John Thomas Griffith (born April 3, 1960) is an American singer-songwriter best known as a guitarist and vocalist for the band

Cowboy Mouth Cowboy Mouth is an American band based in New Orleans, Louisiana known for fusing alternative rock with album-oriented rock, roots rock, and jam band influences. Formed in 1992, the band saw early mainstream success in the 1990s, including th ...

. Griffith first established himself on the American music scene in the early 1980s as lead singer and guitarist for the new wave band

Red Rockers Red Rockers were an American musical band from New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, active from 1979 to 1985. Originally formed as a hard-charging punk rock band, they changed their style to a smoother, more melodic sound and released two al ...

, co-writing their 1983 MTV hit " China". Griffith was born in Lubbock, Texas, and raised in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

, Southern California, New Jersey, and eventually New Orleans. In

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, while attending

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

in Baton Rouge, he began his professional musical career. Finding a base in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

, Griffith and local friends, James Singletary and Darren Hill, founded the early punk rock band, Red Rockers. After a short but successful career highlighted by the 1983–84 MTV hits, "China" and, "Good as Gold", singles from its album Good As Gold (Columbia/415,1983), multi arena tours with U2, Joan Jett, Men at Work and B-52s, Red Rockers disbanded in early 1987.... The departure led Griffith to release his first solo album, ''Son of an Engineer'', in 1988 on Laughing Gravy Music. After a brief stab at solo-dom, opening twice for Bob Dylan, Griffith was approached by fellow New Orleanians, Fred LeBlanc and

Paul Sanchez Paul Sanchez is a New Orleans-born and based American guitarist and a singer-songwriter. Sanchez was a founding member of the New Orleans band Cowboy Mouth. He was a guitarist and one of the primary singers and songwriters for the band from 19 ...

, in fall 1990. Griffith and Sanchez were already performing as The Lonesome Travelers, in 1989. Since 1990, Griffith has been a founding member, resident guitar slinger, vocalist, and principal songwriter for the New Orleans based rock group, Cowboy Mouth. In 2019, Cowboy Mouth will make a 29th consecutive New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Fest performance, and Griffith a 31st. Known by most of his fans as "JTG" or "Griff", John Thomas Griffith was inducted into ''Buddy'' magazine's Texas Guitar Hall of Famehttp://buddymagazine.com/?p=4 in 1999, joining

Billy Gibbons William Frederick Gibbons (born December 16, 1949) is an American musician who is the guitarist and lead singer of the rock band ZZ Top. He began his career in the band the Moving Sidewalks, which recorded a full-length album entitled, ''Flas ...

ZZ Top ZZ Top is an American rock band formed in 1969 in Houston, Texas. For 51 years, they comprised vocalist-guitarist Billy Gibbons, drummer Frank Beard and vocalist-bassist Dusty Hill, until Hill's death in 2021. ZZ Top developed a signature sou ...

Eric Johnson Eric Johnson may refer to: Music *Eric Johnson (guitarist) (born 1954) an American guitarist and recording artist * Eric D. Johnson (born 1976), member of multiple indie-rock bands including Fruit Bats, The Shins and Califone Politics * Eric Joh ...

, and others. When not touring with Cowboy Mouth, he performs living room concerts throughout the USA, composes and licenses music for film and TV through his company, iSourceMusic, with his side project, Black Ant King. Griffith resides in Northern California.

Discography

With Red Rockers

Albums

* '' Condition Red'' (1981) * '' Good as Gold'' (1983) * ''Schizophrenic Circus'' (1984)

With Cowboy Mouth

Albums

* ''Word of Mouth'' (1992) * ''It Means Escape'' (1994) * '' Are You with Me?'' (1996) * ''Word of Mouth (Remix!)'' (1996) * '' Mercyland'' (1998) * ''Easy'' (2000) * '' Uh-Oh'' (2003) * '' Voodoo Shoppe'' (2006) * ''

Fearless Fearless or The Fearless may refer to: Psychology * Lack of fear * Courage or bravery Film, television and audio Film * ''Fearless'' (1978 film), an Italian film directed by Stelvio Massi * ''Fearless'' (1993 film), an American drama directed ...

'' (2008) * ''This Train'' (2011) * ''Go'' (2014)

Live albums and EPs

* ''Mouthin' Off (Live & More)'' (1993) * ''Mouthin' Off (Live & More)'' (remastered) (1997) * ''Cowboy Mouth LIVE!'' (limited edition 5-song EP issued with Mercyland) (1998) * ''

Live in the X Lounge Live in the X Lounge is a series of albums released by Birmingham, Alabama's former alternative rock radio station, WRAX. Though the station can no longer be found on the air, this series of live performances was produced while the station wa ...

'' – "Jenny Says" (1998) * ''All You Need Is Live'' (2000) * ''

'' – "Easy" (2000, 2001) * ''Uh Oh'' (5-song preview EP) (2003) * ''Live at the Zoo'' (2004) * '' Mardi Gras'' (2010)

Live DVD

* '' The Name of the Band is Cowboy Mouth'' (2007)

Solo albums

* ''Son of an Engineer'' (1987) * ''Lonesome Travelers'' (2000) * ''Aluminum'' (2001) * ''Lonesome Travelers – Chicago Live'' (2003) * ''Apples and Onions'' (2005)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Griffith, John Thomas Cowboy Mouth members Living people 1960 births American alternative rock musicians American male singer-songwriters American male pop singers American rock guitarists American male guitarists American rock singers American rock songwriters Musicians from New Orleans People from Lubbock, Texas People from Houston Alternative rock guitarists Male new wave singers Singer-songwriters from Texas Singer-songwriters from Louisiana Guitarists from Louisiana Guitarists from Texas 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians