Background       

 

     Jon was born and raised into a family of musicians.  "We grew up with a piano in the house.  My father would play it and I would hope I could make those sounds some day.  When my mother was a young girl she used  to sing on live radio on Sundays, she has a great soprano voice."  As a child he was introduced to gospel music and hymnals, "I cherish the memory of singing Amazing Grace on Sunday morning at church."  

      Growing up in the early 70s exposed Jon to the AOR (Album Oriented Rock) radio format that would so heavily influence his guitar playing years. "I remember mowing grass in the neighborhood for a dollar per lawn.  I took six dollars to a local used record store and bought Jimi Hendrix Smash Hits and Boston's first album.  Other kids my age were listening to Leif Garret and other candy rock.  I didn't relate to that at all. My older brother's friends thought I was the 'cool kid' because I would listen to Zeppelin and The Guess Who."  

      Jon first picked up the guitar at age seven.  He would use his Uncle's guitar until his parents bought one for him.  "I had a Mel Bay chord book and soon learned all the basic folk chords. My sister had a John Denver album so the first songs I learned were Sunshine on my Shoulders and Rocky Mountain High."  

     Then a childhood friend who had a bit more skill introduced him to the intriguing world of rock guitar.  "Steve was amazing.  He taught me how to play riffs, scales, blues licks and how to develop my ear.  I spent much of my free teenage hours running my fingers up and down the neck of the guitar and trying to figure out every Jimmy Page riff I could possibly learn.  I look back on those days as a foundational time.  That period got me over the hump so to speak.  By the time I started jamming with bands I was very comfortable playing rock songs and executing them to a professional level."

 

      Jon moved from southern Indiana to Indianapolis in 1985 and began playing in a long list of cover and original bands with other local musicians. Local bands such as Animal House, Diamonds-n-Rust, Face Down, Relic, West Side Bob, Torn and finally the all original rock band Whoa!Tiger. "It was a progression over the last 25 years.  Each band presented a new challenge or a new set of cover material and original ideas.  I'm proud to end my club playing days with such a talented group of dedicated musicians in Whoa!Tiger.  Jack, Eric and Erik and I made great music together and will continue in some capacity in the future."  

        During that stretch he was able to record demos and release full length tapes and CDs.  "I loved to gig then, but my excitement for the studio was overwhelmingly the biggest part of my push as a musician.  The gigs only lasted a few hours but the recording process meant you had a keepsake, a time stamp so to speak of your efforts.  I was fascinated with how a song could be crafted, shaped, manipulated then birthed via that process."

 

       While recording Whoa!Tiger's last release, The Rollout, Jon met and started working with Mike Lyons, an engineer at Azmyth and Big Creek Studios. "Mike is the perfect engineer. He knows when to push the best out of a musician and when to let it ride."  After completing the CD Jon continued to work with Lyons on various sound bytes and television show music (think Catfish or Storage Wars).  "I enjoy doing this kind of work.  It's not as personal as writing a song but it still requires creativity on the fly and a lot of attention to detail."

     After his obligations with Whoa!Tiger are complete Jon will continue working with Mike Lyons on studio recordings as well as launching a new solo effort. "This has been a dream of mine for a long time.  A Jon Knight & Friends set of songs. I'm fired up to start this project in early 2014."  A line up of ex-bandmates, friends and other local musicians (one who has quite the resume stretching back to the early 70s) will be a part of the release.

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Influences & Inspirations

 

    Jon's musical influences span the sound spectrum; from Mozart to Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits) and all points in between.  Friends know him as being very discerning or heavily opinionated, "I was called the Music Nazi by a friend of mine and I loved that label.  Why should someone be accepting of bad music or pretend they enjoy a song that they truly don't like?  We have been raised in a culture in which it is frowned on to be critical.  We are equipped with a brain, a heart and the ability to discern, It's okay to not like something and to express it.  I'll never be a fan of Green Day or ACDC for example.  They are professional bands but not my bend."

 

   Guitar influences also range from traditional jazz players in the form of Django Rheinhardt to fusion masters such as Steve Morse and Pat Methany.  Then there's the obvious rock guitarists; Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Van Halen and the countless players from the 70s, 80s & 90s.  "Page, Beck, Clapton, those guys were able to transform rock and appeal to the masses at the same time.  They wrote the book on rock guitar playing. I would be a liar to deny their intrinsic value in my playing. Still, I love sappy ballads such as Chicago's old hit If You Leave Me Now and the Don Williams' hit I Believe in You."

 

 

 

Jon's approach to writing music, using the guitar as a tool of creation and capturing original work in the studio was never viewed as a hobby.

      "I hear this hobby thing from some guys. That's fine. This is not a hobby for me.  While it is not my primary source of income, it is however not taken lightly.  I don't believe in throw away notes or simply settling for a passage of bars that clearly could have been executed with more professionalism.  I don't consider myself a perfectionist in the modern definition, in fact many of the people that claim to be perfectionists are seriously flawed in their craft.  There is no perfection.  We are failed human beings from birth and to believe for one moment that anything we create is perfect or finite is reckless thinking.

    But this doesn't mean that what we accomplish or set out to do is not worthy of our best.  Every note matters, all of them, without exception.  The butterfly effect is in play here.  When we perform, record or present anything we have spent time to create, each component of that invention has our spiritual signature in it.  I truly believe that.

    Our spiritual DNA can be traced to these expressions, words, sounds efforts and outcomes. When more than one person is involved it becomes a collective signature.  Still, our individual role in it has our personality in it.  I know a lot of guys that play guitar. If you or anyone else takes a little time to learn some chords, you play it; but so few can make me hear their personality in the playing. 

    As a young man in my twenties I started to understand that this instrument was limitless.  I started to hear that notes when presented in various fashions can carry emotion and create many sensations in the listener.  Movie score music is the prime example of this. A simple set of tones during a crime scene can make the viewer/listener cringe or tense up.  My job is to not slam my fingers into a set of strings and hope for the best.  My goal is to express myself and create a response from you, the listener.  That expression or response can be one of joy, sadness, humor, outlandishness, despair or triumph. It's up to me to find that combination and deliver it properly.  It's not easy to do but something worth listening to should not come at a cheap effort."

 

     Jon doesn't believe in notions such as luck or gifts. "I've been told that I have a gift or that some other player is gifted.  Okay, maybe.  But any good player or athlete for that matter will generally laugh at that assertion.  Michael Jordan didn't simply step onto a court and begin dominating.  He worked hard for years in practice prior to being the best.  I see great musical creation in the same light.  We must suffer to be great. That sounds cliche' to some degree but it holds true.  There is a parallel between the hard work, suffering, endless hours of repetition and the final outcomes.  To this day it is a pain to play guitar at a high level.  I can play a few chords around a campfire and sing a song, that's easy.  But to go out and originate something unique and daring from myself, it requires pain and suffering. In some ways that's what music is, the outcome of someone's suffering. But I must be a masochist because I enjoy it!!"

 

Jon resides in Indianapolis with his wife Jane and his dog Smokey Bones.