Singer-songwriter John Vincent III has fond memories of growing up in Akron. He lived there until sixth grade, when his parents pulled up stakes and jetted off to Houston, TX, where he would form a band and embark on his musical career.
“Most of my family is still in the Akron area,” says John Vincent III via phone from Los Angeles, where he was recording some new tunes. He performs on Dec. 19 at the Agora. “It was great. I love Ohio so much. My grandparents lived on the boarder of Norton and Copley. They had a pond in their backyard. I would swim in the pond with my cousins. I think at that point I wanted to be a professional soccer player or something like that. But I played piano, and my grandmother had a piano, and I took piano lessons. I had an infatuation with music.”
While in high school in Houston, he gravitated toward Americana/indie folk acts such as Bon Iver and the Lumineers. Vincent also says classic rock acts like the Doors and Chuck Berry were in rotation as well as blues music from the ’50s and ’60s. He started writing songs with a band he formed but says the group never quite finished one.
After his friends went off to college, and he stayed home, he started writing original material.
“It was during that alone time that I found the time to write my own songs,” he says.
He put a few singles online and an L.A.-based producer contacted him about cutting an album. He didn’t have enough songs for an album but furiously wrote more tunes and cut what would be his debut, Songs from the Valley.
“I’m super grateful for that record, and I wouldn’t have been able to make music without that record coming out,” he says when asked about the release.
The album came out in 2019. He toured behind it and then COVID hit, and he thought the pandemic-induced shutdown was a sign to take a break. He and his girlfriend hopped in a Ford Transit van and traveled the country for eight months.
“I needed a break from music,” he says. “I had been giving it so much for so long, and nothing was happening. During those eight months, something happened with my music on Spotify. I got lucky that period of time. I was gaining listeners and people who wanted to hear new music in the span of a year. It was a very big jump. It was one of those moments. You hear artists talk about that. Sometimes, when you let go, it has the freedom to grow. That’s what I feel like happened there.”
With the van trip behind him, Vincent III began writing songs for a new album, Songs for the Canyon. He first penned the Wilco-like piano ballad “Dandelion,” and then the rest of the tunes started coming. Production took place in a few different cities.
“I was a different person at that point than when I was making the first album,” says Vincent III. “My influences had changed, and I listening to ’60s Laurel Canyon folk and the Beatles. I wanted something that sounded more in that vein. There was something conscious about the change in sound. It was a grueling process, but I learned so much.”
Co-produced by Vincent III with Tom Elmhirst (Adele, David Bowie) and featuring production from Tony Berg (boygenius, Taylor Swift), Ryan Hadlock (the Lumineers, Brandi Carlile) and Jonathan Gilbert (Mt. Joy, Pete Yorn), the album shows off Vincent III’s supple, evocative voice on tunes such as “Highway Woman” and “Bluebird Singing.”
The upcoming show at the Agora will be one of two Ohio concert that pair Vincent with up-and-coming singer-songwriter Michael Marcagi, who also has Ohio roots.
“He’s from Cincinnati, and I’m from Akron,” says Vincent, who’ll have his backing band with him for the gigs. “We both wanted to play some hometown shows. It’s a co-headline show. In Cincinnati, he will headline, and I will headline in Cleveland. We both have an hour set. Maybe we’ll do some more shows in the future. I will have the band with me. I’m so excited. I opened for Shakey Graves at the Agora in 2023 and just did a solo show. That was my first gig in Ohio, and I’m so excited to play there again.”
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