Performance and Music Bio of CanJoe*John

CanJoe*John began seriously playing stringed musical instruments at the early age of 8 years old upon meeting the Southern Highlands Handicraft Guild member artist, mountain dulcimer maker, and master wood carver, Edsel Martin, of Black Mountain, NC, who introduced John to the Appalachian Mountain lap dulcimer, in the summer of 1963. John’s grandmother was the manager of the Blue Ridge Parkway Craft Center in Blowing Rock, NC for over 28 years, and John spent many extended summers vacation visits with her while growing up. It is there, as a child, that John began his lifelong love of Southern Appalachian traditional music, and mountain lore. At the age of eleven, he received a baritone ukulele as a gift for Christmas 1966, then at age 13 (1968), he received a beautiful hollow body electric guitar and amplifier from his dad for Christmas.

John’s father, a medical doctor, grew up in East TN playing and singing “hillbilly” music as a teen. Later, he often would serenade his five children on occasion with his old Stella guitar, singing from his vast repertoire of old-time mountain, and early Country music tunes.

John eventually borrowed a fiddle from a friend, at age 22, but having had to return it before learning much to play it, John longed to have one for himself. So, in the year 1985, John’s dad bought and gave him his first fiddle, and it wasn’t long after that, he joined up with a local bluegrass band, “New River Grass”, in eastern NC, playing fiddle and performing with the band for over 5 years.

In the year 1987, John met Herschel Brown, who became the originator of the one-stringed musical instrument, the “CanJoe”, and John received from Herschel in 1993 one of his earliest hand-built versions of the instrument that Herschel had personally created. John later took that cool little one-stringed ‘mountain dulcimer’ made with a 12-ounce beverage can as its resonator, and with Herschel’s blessings, and direct assistance, he licensed and started “The CanJoe Company” of Blountville, TN, in the year 1994. During that same year, John’s wife, Paula (Sissy), had developed kidney cancer, and before her passing in April of 1995, one day while listening to John play his “canjoe” for her, he stated that he’d, “never get to the Grand Ole Opry on the fiddle, but maybe could on this “canjoe” instrument”. Upon hearing this, Sissy then stuck up her thumb as she retorted, “Go for it, CanJoe*John”, and that was the match that lit the fire.

CanJoe*John is a performing and recording artist, singer-songwriter (BMI), poet, author, storyteller, musicologist, off Broadway theatrical stage and award winning film actor, radio DJ, producer and host of the weekly world-wide broadcast, “Mountain Matinee”, (now on air for over 8 years on station 963 “The Possum”, Bluff City, TN), and is a music historian/educator/ old-time fiddle instruction/teacher, performing/professional member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, 2006/2007, performing artist/educator of the Tennessee Arts Commission, Nashville, TN, now with over 4 decades in the music business as a professional entertainer. As well, a principle actor featured in the multi award winning short film, “Good Will to Men”, produced and filmed by Refuge Media (individually awarded “Best Music by Fan Vote”, Christian Film Festival 2017); leading role in the documentary film, “The CanJoe*Man” (awarded EMMY as best short form documentary by students of multi-media), American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2017; principle actor playing self in the off Broadway play written and produced by Sharon Cort & Terry Harkleroad, “The Mockingbird Sings”, Nashville, TN.

Some prestigious stage performances include:
The Carter Family Fold, Hiltons, VA, multiple times over several years as special entertainment by personal invitation of Janette Carter

Paramount Theater, Bristol, TN, Dec 7, 1995, performed stage in grand finale close by personal invitation of Bill Monroe, Mac Wiseman, Jim & Jesse McReynolds.

Inaugural Bristol Rhythm & Roots Festival 2001, Bristol TN/VA, fiddler as band member for Roni Stoneman on the Cameo Theater stage, two public performances as CanJoe*John & MB4 band (Anderson Park/Cumberland Square Park stages), (returned artist for 2nd annual event, BR&R 2002; Train Station stage, Fri, Sat, Sun)

City of Kingsport, TN, “First Night” event, December 31, 2002

Kingsport Times-News Farm Expo 2007 (Featured Artist/ Main Stage)

Christian Country Music Association [CCMA] Annual Awards Show, fiddler for “John Steed (male vocalist of the year 2001), & the Red River band”, major cable television network live broadcast world-wide from the stage of the Ryman Auditorium, Nov 1, 2001, Nashville, TN

MerleFest 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, Little Picker stage (vendor/children entertainer)
MerleFest 2005, (Wilkesboro, NC) performing artist, “Little Picker” and “Americana” stages
MerleFest 2006, distinctively selected to perform a 50-minute act opening for the legendary Pete Seeger, the ‘Little Picker’ stage.

Chautauqua Festival 2006, Wytheville, VA, main stage headline billing with music legends Joey Dee & the Starlighters, and The Platters

“Mountain Music: Then and Now”, original presentation by CanJoe*John, on stage of the historic Cameo Theater, Bristol VA, May 4, 2001, by grants of the National Endowment of the Arts, Tennessee Arts Commission

Big Frog Mountain Bluegrass Festival, headlined event shared billing with 1998 National Banjo Champion, Sonny Smith. May 2000, Traditional Music Resource Center, Cleveland, TN

Paramount Theater, Bristol, TN, headlined performance billed with “Royal Vision”, “Scat Cats & the Wells Brothers”, June 10, 2010

Grand Ole Opry, November 4, 2006, Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN, as guest of Mike Snider, star of television’s “Hee Haw”, and the Grand Ole Opry
and many more…

Industry awards:
Adult Male Bluegrass Instrumentalist of the Year 2007, NACMAI (North American Country Music Association, International)

“Best Song” award, Christian Film Festival, 2017, “God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman” performed by CanJoe*John on the canjoe instrument, in the movie “Good Will to Men”

Multiple, various old time fiddle competition awards

Discography:
“One String, One Can, One Man, and One Band”, produced by CanJoe*John, recorded in University Studios, Johnson City, TN, 2001; published BMI, record label, SVM Music Records, Hamilton, Ohio

“An Uncanny Christmas”, instrumentally accompanied by, and produced, engineered, recorded by Tom Conrad, Studio City (Hollywood), Ca, 2002

Filmography:
“Wayfaring Stranger”, independent music video filmed on location pre- Katrina New Orleans, produced, directed, filmed, edited and mastered by Dave LeBlanc, with Gary Phillips, videographer, New Orleans, LA, 2000

“Good Will to Men”, key actor, short film written, produced, filmed by Clayton Van Huss, Refuge Media, AECC, Bluff City, TN, 2015

“The CanJoe*Man”, lead role, major award-winning short form documentary written, produced, directed, filmed by Andrew King, with Aaron Winneroski, Abby Witt (producer), Landers Pannell of Asbury University, Wilmore, KY, 2017 (awarded EMMY by American Academy of Arts and Sciences, “Best Student Documentary”, 2017)

Theater:
“The Mockinbird Sings”, key actor, off Broadway theatrical musical play written by Terry Harkleroad and Sharon Cort, Nashville, TN

Bibliography: Books by various authors:
“Wherever the Sound Takes You: Heroics & Heartbreak in Music Making”, (2019, University of Chicago Press) by David Rowell (former deputy editor of “Washington Post Magazine”): Featured full chapter wedged between the chapters featuring the legendary Peter Frampton, and the legendary rock band “Yes”,

Featured story, “Strange But True Tennessee”, by Lynne L. Hall, Sweetwater Press: 2006

Major interviewee/contributor, “I Don’t Need A Record Deal! Your Survival Guide For the Indie Music Revolution”, by Daylle Deanna Schwartz, Billboard Books/Watson-Guptill Publications, 2005

Featured photo/story, “Images of America: Sullivan County”, by Joe Tennis, Arcadia Publishing, 2008

Photo/acknowledgement entry, “The Story Behind The Hank Williams Commemorative Stamp”, by Beecher O’Quinn, Jr, McKinnis Books, 2005

Featured Front Cover photo with story: “International Traditional Country Music Fan Club”, Vol 12, No 1 issue, Jan 2007