By: Robby Ripchord
For the most part I’m not really into hippy folk rock jam bands like Dave Matthews and it’s funny that I’m writing this and The John Butler Trio opened up for Dave Matthews one summer on tour in the U.S.
Fronting the band is of course John Butler but it has had many members on bass and percussion. Butler was born in California but moved to Australia at age 11 and has went platinum there a couple of times. He seems to be a very accomplished guitarist from the limited amount of videos I’ve seen on Youtube. He can remind you of Jack Johnson at times but more I guess I would have to say Rusted Root is probably the closest pigeonhole I can put him but I’d rather listen to Butler any day of the week.
All of Butler’s music is recorded and released independently which probably partly explains why I never heard of him since last week given the force fed crap on the radio and MTV.
April Rising was released in late March and is how I discovered him on Lala.com and the album cover is this supremely kick ass shot of a lion head to the right. It debuted on the Billboard Top 100 at #36 in America. Highlights of the album I thought included One Way Road, C’mon Now, Don’t Wanna See Your Face, Take Me, To Look Like You and my personal favorite you can listen to below.
Check out the entire Album for free at Lala.com.