I left Oregon with but a suitcase and guitar, discarding all those heavy distractions. I signed the pink slip and placed it with the keys in the car I abandoned. I'd traveled before, always, but in the safety of friends' major-label tour buses while I was supposed to be in high school. This time I went to the mysterious East, and by the time I found New York, I'd found a different and simpler voice, one I could blast proudly from any stage rather than shyly into a 4-track.
  Soon I was touring again with new friends, but sharing bills, not just bunks. Names old hipster friends used to beam about to me, wondering why I didn't much care about the exciting new world of indie music, became names of companions in vehicles and on stages in 40-something states and a few other countries. The Mountain Goats, Vetiver, Michael Gira, Larkin Grimm, Sleepy Sun, Owen Pallett, Alela Diane. Yet everywhere, I'm haunted by the hobo's fear - at any moment some authority figure is going to push me out, tell me I'm not allowed unless I get a real job. And once I sing, everything changes. People glow, feel they know me. I guess that's why I sing. It allows me.
  My father is a cowboy, I grew up on a California beef ranch. My earliest memories are either on horseback or with a .22 rifle in hand. Maybe that's why I'm vegan. My mother is a speech therapist. I had so many impediments, my sister had to come in as translator when I did Show-and-Tell. Maybe that's why I write and sing. First I was in redwoods and hills, now in Manhattan and hiways. Maybe that's why still, I'm seeking home.

  Oh yeah, and it's pronounced "Who"...

  Press contact: johnny at johnhoux dotcom

Nice things people say

"...a talented young folksinger with a literate edge and old-fashioned sensibility channeling the pre-plugged Greenwich Village scene of the early '60s."
- Time Out New York

"The best new songwriter on the scene in a long time."
- Urban Folk (NYC)

"...in the New York singer-songwriter scene, the new revelation is achieved. His passionate voice gives depth to his words, alternately lyrical and rebellious... with the potential of a future classic, blasting a fresh innocence that is rare in this time when commerce prevails."
- RootsTime (Belgium)

"[Fans of] Americana can rejoice, for they have found themselves a new potential hero in John Houx."
- Whisperin & Hollerin (Ireland)

"...to Houx's credit, he doesn't shy away from a songwriting style that owes a lot to [Dylan]... because his songwriting is strong enough to carry past comparisons."
- QuickCrit Music (Santa Cruz)

"He is a man of few words, but his music speaks volumes: catchy without being sugary; poignant without being preachy. He embodies everything a folk singer should be but usually isn't."
- SuperVegan.com

"This is that dreaded four-letter word, folk, that's still alive and revelatory. Awesome!"
- Phoning It In, WMBR (Cambridge)

Favorite Albums of 2009 (Green Period)
- WFMU (NYC)

"Absolutely thrilling."
- OffTempo.com (Seattle)