Jon Rooks
About this event:
Local musician Jon Rooks can’t recall his first performance but knows that performing has been a constant part of his life.
“It feels like I’ve been the family performer from even my earliest memories at the dinner table,” Rooks said.
The musician hails from Williston, has lived in Columbia and Washington, D.C., and recently moved back to the area.
“I’ve done a couple small tours around the U.S., mainly playing small shows and supplementing the cost of the tour by doing street shows,” he said.
Rooks was deemed the Best Local Solo Artist for the Free Times’ “Best of Columbia” section in 2011.
“Light and easy like a summer breeze, Jon Rooks’ alternative acoustic pop is hard not to like. And, with his expert use of looping pedals, he’s a veritable one-man band, layering beats, riffs and vocals for a bigger sound,” the article stated.
Rooks plays the guitar, piano and harmonica and has dabbled with the ukulele, banjo and violin, according to his biography.
“My first instrument was actually the drums,” he said. “I picked up the guitar in high school and later the harmonica. In college I spent a lot of time in the piano rooms and picked that up as well.”
The artist has original pieces and is mainly influenced by rhythm and blues and older soul music. He also performs jazz and Latin music.
“I use this background to incorporate different grooves to the pop tunes I do most of the time at my gigs,” he said.
His “Alive in the Living Room” CD was released a couple years ago. It costs $9, plus shipping and handling, and can be purchased through his website.
“‘Alive in the Living Room’ was a self-produced project that I did mainly with a loop-station and a little bit of over-dubbing in my living room, so hence the name,” he said.
Rooks is planning to begin recording again soon and performs regularly during the week.
“Light and easy like a summer breeze, Jon Rooks’ alternative acoustic pop is hard not to like. And, with his expert use of looping pedals, he’s a veritable one-man band, layering beats, riffs and vocals for a bigger sound.” – Free Times Columbia