John Sebastian interview

01:45 - John was a bona fide pop star with his chart success with the Loving Spoonful in the 1960s

02:20 - Lives in Woodstock and originally from New York, Greenwich village

02:40 - Was born in 1944

02:58 - Very well known for being a singer songwriter, guitarist, autoharp player, but harmonica was what he started out on

03:38 - Lived right next to Washington Square, which gave John lots of access to the music scene in Greenwich Village

04:11 - John’s father was the famous classical and popular music harmonica player, also called John Sebastian

04:49 - John Sebastian senior was fearless and played in many places, including Africa

05:23 - John Sebastian senior was playing since before John junior was born and played in several harmonica orchestras

06:32 - John Sebastian senior spent some years in Italy, where he met the illustrator Garth Williams

07:45 - John Sebastian senior played popular music as well as classical and played at Cafe Society in New York, one of the first clubs offering both black and white artists on the bill

08:31 - Villa Lobos wrote pieces for the chromatic harmonica for John Sebastian senior

09:14 - John Sebastian senior was keen to avoid being a pop harmonica player, due to prevalence of popular harmonica bands at the time, which incorporated humour into their performance

10:36 - John Sebastian senior played into his later years, just having an issue with his mouth following a car accident

11:53 - John Sebastian senior moved to southern France to remarry in later life

12:49 - How his father influenced John to take up the harmonica, including bringing back lots of Hohner Marine Bands and Little Ladies after visiting Trossingen

14:01 - John Sebastian senior was a friend of Sonny Terry and brought John junior a Sonny Terry record, which got him interested in playing blues

14:32 - John junior was never planned to follow his father’s footsteps and pursue a career playing classical chromatic

14:50 - Met Sonny Terry on several occasions and including at the Gas Light cafe in New York

15:34 - John’s parents created a song for him called JB’s Happy Harmonica, with his mother writing the words and his father narrating them and playing some harmonica

16:52 - His father never pressured him to play harmonica, but John junior heard some of his father’s tuition material

19:09 - Plays a little chromatic harmonica, including the song Thedy with the New Rhythm Blues Quartet

20:06 - Authored a children’s book called JB’s Happy Harmonica, based on the story his parents had created in his youth

22:32 - Played harmonica in his first band, the Even Dozen Jug Band, which included notable musicians David Grisman and Stefan Grossman

23:45 - Only played harmonica in the Even Dozen Jug Band

24:10 - Released a jug band album in the 1990s, with his J-Band

24:40 - Interest in jug band music came from seeing the musicians from the original jug bands in his youth, including the harmonica players in those bands

25:25 - Annie Raines recorded on John’s J-Band album, and John has performed with Annie on other occasions

27:17 - Joined The Loving Spoonful who were inducted into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, and John into the Songwriters Hall of Fame

27:43 - Singer, songwriter, guitarist and harmonica player with The Loving Spoonful

27:54 - John credits Zalman Yanovsky for a lot of success of The Loving Spoonful

28:37 - John made an album with Arlen Roth during the Covid pandemic

29:04 - Played quite a lot of harmonica with The Loving Spoonful

29:27 - Left The Loving Spoonful in 1968 to start his solo career and worked with producer, Paul Rothchild

30:11 - Released first solo album in 1970, John B. Sebastian

30:48 - Has focused on the harmonica most in the last ten years as he is requested to play it more with people recently

31:05 - More on the album made with Arlen Roth

33:11 - Had a big hit when his song ‘Welcome Back’ was used as the theme tune to the US sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter

34:05 - John played the harmonica on The Doors Roadhouse Blues song

34:38 - Paul Rothchild wanted John to record with The Doors to help keep Jim Morrison in check in the studio

36:05 - John watched The Doors keyboard player Ray Manzarek for his cues while recording Roadhouse Blues

36:51 - The credit for the harmonica playing is G. Puglese, John’s father’s family name. John used a pseudonym at the request of Paul Rothchild

38:15 - John only received a one-off session fee for recording Roadhouse Blues, and not royalties for life

38:32 - Played with The Doors at a live concert in New York

39:38 - Made other session recordings with musicians, such as with folk musician Gordon Lightfoot

40:03 - Recorded guitar on a Timothy Leary album, with Jimi Hendrix playing bass

40:50 - Recorded with Crosby, Stills and Nash on their Deja Vu album

42:01 - After leaving The Loving Spoonful, wrote a play called Jimmy Shine, starring Dustin Hoffman, which appeared on Broadway

43:52 - No harmonica in Jimmy Shine play, mainly because John wasn’t in the band

44:05 - Created a Homespun tutorial recording: John Sebastian Teaches Blues Harmonica

45:38 - John is strongly associated with the Woodstock festival, especially after a famous appearance there

46:36 - Ten minute question

48:32 - Originally played Hohner Marine Bands but then moved across to Seydel harmonicas

49:19 - Doesn’t play any overblows and thinks there is somewhat of a sacrifice in tone when they’re used

49:47 - Embouchre: picked up using some tongue blocking from his father, but mainly uses puckering

51:16 - Amps: mainly used a PA as didn’t want to emulate Paul Butterfield’s sound, who John was friends with

52:32 - Did get some distortion via using the mics at the time

53:03 - Effects: didn’t use any

53:30 - Has had to take a break from playing harmonica due to dental work but will be getting back to it

54:35 - John Sebastian senior was still able to play harmonica after the car accident which injured his mouth