How John Craigie Mixes Story-telling With Song

John Craigie has gone halfway around the globe to promote his latest album

Quirky Portland singer-songwriter John Craigie crams a lot into his 90-minute concerts these days. Most of it is talking. No, not talkin’ blues. This is talkin’ chitchat – ranging from the bizarre to the ridiculous!

Craigie is traveling around the globe to promote his 2024 release Greatest Hits…Just Kidding…Live-No Hits. And, as with a live album, there is no better way to support it than onstage. He does this by gleefully engaging his audience with humorous story-telling, interspersed with a dozen or so of his popular compositions - whether they be hits or not!

The native Californian has just spent a month touring Australia – a country he admires for its wildlife as he does for its people. On his way back to Oregon, he did four gigs in New Zealand’s North Island, the last at The Tuning Fork, the popular Americana venue in Auckland.

In the true folkie-troubadour tradition of the likes of Woody Guthrie and Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, Craigie equipped himself on tour with just his guitar and harmonica – plus his impressive vocal range. But he takes the whole audience interaction thing one step further than Woody or even Ramblin’ Jack ever did.

Unlike recent gigs, he kicked off his Auckland show as per the recent live album opener, with a stunning rendition of the humorous, self-effacing “Beethoven Dream.”

And I had a dream where I met Beethoven

And Beethoven told me that I wasn’t very good

He said all your songs are simple

Like two or three chords

And you never wrote a symphony

And your music makes me bored

He then stayed true to the Greatest Hits..Just Kidding album with the first monologue of the evening, his “Shy-Craigie” routine. But unlike the album track which has him trying to interface with passengers while performing on a boat cruise. This time it was Norway. And he had the crowd in stitches on how he had to convince the even-shyer Norwegians not to hide up in the balcony of his Oslo concert venue when the ground floor was empty.

Most of his songs were preceded by some good-hearted banter, usually at Craigie’s expense. His lead-in to a mesmerizing acoustic version of “Don’t Ask” was how he had been invited to perform at the 2019 Woodstock anniversary concert. But it was cancelled when many of the big acts pulled out. As the promoters crossed off names on their white board, the only one circled was John Craigie. The crowd was in raptures!

Then he traversed his upbringing in Los Angeles – “raised by hippies and Catholics” – and how he began in the music business by offering to perform in coffee shops, as long as they had a bed upstairs. He then recalled graduating to “house concerts” where in one home he had an audience of just two girls. Both were deaf, communicating only on paper.

And that was a perfect cue to the show’s highlight, the harmonica-infused “Mallory”

She wrote down her name was Mallory

Apologised for her friend for falling asleep

Told she was deaf that’s why she was writing

She asked me if I knew any sign language

And I wrote back that I did not

Except the sign for peace and the sign for smoking pot

She held the pen and wrote with a grin

What else do you need in the end

The mind boggles as to what song might follow this weird yarn. It centred on his visit to Australia. He soon had fans igniting in laughter again when recounting his visit to a wildlife park. It was there he over-heard a park ranger telling a school group that one of Australia’s most famous marsupials the native Koala “all had chlamydia - at least the hot ones did.”  The pupils, according to Craigie, all seemed somewhat nonplussed by this revelation!

Then it was time for another crowd favourite, “I Wrote Mr Tambourine Man,” a mesmerizing composition which has its roots in the bars of New Orleans during Mardi Gras.

And the set-ender “Dissect the Bird” actually had its roots in Craigie’s roots. He said the song had its origins back when he was aged six – “though I didn’t write shit when I was six.” More applause.

Multi-instrumentalist Hannah Morrell joined John Craigie for his encore

And more clapping followed when Craigie returned for the encore and invited the show opener, Tasmanian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Hannah Morrell, to join him. She now swapped her banjo for a fiddle - a wise choice for it provided the perfect accompaniment for his most popular number “I Am California”

So drink all my wine, cut all my trees

Make love on my beaches, smoke all my weed

I am California, can’t you see

Whenever you roam, you’ll always want me           

As might be expected from a composer-troubadour who has amassed more than a dozen albums, Craigie has loads of songs for streaming. But it is somewhat of revelation to discover that on Spotify, “I Am California” has more than 29 – that’s two-nine – million plays!

And yes, he still has to travel to the other end of the earth to make a living. But fans across the world won’t mind that!

Paul Cutler

Editor Crossroads – Americana Music Appreciation