I am a musician, educator and organizer who has recently relocated to Brooklyn, NY after living and working in Durham NC for 13 years. I am from Cambridge, MA originally.

Musically, I’m most known for having released a bunch of records in the ’90s as half of a duo called the Folk Implosion that I co-founded with Lou Barlow in 1993. Folk Implosion songs have been featured on various film soundtracks, (Kids, Adaptation,) soundtrack albums, (American Beauty, A Life Less Ordinary) and TV shows, (The People vs. OJ Simpson, NFL on Fox, 20/20, The Today Show, Pepsi, Where’s My Jet.)  The works we recorded for the film Kids compiled and reissued by Domino Records in September of 2023.  Joyful Noise has reissued our albums, Take a Look Inside and Dare to Be Surprised in 2023 and 2025, respectively.  We have one more reissue coming up in the summer of 2026.

Our full length “comeback” album Walk Thru Me came out on iJoyful Noise Recordings on 6/28/2024, including the singles Moonlit Kind, Bobblehead Doll, and My Little Lamb. We subsequently completed a 41 city “First Shows in 26 years” tour that stretched from 2024-2025 through the US and the UK.

I have also released numerous solo projects since 1993.  Most of my solo releases have appeared through the Shrimper label, but I also release things on my own label, Inundation Records.  My most recent solo release is an album called Love In the Time of Capital.  I recorded it with members of the Indie Pop band LAKE at Unknown Recording Studio in Anacortes, WA.  Vinyl is is available for order on Bandcamp, and it is available to brick and mortar stores with distribution via Joyful Services and Secretly Canadian. I play periodic shows with Eli and Andrew from LAKE, and also with my NC-based backing band the Cicadas. A new JD and the Cicadas album is in final stages of mixing at the moment. You can check out details about it and other works-in-progress on the Upcoming Projects page of this website.

You can find most of my solo material on my Bandcamp site, under the nickname jdsoundbite, which I use online to offset the ubiquity of my given name.  You can also offer financial support and hear playlists of works-in-progress by becoming a subscriber at my Bandcamp website.  $5 a month gets you all the digital goods, and $10 a month gets you a long list physical goods like records, t shirts, posters etc.

I was born in Brattleboro, VT, grew up in Cambridge MA, and spent most of my life there until I moved to Durham NC in August of 2013.  I have practiced Vipassana or Insight meditation since 1986, as adopted by westerners from Thai and Burmese traditions, as well as in a few different schools of Zen that came to this country from Vietnam and Korea.  I identify as a 21st century socialist and want capitalism, white supremacy, patriarchy, heteronormative gender roles, and the rule of the corporate duopoly to die a swift death – but realize those are multigenerational projects that require patience.

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If you want to send me a message, the best way to reach me is through my Facebook page.  I also accept friend requests on my personal page from people if they have enough mutual friends for me to be able to tell they know me apart from the million other JD’s out there.  That’s where people respond the most to news I put out there of what I’m up to musically.

Metta,

John H. Davis