Album Notes

Coming off the heels of his self titled debut, Johnny Hawthorn has released his 2nd CD entitled “Death & Taxes”. Assisting in the production and engineering was Todd Nichols (Toad the Wet Sprocket). This collaborative effort has proven effective in helping dial in the sounds and producing an eclectic collection of songs that cross over many styles.

The CD breaks out with melodic rock anthem “Punk in the Street” with its catchy chorus and layered harmonies (it already garnered several awards from Garageband.com including “Best male vocals” and “Track of the day” among others). Other tracks stylistically jump around offering the listener a flavor of blues are “Cold Hearted Woman” to the distorted vocal and harmonica title track “Death and Taxes” to the jazzy “When I kiss you”. There’s a spin on the classic blues standard “In my time of dying” (with a slight nod to Led Zeppelin) and the song “Losers game” with its moody and atmospheric vibe. “On this CD I incorporated many of my influences (past and present) and used many unusual guitars in the production. The result is a sonically diverse CD with songs of different moods and textures.”
“I was fortunate with my first CD, people embraced it and I played shows across the US and a few shows in the UK as well.” Along the way, a few of the songs were placed in shows featured on NBC, HBO and FOX and I was featured in Guitar Player and Guitar World magazines. I’m hoping to do the same with this release and with a bit of luck get to even more places around the world.”
Performing live the band brings an excitement and performance so rarely seen with up and coming bands. Showcasing original songs and twisted takes on blues standards the band tears it up with improvisational jams reminiscent of the great bands of the 70’s. Playing everything from lapsteel slide guitar, acoustic, electric and harmonica the band does it best to entertain the audience.
With its old-school styling and freeform ability, it easy to understand why music fans across the globe would be drawn to the band. The band's sound is uniquely their own, yet it pays homage to those rock and blues giants that came before them. “We're here to please all segments of music fans just as our musical influences did.”