John Velghe

Thanks to Bob Stinson, Ron Asheton, and Keith Richards, John Velghe is a failed piano player — thanks to John Lennon, Alejandro Escovedo, and Paul Westerberg, he’s a songwriter. Over the course of his 15 year career, John Velghe has established himself as a particularly conscientious and talented tender of the rock and roll flame. The Independence, Missouri born musician/songwriter has played with several noteworthy bands, but it is his latest work, with the Prodigal Sons, which has given him a big enough vehicle for his ambitious vocal reach and vista-vision poetry. John Lennon and Chuck Berry lie at that core, but the guitars, horns and supportive backing vocals in this band allow Velghe to seamlessly blend other pieces of the greater rock story—from Sun to Stax to 2 Tone and Twin Tone. Organ Donor Blues is the perfect album for such a big sound. It’s both a record for rock’s true believers and a bare-knuckled face off with reality. Natalie Gallagher of The Pitch writes, “When people talk about the merits of Americana, a sound that can sometimes feel mail-order anonymous, what they want is the rare thing that Velghe has cultivated: music whose familiarity and honesty pull at your gut instead of just reassuring you. What Velghe has found in the wake of these losses is a powerful set of songs.” From a transvestite railroad worker he met on the banks of Lake Superior in Duluth, to a four-year-old waitress at the Garden of Eden in Kansas, to fellow musicians — Velghe (pronounced Vel-jee) populates his songs with characters he’s met over 15 years of touring and songwriting. Velghe and his band, The Prodigal Sons, walk a tightrope between rock-n-roll and country, jazz and pop, intimate and grand. While some nights it’s a 8-piece rock band with a horn section and pedal steel, other nights Velghe helms a 12-piece orchestra or a delicate acoustic duo. The concerts move from quiet gatherings to a fervor that ends with Velghe closing the performance from atop the bass drum. One audience will find the band performing the Stooges’ classic “I Wanna Be Your Dog” as a tender-hearted ballad, while another may hear the song drenched in sweat – complete in all it’s raucous, punk bombast. “We have one commitment at every show from New York to Fort Wayne: leave everything on the stage. Everything. Anything less means we didn’t give people their money’s worth.” Velghe has written, performed and toured in several bands including The Daybirds, Saint Jude, and famous fm. His songs have been featured in television and films, released in North America and Europe including the Lakeshore Records label (Beverly Hills, CA). As a composer, Velghe has scored feature-length documentaries and short films including the critically acclaimed “The Missing Man.” He has produced and recorded projects for artists across all musical genres including singer/songwriter Krystle Warren (touring with Rufus Wainright) , The Depth and the Whisper, and hip hop artist Blydell (Lone Rider Records). John Velghe & The Prodigal Sons: Official Facebook Page