Jon Michaels:
Nashville s Hidden Gem
With his blonde hair tucked inside a baseball cap, the singer and songwriter Jon Michaels sits quietly at the end of the bar at Music Rows most famous industry hangout, the Longhorn Steak House, and few people pay him any mind.
As so often happens, folks outside of Nashville are quicker to recognize many of Music City s most amazing talents than those within the often set-in-its-ways music community here. That was very much what happened in Jons case.
His path to the Row began in the LA suburb of North Hollywood , where Jon grew up in a single-parent household and fell in love with the music of singer/songwriters such as Jim Croce and Harry Chapin.
In those days, country was the last thing on his musical mind. But unlike many musicians, Michaels also had a savvy business sense from the beginning, and after finishing his education he landed a high-paying job as an investment broker.
Jeffrey Steele, the writer of over 45 Top 5 Country singles, is one of Jons biggest fans. In a land full of `same ol, same ol, its so good to know Jon stays the course for being a little bit different. I love his songs.
Michaels has indeed stuck by his guns, Ive tried to stay true to my individuality, he said.
Jons road to Nashville shows a lot of his courage, and his street smarts. He was playing clubs at night in LA and selling investments during the days.
It was 1992 when Jon came to Nashville for his first visit; he stayed a week and was hooked. Id never seen anything like this, he said. Thats where I got my first taste of a guitar pull, when I went to the Bluebird and Douglas Corner for the first time.
He returned to the West Coast, sold his house, packed his guitar and never looked back. I gave up my job, I gave up everything, he said. Ive been working ever since on my career. Nashville is graduate school. Its where you really learn about songwriting.
Jons songs, from the outrageously clever Check Please, to the unforgettable Stones (destine to be a classic) recently recorded by Tracy Lawrence and Ty Herndon, show a range of colors and emotions rarely found on Music Row or anywhere else.
Speaking of anywhere else, a feisty Philadelphia TV show hostess named Christina Pirello heard Jon play his music one night at the Bluebird Café and invited him to perform on Christina Cooks, her natural foods cooking program on PBS. Christina, who overcame the crippling disease of Leukemia (in large part through a regimen of healthy eating), says: After lots of cooking, I wrap up the show with singer/songwriter Jon Michaels joining me right in my kitchen, playing his inspiring and heartfelt original songs, while I cook. Together, we create a celebration of life, love, health and of course, great food. It doesnt get sweeter, with no sugar added.
The response was so overwhelming that Christina invited Jon to sing on every episode. The show is carried by over 150 PBS affiliates and has introduced Jons music and warm personality to a coast to coast audience.
In early 2005, Whole Foods Market teamed up with Christina Cooks for a live cooking show called Christina Cooks Live at Whole Foods Market and asked Jon to be the Paul Shafer of the show.
Michaels said. So now Im on PBS and Comcast Network up and down the East Coast. All this for a song!
The television work, which began as Michaels said, with the divine intervention of Christina and her husband walking into the Bluebird that particular night, is a fabulous and totally unique second career to his primary work as a Nashville singer/songwriter.
Hes obviously learned his lessons very well. Michaels is now one of the Rows most admired tunesmiths and through the magic of television, Jon is also becoming a fixture in the musical lives of countless TV viewers coast to coast.
