John Bunzow (born May 2, 1951) is an American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

singer-songwriter. Bunzow was signed to

Liberty Records Liberty Records was a record label founded in the United States by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Al Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer. It was reactivated in 2001 in the United Kingdom and had two previous revival ...

and charted one single on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot Country Singles & Tracks Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

chart.

Career

Bunzow was signed to

(which was then the name of the Nashville subsidiary of Capitol Records) and released his debut single, "Easy as One, Two, Three", in 1995. Deborah Evans Price of ''

'' gave the song a favorable review, writing that "Bunzow plays it simple, but keeps things interesting by throwing in some nifty chord-change curves." It peaked at number 69 on the ''Billboard''

chart. Liberty planned to release Bunzow's album, ''Stories of the Years'', on May 23, 1995. Pemberton Roach of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

gave the album three stars out of five, calling it "a refreshingly direct, no-nonsense country record that had more in common with

Steve Earle Stephen Fain Earle (; born January 17, 1955) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, author, and actor. Earle began his career as a songwriter in Nashville and released his first EP in 1982. Initially working in the country music g ...

's best work than with any dance-club pretty boys."

Alanna Nash Alanna Nash is an American journalist and biographer. Born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1950, Nash holds a master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and is the author of several acclaimed books. She is a 1972 graduat ...

of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'' gave the album an A grade, writing that Bunzow blends "an amiable tenor with economy of language and the minimalistic production of

Dwight Yoakam Dwight David Yoakam (born October 23, 1956) is an American singer-songwriter, actor, and film director. He first achieved mainstream attention in 1986 with the release of his debut album '' Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.''. Yoakam had considerab ...

collaborator

Pete Anderson Pete Anderson is an American guitarist, music producer, arranger and songwriter. Anderson is most known for his guitar work with, and critically acclaimed production of, country music star Dwight Yoakam from 1984 through 2002, a partnership th ...

." After

Jimmy Bowen James Albert Bowen (born November 30, 1937) is an American record producer and former rockabilly singer. Bowen brought Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood together, and introduced Sinatra to Mel Tillis for their album, ''Mel & Nancy.'' Early life ...

left Liberty Records in March 1995 and the label returned to its Capitol Nashville name, the album was shelved and Bunzow was dropped. Bunzow continued writing and performing. A compilation of material Bunzow wrote for publishing companies in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

, ''Off the Shelf'', was released by ZoDog Records in 2000. In 2002, Bunzow recorded an album, ''Darkness and Light'', which was released by independent label Sideburn Records. Bob Gottlieb of

gave the album four stars out of five, calling it "a strong disc that rips into each new song with a strong ferocity that brings the song home." Bunzow also released a live album, ''Alive at O'Connor's'', in 2004.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Music videos

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bunzow, John American country singer-songwriters American male singer-songwriters Living people Country musicians from Oregon Singers from Portland, Oregon Liberty Records artists 1951 births Singer-songwriters from Oregon