Meet Jon Chandler

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jon Chandler.

Jon, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I’m a seventh-generation Coloradan on my mother’s side. Members of her ancestral family came to Colorado in 1858 from Georgia as part of the Russell Party, which discovered gold on Ralston Creek in present-day Arvada, sparking the Pikes Peak or Bust gold rush and the founding of Denver. As someone with family roots in Colorado that predate its statehood, I’ve always been aware of my symbiotic relationships with the culture and geography of the American West. I’ve also always been aware of my need to communicate that western mindset through music, writing, and storytelling. Growing up in Thornton, I was always enchanted by the tales I learned about my family’s history, and as early as high school, I was writing short stories based on my ancestor’s adventures. My West was formed as the result of family lore that was populated with Colorado pioneers and Nebraska ranchers, acquaintances of Buffalo Bill Cody and friends of Tom Horn, Civil War veterans from both sides, and frontiersmen who lived off the land. So, I’m a westerner by lineage and by choice, and I carry that ethic into everything I do.

I attended the University of Denver and hold B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Northern Colorado. During that time, I began performing, which led to dual careers in public relations/marketing and entertainment. For much of my career, I was a p.r. guy during the day, and a honky-tonk singer at night. I worked for several large agencies and corporations and had my own agency, The Clay Group, for nearly a decade. But I always used music and storytelling in some way, shape, or form in my p.r. work. My wife is from Nebraska, and I became enamored of the American Midwest, as well, which led to extensive work in both public relations and entertainment for the American agricultural industry.

I made the jump into creative entertainment when a California company approached me to be involved with an audiobook project. I abridged, narrated, scored and wrote original songs for a series of audio Zane Grey novels that were uniquely packaged and marketed, and soon began working on a western children’s project as well as my first full-length recording of original songs. I stayed that course, and in 2020 released my tenth recording, Homage.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I doubt that any career path is truly smooth, but mine has had particular and peculiar challenges. Name recognition is paramount to success in any creative genre, and it’s hard to come by. Self-marketing is essential yet extremely difficult. The entertainment industry is notoriously fickle, and projects crash and burn constantly. You can never take anything for granted. I had signed the dotted line of an agreement with a major media firm for one of my projects to become an animated children’s film and series, just the have the company change CEOs. And, the screenplay for my first novel has been achingly close to being turned into a film several times. These things can be dispiriting, but of course, there’s always opportunity. The screenplay is still making the rounds, and I’m still making a living writing and making music. Struggles are always ahead, yet so is gratification.

Can you give our readers some background on your music?
I’m known primarily as a singer and songwriter in the Americana genre, specializing in Western themes. I perform throughout the country, as well as spending the past 15 years producing and hosting the iconic monthly America’s Soul Live concert series at the Olde Town Pickin’ Parlor in Arvada. I’m known for what one critic called “literate and literary” story songs. I’m set apart from what may be the mental image of a “cowboy singer,” in several ways. I’m a nationally lauded singer/songwriter and author whose songs and books are reflections of my western heritage. I’ve traveled throughout the country performing at concert venues, honky-tonks, nightclubs, cowboy poetry gatherings, and music festivals, and have appeared everywhere from the legendary Ryman Auditorium in Nashville to the Congressional Earth Day Reception in Washington D.C. I was named Best Living Western Musician by True West Magazine, am the recipient of three Spur Awards from the Western Writers of America and was most recently honored with the Branding Iron Award by the William S. Hart Museum in Newhall, California. I’m also an author and former board member of both Western Writers of America and the Colorado Cowboy Gathering.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
During my teen years, I had an epic series of fishing trips with my grandfather on my mother’s side, my dad, and my uncle. Each July for three or four years, the four of us would take off from Denver to the Madison River in Montana for a week, fishing from the Yellowstone area up through the Missouri River and its tributaries. Being with three ultimate “characters” for those trips was the most inclusive experience of my life. We fished constantly, ate around campfires, did a minimal amount of tourist stuff, and laughed. I soaked in their stories and wisdom and they provided a true path for my life. I’ve written songs and stories about the experience, and my song The Road That Leads to Yellowstone won the Western Folklife Center’s Yellowstone and the Tetons Songwriting Award.

Contact Info:

• Address: Jon Chandler Music
  13008 East 106th Place
  Commerce City, CO 80022
• Website: jonchandler.com
• Phone: 7203391898
• Email: jon@jonchandler.com
• Facebook: facebook.com/JonChandler.fanpage and facebook.com/jonchandlermusic

Image Credit:
All photos by Bill Patterson

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