JOHN TOWNLEY – ROUND SWAMP ROAD – LOLLIPOPPE SHOPPE HEINNING KÜPPER (Folk, Blues, US) (hh)

John Townley ist einer von der alten, politischen Garde der Liedermacherszene, fast kämpferisch – folkmilitant, manchmal sogar in Kampfkluft auf alten Wegen.

Sein Freund und Grammy – Gewinner John Kilgore hat die CD produziert. John Townley hat die Lieder allein eingespielt und dann eine Spur zur anderen gelegt, so dass ein toller vielstimmiger Sound entstand.

Der 80jährige zeigt, mit seinen Songs und Arrangementas, wie politische Traditionen der 60er mit Folk und Blues jetzt wieder aktuell sind und mit seinen Lieder lebendig werden.

Schade, dass die Texte nicht beiliegen. Auch im Internet habe ich sie nicht gefunden.

John betrauert auch den Tod seines 2024 gestorbenen Freundes Alan Goldsand, geehrt von der Manhattan School of Music.

Die Lieder haben mir gefallen, ich habe sie genossen, auch, wenn ich sie nicht verstanden habe. Dabei habe ich das Gefühl, dass John Townley zu uns gehört, die wir die Folkquellen gesund halten und das Raunen der alten Musiken heute und morgen mit Liedern zu künftigem Leben erwecken.

Kontakt: The Lollipoppe Shoppe, Henning Küpper,  henning@lollipopshop.de 0176 7825 5079 – Stubbenkammer Str. 3, 10437 Berlin.

Der Laden ist benannt nach der US Garage Rock Band in Las Vegas, Nevada, ggründet 1966.

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John Townley
Born	August 17, 1945 (age 80) Washington, D.C.

John Townley (born 1945) is a musician, astrologer, and naval historian who was a member of the folk-rock group The Magicians and founder of New York City’s Apostolic Recording Studio. Townley performs and releases maritime music, and is a professional astrologer who has published eight books on the subject.

Townley’s parents, who were former owners of Beekman Place Bookshop in Manhattan, lived in Rancho Santa Fe, California when Townley was just beginning school. Opposed to the California education system’s adoption of the whole-word recognition system to teach reading, the family relocated to Port Lavaca, Texas, where they began living on a boat and homeschooling Townley for over two years as they sailed from the Bahamas to New England, eventually settling in the Miami neighborhood of Coconut Grove.

In the 1960s, Townley discovered folk music and began playing guitar. He later left college to move to New York City’s Greenwich Village to study guitar with Reverend Gary Davis, eventually becoming Davis‘ driver in order to pay for guitar lessons. Townley immersed himself in the Greenwich Village folk music scene, associating with Peter La Farge, David Crosby, Fred Neil, and Vince Martin at establishments like The Gaslight Cafe and Kettle of Fish.

In 1965 Townley was trying to make a living as a musician, working with various artists, including Peter Tork, David Blue, and Jay Ungar. He was approached by Allan „Jake“ Jacobs to record a B-side for Alan Gordon and Garry Bonner. Gordon and Bonner’s band, Tex and the Chex, had recently lost two band members and signed a recording contract with Columbia Records. Jacobs and Townley joined the band, which was renamed The Magicians, but left in 1966.

In August of the same year, Townley turned 21 and came into an inheritance of $85,000. Inspired by two DMT-facilitated psychedelic visions, he decided to establish an independent recording studio in Greenwich Village that would be very different from what he previously experienced recording under the somewhat rigid corporate practices of Columbia Recording Studio.^[1] Townley invested in a building at 53 East 10th Street and outfitted it with the first recording console designed and built by API co-founders Lou Lindauer and Saul Walker, along with a prototype 1″ 12-track Scully tape recorder. Apostolic Recording Studio opened in 1967, its name alluding to its capabilities as the first 12-track studio in New York City.^[2][3]

In the 1970s, Townley developed an interest in maritime music. He began visiting the South Street Seaport and singing with others aboard the ships there, resulting in the „X-Seamen’s Institute“ quartet. Townley moved to Virginia and worked for the Mariners‘ Museum. He continued to perform maritime music professionally and has recorded and produced several albums in that genre. He also performed with other sea shanty bands, including „The Press Gang“.

Townley received his first astrology chart from astrologer Al H. Morrison, and provided office space for Morrison on the 6th floor of Apostolic Recording Studio’s building in exchange for doing readings for the studios‘ clients. Townley later became a professional astrologer, later publishing eight books on the subject. He also served as President of the Astrologers’ Guild of America.

Townley’s first wife was Gilma (Gilly). Their daughter, Dierdre, is pictured on the cover of the studio’s 1968 2-disc LP The Family of Apostolic.^[4] Townley later married Christine.^[1]

• John Townley official website – AstroCocktail
• Video of Townley performing Row On at the 2006 Chicago Maritime Festival on YouTube
• The Alan Gordon Music Library
• Author bio Llewellyn Worldwide
• [1] Interview: Questions and Answers