "Mean Streets" crackled out of Jon's portable radio changing the course of his life forever.
At the age of 16 Jon's older brother Bruce gave Jon his first guitar and his first guitar lessons. For the next two years Jon mimicked every guitar song, riff and solo that he could find while composing his first songs and working as a welder fabricating breweries. After 7 years of welding Jon cashed in his 401K with plans of finally embarking on a career in music. But then tragedy struck.
One day while working, a weld broke, causing a 1 ton stainless steel tank to break free and plummet 14 feet to the ground nearly severing Jon's left arm. He awoke after six hours of surgery only to be told he might never be able to play the guitar again. After several months of intensive physical therapy, Jon was still unable to form simple chords with his left hand, but discovered that his limited mobility did allow him to tap out single notes on the fretboard, while hammering bass notes with his right hand.. Determined to play music again, Jon used his limited range of motion to create an entirely new style of playing, that unbeknownst to him was reminiscent of Michael Hedges' early work.
Vowing to never again squander his gift, Jon threw his belongings into the back of his 1973 Ford pickup and headed to Portland, Oregon. With little money and no contacts, he lived out of his truck while busking on street corners. Soon after arriving in Portland he wandered into an open mic at the now defunct acoustic venue The Snake & Weasel.
"One night when my partner and I walked in," recalls S&W owner Kristin Valinsky, "there was this really mean looking guy sitting in front of the stage. He was big and burly and had this camouflage hunting hat pulled down low over his eyes-- he was so intimidating looking that I asked the regulars if they knew who he was, but nobody did. Eventually his name got called and he walked up on stage with an acoustic guitar, leaned his head back and closed his eyes, and his guitar seemed to fill the room with the purest, most beautiful expression of the human soul. It was so stunning that every single person in the room was immediately silenced and just riveted by his performance. As soon as he finished and walked off the stage, my partner and I simultaneously descended on him from opposite sides of the room just gushing with compliments. And I'll never forget it, he looked at us with absolute innocence and not a trace of ego and said, 'Really? I've only been playing out for a few weeks and didn't know if anyone would dig it.'"
Soon Jon was working at The Snake & Weasel running the open mic, doing the sound, and opening for acts like Scott Huckabay. When Jim Brunberg of Box Set heard Jon play, he offered to record Jon's first album. When Bob Horning, the owner of festival venue Horning's Hideout (which regularly hosts acts like David Grisman, String Cheese Incident, Wilco, and Steve Kimock) heard Jon perform, he offered to finance Jon's first album. And within less than a year, Jon had released his debut album, "Physical Therapy," and was sharing stages with the likes of Leftover Salmon and The Asylum Street Spankers.
press photo 1
Jon opening for Leftover Salmon at Horning's Hideout
300dpi, 720k
press photo 2
Jon performing at the Summer Hummer
300dpi, 834k
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Demo MP3s
Meditation No.19
(4 minute 19 second full track - 3MB, 96k, MP3)
All of Jon's songs are meditations. Mantras that never bore, never lose their freshness, never fail you. This one is a very sweet one.
Into Unimpressed Snow
(4 minute 37 second full track - 3MB, 96k, MP3)
This is the webmaster's personal favorite.
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There are no gigs on the calendar at this time.
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