Live Performances
Book John Stone for Your Event
Music
Artist Statement
My musical life has become a constant composition. As I bring my music into the world I bring only my heart, because I play only from there.
I come from a musical family. My father taught me the trumpet. My mother showed me guitar. I sang with my brothers and sister for the joy and companionship. I first heard the guitar of New Spain in my home in Albuquerque as the Romero brothers and Antonio Mendoza came to visit.
I experienced live music of the early 1960’s when people came together to celebrate folk music and other traditions, featuring the early songs of Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan. I have played many styles and have blended them all into my own unique guitar style.
Today inspiration comes to me as I walk the high meadows of the mountains. Pastoral melodies directly relate to my love of the open air, as clear views of complex ecology unfold before my senses.
As I view a hanging meadow suspended above a cloud, micro-gardens of rare flowers, a larger valley below me quietly meditating at my feet, I write a song. The passion of a mountain storm, lightning raising the hair on my arms inspires the flamenco in me. I lose myself in the resonance of the wind, remembering Arapahoe Pass, or the pounding hail on Handies Peak. I bring these moments to you in my performance.
I touch the placid Mediterranean Sea, expressing lifetimes of poetry in a single wave. I calmly walk sands of the Spanish coastline while arranging my next song or watch the sun setting on Pacific Mexico; I play to you the warmth on my face and the peace of that place. My music is a gift and I am a vehicle to bring my inner world to you with pure honesty. What you hear is what I am.
Music is my world, whether I play solo or ensemble. All things in the world come together for me in music and I send that message to you. I love playing large halls and outdoor events, and also small intimate rooms. Many ask me for CDs to use while meditating.
Reading the faces and body language of my listeners, I attempt to bring them an auditory environment of tranquility. The passion I evoke is a mirror of our daily life; the pastoral melodies are a soothing antidote to stress.
The years of playing guitar have given me a larger more complex inner map to my own soul. I have been lucky and worked hard to define this telent and I present it to you. I leave the rest to you as you listen.
Thank you for arriving at my site. I hope you will explore it and come back as I add more compositions.
Sincerely, John Stone