Jonathan Harwood

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I have been performing professionally as a musician since about 1994. While I started out in 1989 playing in various original bands with whom I performed and recorded into the late 1990's, I have primarily been a cover musician for much of my career. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have had so many positive influences in my life that have supported my love for performing in front of an audience. Additionally, I am a pretty big ham. So I suppose that's they reason why the stage came quite naturally to me!

After leaving the full time cover band/bar scene in early 2001, I got to the point where I performed over 300 dates per year as a solo, duo or trio acoustic act, and I ran a part time night club act called S.F.O. that was comprised of anywhere from three to six musicians. However, we now only play a couple times a year under that name for fun when the opportunity presents itself.

I currently run an eleven piece band called RIO that is solely booked for private affairs. I still perform as a solo acoustic act in a few public venues throughout the year (but mostly in the summer) just to keep my hands loose and to have the opportunity to still perform the music that I love so much.

So I perform at about 80-90 private affairs per year, and the rest of my calendar consists of a few solo (and occassionally duo) acoustic shows where I perform a vast array of songs from over the last 70 years or so. I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 1500+ songs in my repertoire, but I really can't be sure. The fact is that you'll probably never see the same show twice as I never use a set list (for bands or for solo gigs).

In 2006 I redirected my career to include booking talent for EBE (an Event & Entertainment group) in Philadelphia. This is also the company through which RIO books exclusively. I continue to dream that I may some day have the time to revitalize my original endeavors. Occasionally I have the opportunity to collaborate with my long time friend & partner in crime, Brett Foreman. Although Brett relocated to southern Florida some years ago, current technology is allows us to work on some new original material over the internet. Cool stuff.

What time I have left is reserved for my family who mean everything to me and without whom my life would have little purpose. If I get a free moment, I try to write a song or read the paper (I'm a current events junkie). Should I get any new recordings of original material, I suppose that I'll post them on this site and of YouTube or something like that!!!!

Try to stop out to a show, say hi, and we'll raise a glass together!

View Jonathan's Sample Songlist and Gallery