As a solo performer I am not a great fan of Ethan Johns, but as a producer… man, he was behind one of the best albums of the teens, Laura Marling’s Once There Was An Eagle and if that was all he’d done it would be enough to catch my interest enough to check him out at the tiny Rockwood Music Hall 3 on September 30th, whatever my reservations over last year’s If Not Now Then When?, an album of folk blues acoustic songs, might be.
But this is all tip of the iceberg stuff. Ethan is the great musical producer and engineer Glyn Johns son. John Senior’s resume is pretty ridiculous. According to Tom Doyle of Sound On Sound “as a kid (Ethan Johns) remembers sitting in on sessions for the Who’s It’s Hard and the Clash’s Combat Rock at his father’s home studio in Sussex. Yeah, according to Wikipedia Glyn has worked with Ryan Adams, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, The Easybeats, The Band, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Eagles, Eric Clapton, The Clash, The Steve Miller Band, Small Faces, Spooky Tooth, The Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Blue Öyster Cult, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, Midnight Oil, New Model Army, Belly, Joe Satriani, Ronnie Lane, Rod Stewart with Faces, Joan Armatrading, Buckacre, Gallagher and Lyle, Georgie Fame, Family, Helen Watson, Fairport Convention, Humble Pie, and many others. Hell, Glyn produced Who’s Next. Glyn was one of the many hands that tried to save Let It Be.
Ethan one upped his father though, producing a song off Sir Paul’s last album! Ethan’s production work also includes the likes of “Ryan Adams, Kings of Leon, Ray LaMontagne, Tom Jones, Kaiser Chiefs, Rufus Wainwright, The Boxer Rebellion, Crowded House, The Vaccines, and Crosby, Stills and Nash.”… Hell, Ethan produced Heartreaker AND Gold.
So why go to check him out live… I dunno, maybe the guy has got something in person and at $18.75 (add ons included) it is worth finding out for sure. Apparently, Johns is part of the less is more school of nalog dreaming, the beard maybe gives it away, I’ll be sure to ask him, on September 20th, 730p Rockwood Stage 3 (the most confusing club on earth)
