Song by song, Jonny Meyers is catching up with the traditions left quietly behind in his native Forest Hills - the small hub of Queens, NY that provided the breeding grounds for legendary writers like Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel, Burt Bacharach, and the Ramones. Meyers's catalogue to date is careful blend of romance and consciousness set to Jamaican and North American roots music that carefully reflects the lyrical, musical, and raw emotional traces of his predecessors.

While coming up as a guitar player in New York, it was not until a nine-year stint in Austin, Texas that Jonny Meyers started to be recognized for his compositions. After joining The Stingers in 1998, Jonny quickly became the principle songwriter and bandleader and in just a few years they catapulted from Austin onto the international scene, becoming one of the top traditional ska groups known throughout the world. The Stingers have released two full length CD's and four EP's to date, and have completed four European tours and various regional tours throughout the United States.

Although consistently succeeding with the Stingers, Jonny went looking for an acoustic outlet to bring to life a growing number of songs that were outside the band's repertoire. He assembled RokkaTone in 2002, a mixed bag of Austin musicians wielding acoustic instruments that one might find in a Caribbean street band. RokkaTone's curious mix of Jamaican and North American roots music and interesting instrumentation were the perfect match for Jonny's shift in his songwriting, each inventively highlighting the other. In This Life hit the streets in 2006 and has been receiving positive critical acclaim. "His 13 originals boast an ease with the form straight out of Studio One" exclaims Raoul Hernandez, music editor of the Austin Chronicle.

Jonny's stint in Austin ended in 2007 and he returned home to pursue a career in songwriting. While still active as a bandleader (with upcoming releases by the Stingers and RokkaTone accompanied by European tour plans) he intends to build upon his Austin experience and catalogue as he enters into the New York songwriting scene. Right now, you can find him exploring his new neighborhood of Jackson Heights, finding inspiration for the tunes that may soon be mentioned alongside those of his childhood heroes.

His most recent accomplishments include a sold-out performance at the Rock-n-Ska Festival in Sao Paolo, Brazil, song placement in the film "The Long Weekend," and the cover article in the July 13, 2007 edition of the Austin Chronicle. He is also credited for his research in the feature film "The Great Debaters" starring and directed by Denzel Washington. Jonny wrote all the tunes on Skatalite member / trumpeteer Kevin Batchelor's Grand Concourse album (released spring 2011) with the backing of a ska supergroup with members from The Toasters, NYC Ska Jazz Ensemble and others.

"Jonny Meyers shows that Tin Pan Alley is alive and well through some kind of time-space wormhole. If art is communication and craft the means, his songs are both. The music draws from all that is positive about American culture, and it couldn't come at a better time." -Victor Rice, Producer

"Meyers has taken the time to learn the history of the music he performs. He is conversant with not only the earliest days but also the lineage." -Houston Press

"Meyers has the genre down, each track's melodic simplicity matched by its streamlined groove." -Austin Chronicle

Download mp3 of Dream About It from the Stinger's album "All in a Day"

www.jonnymeyersmusic.com
www.myspace.com/jonnymeyers
www.thestingers.net
www.rokkatone.com

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