Get to Meet the Owner and Founder John Manion

John Manion

“Thinking music for the drinking man,”“Smart Pop,” or even “Folk Broadway” might be the place to file singer-songwriter John Manion on your playlist. The blessing and the curse of not fitting into a defined genre have been a matter of fact for John Manion as he navigated the music world for the last 30 years. The New Jersey native spent 22 formative years in Nashville, TN, before moving to New York for a corporate sales job in 2002.

At that point, Manion consciously decided to put music aside, but it crept back in as a “means of self-defense” in a world of quotas and deadlines. He soon found himself on stage during Out Music nights at hot spot Rockwood Music Hall in the East Village, and so began phase 2 “of my artistic career.”

“I enjoy music now more than ever- I have nothing to prove but a lot of perspective at this point in life,” says Manion. Fireworks In The Rain, Manion’s 4th record for indie label New Bohemian was released in 2008. It was a jazz-edged project that leaned more towards the vibe of Tom Waits and Peggy Lee than his past concept projects such as 1998’s Little Movies or Big Lessons from 2002.

Manion’s most recent full-length CD was released early in 2012. The project entitled Three Dollar Thrill is a collection of songs about life in New York City and urban woes, and “Fruit Stand Man,”“If I Were A Pigeon,” and “How Many People Can We Get On This Train” are standouts. There is also rocking documentation of a 2006 major malfunction of the Roosevelt Island Tram entitled “Stuck In The Guy” and a re-make “Who Invited You” about an over-bearing life of the party.