John Hollywood and the soulful rustic folk melancholia of "geryon"

 

"geryon was a monster / red as he could be / one day Heracles sailed across the sea / and killed him / Lord he killed that poor boy / he didn't kill him with his club / he didn't kill him with his bow / he killed him with love / he killed him when he walked out that door..."

As I am sipping my cup of echinacea turmeric ginger tea and listening to "geryon" by Houston bred, Los Angeles based folkster John Hollywood there is a chill in the air. As I grab a blanket to wrap around myself like a coat, John's sincere vocal storytelling elevates my mood and for 2 minutes and 41 seconds life is perfect. Like a slow waltz full of metamorphosed pain, a down home mixture of rustic porch folk "geryon" transports you to other places and times from before. The somber ambling bass line, sparse percussion shuffling from time to time and especially the wood chopping acoustic guitar all serves as an album quilted bed for John's forlorn voice to settle down in.

I can't help but gladly give myself up to the sadness as John shape shifts Greek Mythology into something else, transforms a three headed (or three bodied) monster into something closer to a lost soul / lost little boy in all of us and the normally heroic Heracles as a deadbeat father figure. Whatever, however you take this song, it feels wonderfully soulful and upside down. John Hollywood "writes folk songs in the tradition of John Prine and Guy Clark with a fresh, 21st Century perspective" and it sounds so sweet. I have yet to check out more of his music. His persona here is dead on and refreshing.

-Robb Donker Curtius

John Hollywood · geryon

THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM 

https://johnhollywood.com/

https://www.instagram.com/johnhollywoodmusic/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lL3s4OwWxNw&feature=youtu.be

https://open.spotify.com/artist/4gzQCDAPHvigASTYZXoke1

https://soundcloud.com/johnhollywood


John Hollywood writes folk songs in the tradition of John Prine and Guy Clark with a fresh, 21st Century perspective. Originally from Houston, John has spent the last twelve years kicking around California and getting kicked back. His direct, unflinching lyrics give voice to the collective dread and disillusionment of a generation taking up society’s dystopian mantle.

John Hollywood, folk, rustic, singer songwriter, acoustic, down home, traditional folk music, "geryon", collective dread, existential folk, tradition of John Prine,