Wesley Stace (born 22 October 1965) is an English

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

/pop singer-songwriter and author, who has used the stage name John Wesley Harding. Under his legal name, he has written four novels. He is also an occasional university teacher and the curator of Wesley Stace's Cabinet of Wonders.

Early life

Stace was born in

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

, East Sussex, England, the son of educators Christopher Stace and Molly Townson. His mother was also an opera singer and for many years was the director of the Hastings Musical Festival. His sister, Melanie Stace, is a performing artist. His given name, Wesley, comes from

John Wesley John Wesley (; 2 March 1791) was an English people, English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The soci ...

, the founder of

Methodism Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's br ...

, who preached one of his last sermons near the town where Harding was born.As a child, he taught himself how to play guitar and eventually starting writing his own songs as a teenager, citing John Prine, Loudon Wainwright III, and

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

as influences. His education included the

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

St. Andrews School ( Pangbourne, Berkshire); Milbourne Lodge (

Claygate Claygate is an affluent suburban village in Surrey, England, southwest of central London. It is the only civil parish in the borough of Elmbridge. Surrounded by green belt, it lies inside the Greater London Built-up Area. Claygate was once in t ...

, Surrey); The King's School Canterbury; and university at

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's full name is The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge. Its common name comes fr ...

. He left Cambridge with a First in

English Literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

, but left before completing his PhD in

Social Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives from ...

and

Political Science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

to pursue a career in music.

Music career

Stace began his musical career using the stage name John Wesley Harding, which he took from the 1967

album '' John Wesley Harding'', for which Dylan misspelled the outlaw

John Wesley Hardin John Wesley Hardin (May 26, 1853 – August 19, 1895) was an American Old West outlaw, gunfighter, and controversial folk icon. Hardin often got into trouble with the law from an early age. He killed his first man at the age of 15, claiming h ...

's name, adding a final 'g'. He attracted notice after opening a concert for John Hiatt, leading him to sign with Demon Records, who released his critically acclaimed live album ''It Happened One Night'' in 1988. The success of the album led to a record deal with Sire Records, with whom he released ''Here Comes the Groom'' in 1990. The album featured members of The Attractions, and this association caused critics to frequently compare Stace to

Elvis Costello Declan Patrick MacManus Order of the British Empire, OBE (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer-songwriter and record producer. He has won multiple awards in his career, including a Grammy Award in ...

for much of his career. He released ''The Name Above the Title'' and ''Why We Fight'' for Sire in 1991 and 1992 respectively, but despite critical acclaim and a strong cult following from his engaging live shows, he was not able to find a larger audience, leading Sire to drop him from the label. He continued to release music as John Wesley Harding throughout the 90s and early 2000s on various independent labels, including the song "I'm Wrong About Everything", featured on the soundtrack for the movie '' High Fidelity''. In 1995, he was chosen by

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...

as his first opening act in 20 years for his solo shows at the

Berkeley Community Theatre Berkeley Community Theater is a theater located in Berkeley, California, United States, on the campus of Berkeley High School. The theater is administered by the Berkeley Unified School District. Description The theater building, a City of Berke ...

in 1995. In the mid 2000s he took a temporary hiatus from music to focus on his burgeoning writing career, returning in 2009 with ''Who Was Changed And Who Was Dead'', a collaboration with The Minus 5. After 2011's ''The Sound of His Own Voice'', he began releasing music under his given name, the most recent being 2021's ''Late Style''. "John Wesley Harding's Cabinet of Wonders", his series of variety shows, began in Spring 2009 in New York City at

(Le) Poisson Rouge (Le) Poisson Rouge (often referred to as LPR) is a music venue and multimedia art cabaret in New York City founded in 2008 by Justin Kantor and David Handler on the former site of the Village Gate at 158 Bleecker Street. The performance space was ...

, before moving to City Winery, and has included appearances by Rosanne Cash,

Graham Parker Graham Thomas Parker (born 18 November 1950) is an English singer-songwriter, who is best known as the lead singer of the British band Graham Parker & the Rumour. Life and career Early career (1960s–1976) Parker was born in Hackney, East L ...

, Josh Ritter, Rick Moody,

Colson Whitehead Arch Colson Chipp Whitehead (born November 6, 1969) is an American novelist. He is the author of eight novels, including his 1999 debut work '' The Intuitionist''; '' The Underground Railroad'' (2016), for which he won the 2016 National Book Awa ...

Jonathan Ames Jonathan Ames (; born March 23, 1964) is an American author who has written a number of novels and comic memoirs, and is the creator of two television series, ''Bored to Death'' (HBO) and ''Blunt Talk'' (STARZ). In the late '90s and early 2000s, ...

, A.C. Newman,

Rhett Miller Stewart Ransom "Rhett" Miller II (born September 1970) is the lead singer of the country rock band Old 97's. He also records and performs as a solo musician, and has been published as a writer of both fiction and non-fiction. Early life Mille ...

, Steven Page, Eugene Mirman, Kristin Hersh,

David Gates David Ashworth Gates (December 11, 1940 – January 5, 2023) was a American singer-songwriter, guitarist, musician and producer, frontman and co-lead singer (with Jimmy Griffin) of the group Bread, which reached the top of the musical charts i ...

, John Roderick, Jon Auer,

Tanya Donelly Tanya Donelly (born July 14, 1966) is an American Grammy Award-nominated singer-songwriter and guitarist based in New England who co-founded Throwing Muses with her step-sister Kristin Hersh. Donelly went on to co-form the alternative rock band ...

Martha Plimpton Martha Plimpton (born November 16, 1970) is an American actress. Her feature-film debut was in '' Rollover'' (1981); she subsequently rose to prominence in the Richard Donner film ''The Goonies'' (1985). She has also appeared in '' The Mosquito ...

, Todd Barry, Steve Almond, and Stephen Elliott. The spring 2010 series featured, among others, Sarah Vowell,

Sondre Lerche Sondre Lerche (; born 5 September 1982) is a Norwegian singer, songwriter and guitarist, now based in Los Angeles, California. He has released nine studio albums. Early life Growing up in a suburb of Bergen, Lerche was heavily influenced by 1980s ...

, Buffalo Tom,

Janeane Garofalo Janeane Marie Garofalo ( ; born September 28, 1964) is an American comedian, actress, and former co-host on the now-defunct Air America Radio's ''The Majority Report''. Garofalo began her career as a stand-up comedian and became a cast member on ...

Robbie Fulks Robert "Robbie" Fulks (born March 25, 1963) is an American alternative country singer-songwriter, instrumentalist and long-time Chicago, Illinois resident. He has released 13 albums over a career spanning more than 30 years. His 2016 record ''Upl ...

, and Paul Muldoon.
Artists
in the series included Andrew Bird,

Tift Merritt Tift may refer to: Places * Tift County, Georgia, a county in south-central Georgia, United States People with the given name * Tift Merritt (born 1975), American singer-songwriter People with the surname * Andrew Tift (born 1968), British portr ...

, and

David Wax Museum David Wax Museum is a folk and roots rock band blending traditional Mexican son music with Americana in what they call "Mexo-Americana". Husband and wife, David Wax and Suz Slezak, are its core members. Most of the band's albums have been self-rel ...

. Podcasts of the series can be heard on NPR's "Cabinet of Wonders." and recently on

Salon.com ''Salon'' is an American politically progressive/liberal news and opinion website created in 1995. It publishes articles on U.S. politics, culture, and current events. Content and coverage ''Salon'' covers a variety of topics, including re ...

. Live shows continue in New York City and across the country.

Writing career

In 2005, Stace published his first novel, '' Misfortune'', under his real name, based upon lyrics to his song "Miss Fortune" from his 1998 album ''Awake''. It was nominated for the Guardian First Book Award, and shortlisted for the

Commonwealth Writers Prize Commonwealth Foundation presented a number of prizes between 1987 and 2011. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best ...

and the

James Tiptree, Jr. Award The Otherwise Award, formerly known as the James Tiptree Jr. Award, is an American annual literary prize for works of science fiction or fantasy that expand or explore one's understanding of gender. It was initiated in February 1991 by science f ...

. ''Misfortune'' was also chosen by

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential economi ...

as one of the Ten Best Novels of 2005, and was one of the

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

's Books of the Year. ''Misfortune,'' translated as ''L'infortunée'', became a best-seller in France, and has also been translated into many languages including

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

, Chinese, and Japanese. The movie rights to "Misfortune" were sold in 2008. His 2005 album ''Songs of Misfortune'' comprises songs written for, or appearing in, that book. His second novel, ''By George'', was published in August 2007; it was one of the

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress ...

's "Books To Remember" of 2007, and Booklist Editor's Choice for books of the year. A third, ''Charles Jessold, Considered as a Murderer'', was published by Jonathan Cape in the UK in July 2010 and Picador in the United States in February 2011, and was one of the Wall Street Journal's Top Ten Books of the Year. ''Wonderkid'', his fourth novel, followed in 2014. He then worked with choreographer Mark Morris on his memoir ''Out Loud'', which was released in 2019. Stace has reviewed for the '' Times Literary Supplement'', ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' and ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. Other writings include chapbooks for some of his albums, and essays for various music publications from Creem to '' Raygun''. His essay, "Listerine: The Life and Opinions of Laurence Sterne," published in ''Post Road'' No. 5, was nominated for a

Pushcart Prize The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize published by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors are ...

Personal life

Stace has lived in the United States since 1991. He currently resides in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

with his wife Abbey, a visual artist. They have two children, Tilda and Wyn. In addition to his writing and music careers, Stace has also taught college courses about creative writing and songwriting at

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the earliest coeduca ...

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

, and

Fairleigh Dickinson University Fairleigh Dickinson University is a private university with its main campuses in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Founded in 1942, Fairleigh Dickinson University currently offers more than 100 degree programs to its students. In addition to its tw ...

. In Spring 2013 at Central Connecticut State University, the English Department offered a course dedicated to Stace's songs and novels ("The Allusive John Wesley Harding/Wesley Stace," ENG 214).

Discography

Albums

As John Wesley Harding * ''It Happened One Night'' (1988) (live) * ''God Made Me Do It: The Christmas EP'' (1989) * ''

Here Comes The Groom ''Here Comes the Groom'' is a 1951 American musical romantic comedy film produced and directed by Frank Capra and starring Bing Crosby and Jane Wyman. Based on a story by Robert Riskin and Liam O'Brien, the film is about a foreign correspondent w ...

'' (1990) * ''

The Name Above the Title ''The Name Above the Title'' is an album by the folk-rock singer John Wesley Harding, released in 1991. It was his third successive Frank Capra-inspired album title, coming from the director's autobiography. Critical reception ''Trouser Press'' ...

'' (1991) * '' Why We Fight'' (1992) * ''Pett Levels: The Summer EP'' (1993) * ''

John Wesley Harding's New Deal ''John Wesley Harding's New Deal'' is an album by the folk-rock singer-songwriter John Wesley Harding, released on February 13, 1996, on Forward Records, an imprint of Rhino Records focused on releasing albums by new artists. Track listing ...

'' (1996) * ''Dynablob'' (studio outtakes, fan club release, later commercially released) (1996) * ''Awake'' (1998) * ''Dynablob 2'' (live recordings, fan club release, later commercially released) (1998) * '' Trad Arr Jones'' (a tribute to Nic Jones) (1999) * ''Dynablob 3: 26 March 1999'' (live, fan club release) (1999) * ''The Confessions of St. Ace'', Mammoth Records (2000) * ''The Man With No Shadow'' (unreleased, later issued as ''Adam's Apple'' with slightly different tracks) (many promotional copies exist) (2002) * ''Dynablob 4: Swings & Roundabouts'' (studio, new material, fan club release) (2002) * ''Garden of Eden: The Fall EP'' (EP) (2003) * ''Adam's Apple'' (2004) * ''Songs of Misfortune'' (as th
Love Hall Tryst
(2005) * ''Who Was Changed And Who Was Dead'' (with

The Minus Five The Minus 5 is an American pop rock band headed by musician Scott McCaughey of Young Fresh Fellows, often in partnership with R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck. Band history McCaughey formed the band in 1993 as a side project with Buck, Jon Auer and ...

) (2009) * ''John Wesley Harding Sings to a Small Guitar, Volumes I & II'' (previously unreleased demos) (2010) * ''The Sound of His Own Voice'' (2011) * * ''The Man With No Shadow'' (

Record Store Day Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2007 and held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". The day brings together fa ...

release) (Combines unreleased version with ''Adam's Apple'') (2020) As Wesley Stace * ''Self-Titled'' (2013) * ''Ovid in Exile'' (2014) (

vinyl only release) * ''Wesley Stace’s John Wesley Harding'' (2017) * ''Greatest Other People’s Hits'' (Covers compilation) (2018) * ''Late Style'' (2021)

Singles

Contributions

*'' Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye: A Tribute to Roky Erickson'' (1990) — "If You Have Ghosts" *
20 More Explosive Fantastic Rockin' Mega Smash Hit Explosions!
' (1992) – "A Little Bit Country, a Little Bit Rock and Roll" w/ Kelly Hogan *
Live At the Iron Horse Vol. 1
' (1997) – "Old Rock N' Roller" *

' (2001) – "Words, Words, Words" * ''

Song of America MS ''Celestyal Olympia'' is a cruise ship owned by the Cyprus-based Celestyal Cruises, formerly Louis Cruise Lines. In April 2012 she was named ''Louis Olympia'' after operating as the Thomson Destiny for Thomson Cruises. She was built in 1982 ...

'' (2007) – "God Save the King" *
Awake, My Soul: The Story of the Sacred Harp (The Original Soundtrack)
' (2008) "Columbus", (Help Me to Sing) *
Just Say Da
' (1990) - "When the Beatles Hit America" *
Just Say Roe
' (1994) - "Right to Choose" * ''

30 Days, 30 Songs 1,000 Days, 1,000 Songs (originally called 30 Days, 30 Songs, then 30 Days, 50 Songs) is a musical project launched on October 10, 2016, by Dave Eggers which was originally supposed to release one song per day from then until November 8, 2016, whic ...

'' (2016) - "Mr. Tangerine Man ive

Bibliography

*''Misfortune'' (2005) *''By George'' (2007) *''Charles Jessold, Considered As A Murderer'' (UK – July 2010), (US – Feb 2011) *''Wonderkid'' (2014) *''Out Loud'' (2019) with Mark Morris

References

External links

Official site

Wesley Stace's Cabinet of Wonders
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harding, John Wesley 1965 births Living people People from Brooklyn English folk musicians English male singer-songwriters 21st-century English novelists British expatriates in the United States Sire Records artists People from Hastings People educated at The King's School, Canterbury Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge English folk singers Musicians from Kent English male novelists 21st-century English male writers