J.M. Kearns
Cape May, New Jersey, United States | Established. Jan 01, 1972 | INDIE
Music
Press
Elmore magazine says of the CD Death or Life:
"A bluesy flair, his voice perfect for the
lyric and sound…it's easy to hear the influence
of John Prine and Gram Parsons… Intelligence,
humor and musicianship." - Elmore Magazine
Some bright lights of Nashville's Americana scene talk about JM Kearns:
Davis Raines (songs recorded by Pat Green and Kenny Rogers) says:
"Then comes our Man for All Seasons, the extraordinarily erudite King of the Mambo and his Hot Little Combo: J.M. Kearns and the Lonely Mammals... JM's a favorite, a gifted writer and compelling performer whose songs examine the whole magilla, from the ridiculous to the sublime."
Teddy Larkin says:
"Kearns stole the show at my Stammer Jammer festival and became my headline performer for the next four concerts. 'Nashville will teach you' is the best song I have ever heard about the life of a songwriter trying to make it on Music Row."
Rachel Owen ("Bombshell") says of Kearns' music:
"Scary intelligence, humor and heart tingling with freshness…" - Hornepayne Music
Nashville Blues Society on The Squares’ Second Act:
“J.M. closes the set with help from everyone, telling a bittersweetly-humorous story of getting older, as “the fishin’s no fun when you’re Running Out Of Line.” This one features Debra on that nose flute, and is a really fine acoustic country blues, performed in a live setting.” -
Discography
J.M. KEARNS • Before the coffee gets too cold
Hornepayne Records
National release: May 17, 2024
Available now at: Bandcamp
Full URL: https://jmkearns.bandcamp.com/album/before-the-coffee-gets-too-cold
Genre: folk/Americana/singer-songwriter
Website: www.jmkearns.com
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Produced by J.M. Kearns at Stimpson Cottage, Cape May.
All songs written by J.M. Kearns (BMI) except “Visit from the blues”, which was written by J. M. Kearns and James Counter (BMI).
1 VISIT FROM THE BLUES 3:20
2 DON’T EVER DREAM 3:13
3 BEFORE THE COFFEE GETS TOO COLD 4:14
4 IT USED TO BE LOVE 3:53
5 NASHVILLE WILL TEACH YOU 3:59
6 NOT ON THIS TRAIN 2:48
7 IN YOUR EYES 3:34
8 I NEVER WANTED TO BE HIM 3:56
9 WHAT I HAVE LEFT 4:10
10 MY SOUL IN YOUR HANDS 3:43
11 JESUS, WHY 4:17
12 WE BLEW IT, BABY 3:58
PUBLICITY AND BOOKING:
Debra Donahue
debra.donahue.artistrep@gmail.com
(615) 507-9804
MUSICIANS APPEARING ON BEFORE THE COFFEE GETS TOO COLD:
- J.M. Kearns: vocals, acoustic guitars, harmonica, and bass unless otherwise noted
- Jim Counter: acoustic guitar on song 1
- Debra Donahue: harmony vocals on songs 2 and 9
- Bob Hatter: electric lead guitar on song 3
- Kathy Burkly: percussion on songs 5 and 9
- Mark Robinson: lead guitar on songs 5 and 9
- Kenny Owens: bass on songs 5 and 9
- M.Q. Murphy: electric lead guitar on songs 10 and 12; harmony vocal on song 12
- Andy Reeves: cajon on song 10
- Andy Vernon: drums on song 10
Visit https://www.jmkearns.com/
Photos
Bio
After a 50-year meteoric rise, J.M. Kearns has an album for you
CAPE MAY, NJ — Longtime Americana songwriter J.M. Kearns has announced the none-too-early arrival of his first solo album, Before the coffee gets too cold. It releases on May 17th, 2024, and its primary outlet will be the musician-friendly site, Bandcamp. Its 12 cuts include his latest songs, as well as some of the best that he wrote during his five-decade journey. Most of the recordings, though, were done in 2023. (See SELECTED SONG NOTES below.)
April 1977. At age 30, driving cab in Toronto with a PhD in hand, J.M. Kearns was at a crossroads. He’d been writing songs for five years, and it felt like a mission. But a career in academic philosophy was the “expected” move. What to do? The songs won: he skipped town and thumbed to Los Angeles. After a couple of near-breakthroughs — an audition at Electra-Asylum Records, a song meeting with Warren Beatty — things got real. He had to eat. He worked as a castle-sitter in Malibu, then a telegram-singing donkey, then a bureaucrat at a huge downtown law firm. Meanwhile the songs just kept coming, folk-rock in the footsteps of Dylan, Prine, and Leonard Cohen. But as a performer Kearns was nowhere – a severe case of stage fright stood in his way.
That changed when he moved to Nashville. After a thousand writers’ nights, he was given his first real gig ever in 2001, at the tender age of 55 — an 8:30 slot that paid $27.50 on Friday nights at a notorious club called the Gold Rush. A band spontaneously formed around him, dubbed the Lonely Mammals, and Kearns finally found his natural, playful self as a performer. Good things started to happen. Five of his original songs were cut by independent artists. His band issued a live CD in 2007, and Elmore magazine gave it a rave review. Also that year, his novel The Deep End was published (you can find it here on Amazon). But it was a case of too little too late. Kearns had gone for broke with his Nashville dream, and unfortunately he hit that target. In 2008 the bottom fell out.
After some angelic intervention he landed in Cape May, the historic beach town at the foot of NJ. There he formed a band called The Squares with his partner Debra Donahue and their friend M.Q. Murphy. Recorded a CD for them. And of course, kept writing songs. And now, in the prime of his 70’s, J.M. Kearns has decided it’s about time to release his first solo album.
(A juicier version of this bio is found at https://www.jmkearns.com/story )
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JM's songs have been called sardonic, haunted, stormy, plaintive, stirring, eloquent, honest. His lifelong ambition: to be a footnote to Dylan.
Elmore magazine says of J.M. Kearns:
"A bluesy flair, his voice perfect for the lyric and sound ... it's easy to hear the influence of John Prine and Gram Parsons ... Intelligence, humor and musicianship."
Band Members
Links
