Banjo Bones

Banjo Bones sings themes of the present in a voice of the past. With lyrical content that spans the introspective to the esoteric, Banjo Bones combines elements of roots music into a genre defying style that borrows in equal portions from blues, jazz, country and folk. Whiskey infused philosopher, frustrated poet, and wannabe cowboy, Banjo Bones takes listeners on a journey filled with the musical landscape equivalent to Death Valley, as told by a pallet of characters that would be perfectly at home in a Fante or Bukowski book. A founding member of touring, post-punk band Samsara, based in Washington DC in the early part of the 1990s, JL Espada recorded and released a regionally successful EP (recorded in the legendary Inner Ear Studios, home of underground legends Fugazi), only to turn away from the music industry in 1996. He eventually found his voice again through the alias Banjo Bones, and after relocating to Sacramento, CA in 2011, released several works, including the EP Failed Ambitions (2012), and the popular single Snowy Mountain (2013). The full-length CD of new material, The Place of Dead roads, was released March 5, 2015. Although the Banjo Bones releases feature full-band orchestration, his live show is a solo interpretation of his songs. Sometimes wildly different from the releases, the solo interpretations are considered by some to be the definitive version of these songs. In a music environment cluttered with overproduced, empty-minded flavor of the month music, Banjo Bones makes an honest attempt to keep the musical story-telling tradition alive. He’s riding his 6-string pony to a music venue near you, so stay tuned… Whiskey infused philosopher, frustrated poet and wannabe cowboy, Banjo Bones sings themes of the present in a voice of the past.