Jono Manson

Jono Manson plays on the Taberna Stage from 6pm-8pm

Jono Manson is a prolific singer-songwriter, instrumentalist, producer and an engaging performer. During a storied career spanning over five decades he has played everywhere from the local dive to Madison Square Garden and has amassed an impressive discography that includes major label and indie releases on three continents. Jono has produced albums for Grammy winners and local heroes, American Idol finalists and Folksingers, Italian pop stars and Pakistani Sufi folk-rockers.

Born and raised in New York, Manson began his professional career in the 1970s as a teenager in the city’s dirty dive bars, where six-hour gigs were the norm and nights out rarely ended before sunrise. By the early ’80s, Manson was a highly respected figure on the club circuit, and his band, Joey Miserable and The Worms, were a force to be reckoned with. The New York Times called the group “local heroes” and credited them with influencing “countless” other acts, including the likes of Joan Osborne, who hailed them as “master entertainers” who “always had the crowds eating out of their hands.” In the decades to come, Manson would go on to develop a career as a recording artist and producer in Italy, continue to perform his own music far and wide, compose for major motion pictures, and play alongside Bruce Springsteen, Emmylou Harris, and Joan Baez on the occasion of Pete Seeger’s 90th birthday.

He currently makes his home in Santa Fe, NM, where he has put down deep roots in the local community, as a performer, educator, organizer and producer. He is the founder and chief engineer of “The Kitchen Sink” recording studio where he has nurtured creative projects for countless artists, emergent and established alike. Jono has six times been named “Producer of the Year” by the New Mexico Music Awards.

Press Quotes:

"A beloved and iconic member of the local music community.” 

- Santa Fe Reporter

"Manson attacks the high art of low-rent songcraft with a paid assassin’s precision.”
-  No Depression Magazine

"From poignant poet to playful prankster, Jono Manson is a shining star in his own right." 

-  Turnstyled, Junkpile 

"...instant-grabber hooks and smartly constructed riffs, shiny melodies and warm harmonies, confident, seductive vocal performances and intelligent, relatable story lines."

- Relix Magazine

"'Stars Enough to Guide Me’ marks a new season in Manson’s life, and reveals his mastered diversity in roots, soul, folk, and country"

- American Songwriter

photo credit: William Coupon