Jonas Friddle

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Jonas Friddle
BornNorth Carolina
OriginChicago, Illinois
GenresAmericana, Folk rock, Old Time, Folk, Progressive bluegrass, Country music, Orchestral Folk
Instrument(s)guitar, banjo, fiddle
Years active– present
LabelsIndependent
Websitewww.jonasfriddle.com
Jonas Friddle and The Majority
OriginChicago, Illinois
GenresAmericana, Folk rock, Old Time, Folk, Progressive bluegrass, Orchestral Folk
Years active2012 to present
LabelsIndependent
MembersJonas Friddle
Anna Jacobson
Evan Jacobson
Andrew Green
Bailey Doyle
Andrew Wilkins
Geoff Dolce
Past membersJarod Facknitz
Arielle Luckmann
Maria McCullough
Websitewww.jonasfriddle.com

Jonas Friddle is a Chicago-based singer, songwriter, arranger, and banjo player; he also plays guitar, fiddle, mandolin, and several other instruments. His compositions have won awards, including "Belle De Louisville," which won the John Lennon Songwriting Contest award for Song of the Year for 2012.[1] Friddle says he composed the song on the banjo which helps give it its rolling feel, appropriate for a song about a steamboat.[2] Then in 2014, his song "Man Was Made To Fly" from the 2013 album, Use Your Voice, won the "Folk" category in the Great American Song Contest.[3] That album was also nominated as Album of the Year for the Independent Music Awards.[4] His original songs have been described as "a mixture of rock and old-time, New Orleans trad and bluegrass, country and blues."[5]

His music is included in three episodes of Roadtrip Nation.[6] The songs used are: "Tired Chicken Blues," "Black-Eyed Suzie," "Shake It Down," and "Rabbit."[7]

Friddle's interest in songwriting and music has been lifelong.[8] Originally from Black Mountain, North Carolina, he is a graduate of Berea College with degrees in English and theater. While there he played bass in the college bluegrass ensemble. After graduating he received a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship to travel to several countries to study community-building through music.[9][10][11]

He moved to Chicago in 2007, and in 2008 became an instructor at the Old Town School of Folk Music.[12] There he teaches guitar, fiddle, and banjo and specializes in Old Time music, Americana, jug band blues, modern folk, and songwriting.[13] Shortly after moving to Chicago he formed a banjo and fiddle duo, "Sleepy Lou," with Maria McCullogh. They specialized in traditional music from the United States and Mexico.[14][15]

He also formed "The Barehand Jugband," focused on jug band blues.[16][17][18][19] The Barehand Jugband gained a following around Chicago and was the winner of the Minneapolis Battle of the Jug Bands in February 2010 (Pancake League, the first year that contest took place) and in February 2011 (Waffle League).[20][21][22]

In late 2011 to early 2012, Friddle changed his performing and recording focus to his original compositions. He recruited musicians from other projects he was involved in, primarily colleagues at the Old Town School of Folk Music, to play on two albums of his original songs, Synco Pony and Belle De Louisville which were released at the same time in 2012.[23][24]

In 2012, Friddle and the musicians from Belle De Louisville began to perform as Jonas Friddle and the Majority. Their instrumentation includes a string section, horns, organ, banjo and drums.[25] Jonas Friddle notes that their combination of instruments is unusual: "old-time banjo is seldom found in the company of a French horn or full string section,"[26] and others have observed that they take a "non-traditional approach to the traditional string band layout and repertoire."[27] Their sound has been described as "at once huge and intimate, in the way only old-timey, bluegrassy folk music can be."[28]

Friddle recorded two more albums with "The Majority": Use Your Voice in 2013 and Jonas Friddle & The Majority in 2016. He continues to perform his original compositions with that band, but also performs jug band music, blues, swing and old-time as a trio with Majority members Anna and Evan Jacobson,[29] as well as performing traditional old-time music solo or with others.[30] He also performs his original songs solo or with a four-piece band.[31][32]

In 2019, Friddle released The Last Place to Go, an album entirely of his original songs, recorded with a smaller group of musicians. Friddle felt that a smaller band than he had used for the previous recordings fit the songs better.[citation needed] The album was described as a "dazzlingly rich lode of tonal and especially textual delights," and as having a "widely textured sound that remains intimate with the words in focus."[33][34] The recording, also described as having a more intimate sound focused on storytelling, was recorded live directly to analog tape.[35][34] Instrumentation includes guitar, fiddle, trumpet, dobro, electric guitar, upright and electric bass, piano, and drums. However, there is no banjo, a lack the liner notes apologize for.[36] Some of the songs have been described as having a stripped-down modern folk/country feel, and Friddle himself says that the album is more "country" than some of his earlier work.[37]


Discography[edit]

Barehand Jugband[edit]

  • Always A Bridesmaid (2009)
  • Wipe 'Em Off (2010)
  • EP - 2011 (2011)

Sleepy Lou[edit]

  • Sleepy Lou (2010)

Jonas Friddle[edit]

  • Drilling For Oil (2010)
  • SyncoPony (2012)
  • Belle De Louisville (2012)
  • The Last Place To Go (2019)
  • "Under The Weather" (single) (2020)
  • Jug Band Happy Hour (2023)

Jonas Friddle & The Majority[edit]

  • Use Your Voice (2013)
  • "First Corn of the Season" (single) (2014)
  • Jonas Friddle & The Majority (2016)

References[edit]

  1. ^ "John Lennon Songwriting Contest". Jlsc.com. Retrieved 2013-08-07.
  2. ^ Friddle, Jonas (7 September 2013). "Guest Blog: John Lennon Songwriting Contest Winner Jonas Friddle". American Songwriter. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  3. ^ "Great American Song HALL OF FAME: Winners of the annual Great American Song Contest songwriting competition". Great American Song Contest. Retrieved 11 October 2015. (Listing 2013 winners.)
  4. ^ "13th Annual Independent Music Awards Nominees Announced!". March 17, 2014. Retrieved June 13, 2017.
  5. ^ "About Jonas Friddle and the Majority". Sonicbids. Retrieved June 13, 2017.
  6. ^ "Artists | Roadtrip Nation". roadtripnation.com. Retrieved 2017-06-14.
  7. ^ "Music Guide | Roadtrip Nation". roadtripnation.com. Retrieved 2017-06-15.
  8. ^ "Jonas Friddle and the Majority Stream Their Joyous, Ambitious Sophomore Album". Elmore Magazine. 2016-04-20. Retrieved 2017-06-13.
  9. ^ "Berea College grad Jonas Friddle awarded $22,000 Watson Fellowship for year of travel and independent study abroad - Media Relations & News". Berea.edu. 2005-05-18. Retrieved 2017-06-13.
  10. ^ Sowell, Julie (Summer 2005). "Jonas Friddle 2005 Watson Fellowship" (PDF). Berea College Magazine: 14–15.
  11. ^ "Jonas Friddle - Composer". Ragdale. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  12. ^ "Jonas Friddle performs LIVE in performance studios". WGN Radio. June 2, 2019. Retrieved June 17, 2019.
  13. ^ "Jonas Friddle | Old Town School of Folk Music". www.oldtownschool.org. Retrieved 2017-06-13.
  14. ^ "Meet Sleepy Lou". Sleepy Lou. Archived from the original on 2018-02-10. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  15. ^ ♫ Sleepy Lou - Sleepy Lou. Listen @cdbaby, retrieved 2017-06-14
  16. ^ "Barehand Jugband | Artists". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2013-08-07.
  17. ^ "The Barehand Jugband Electronic Press Kit - Streaming Music, Photos, Videos, Lyrics and Info". Sonicbids. Retrieved 2013-08-07.
  18. ^ "Jug band revival brewing in Chicago". tribunedigital-chicagotribune. Retrieved 2017-06-14.
  19. ^ "Jonas Friddle & The Majority - Tickets - The Hideout - Chicago, IL - March 24th, 2012". Hideout Chicago. Retrieved 2017-06-14.
  20. ^ Fillipitch, Griffin (February 9, 2012). "Tone Jugs-n-Harmony". Minnesota Daily. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  21. ^ Francis, Andrew (15 February 2011). "No Talkin' Headline today…". Music Vomit. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  22. ^ Collins, Cyn (22 February 2010). "MUSIC: Roe Family Singers make off with the waffle iron at the 2010 Battle of the Jug Bands". Twin Cities Daily Planet. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  23. ^ "Jonas Friddle & The Majority's New Album by Jonas Friddle and The Majority — Kickstarter". Kickstarter.com. Retrieved 2013-08-07.
  24. ^ Newberry, Beth (February 7, 2013). "'All my rivers run back South': Musician Jonas Friddle's Tale of Two Cities". The Hillville. Retrieved 21 June 2019.
  25. ^ "Jonas Friddle & The Majority". Martyrs'. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  26. ^ "Jonas Friddle & The Majority - Independent Music Awards". Independent Music Awards. Retrieved June 13, 2017.
  27. ^ "Review of Jonas Friddle and the Majority: Use Your Voice - Mike Casey's Blog - Banjo Hangout". Banjo Hangout. Retrieved June 13, 2017.
  28. ^ Gee, Kelsey (16 April 2012). "Your Culture Vultures recommend: The White Feathered Octopus, Jonas Friddle and the Majority, and Gilt's basement". Chicago Reader. No. April 16, 2012. Retrieved 11 October 2015. (Quoting Erica Elam.)
  29. ^ "Onboard Entertainment". Pullman Rail Journeys. Archived from the original on 2 October 2015. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  30. ^ "Jonas Friddle & Matt Brown". Matt Brown. Retrieved 2017-06-14.
  31. ^ "Special Events - White Oak Savanna". White Oak Savanna. Retrieved 2017-06-14.
  32. ^ "Jonas Friddle & The Majority | Jonas Friddle & The Majority | Calendar". www.jonasfriddle.com. Retrieved 2017-06-14.
  33. ^ Rodi, Robert (June 9, 2019). "Lyrical Miracles: A Review of Jonas Friddle's "The Last Place to Go"". Newcity. Retrieved June 17, 2019.
  34. ^ a b Ross, Bob (March 8, 2019). "Popdose Exclusive Song Premiere: Jonas Friddle, "Drinking in a Dry Town"". PopDose. Retrieved June 17, 2019.
  35. ^ "The Last Place to Go". CD Baby. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  36. ^ The Last Place to Go (compact disk). Liner notes: Jonas Friddle and Bare Handed Productions, Ltd. 2018.
  37. ^ "Jonas Friddle - "Drinking in a Dry Town"". If It's Too Loud. March 22, 2019. Retrieved June 17, 2019.

External links[edit]

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