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John Voorhees is close enough to being a Louisiana native. He was born in Michigan, but raised in the town of Hammond, an easy hour's drive from both New Orleans and Baton Rouge.

Music was always in the air in the Voorhees household. John's father is Dr. Jerry Voorhees, professor of music at Southeastern Louisiana University. Through his early years, John played cello in a home-based string trio, sang in the church choir led by Dr. Voorhees and played baritone horn in several school bands.

John spent the late '80s as a college DJ, absorbing the tunes of REM, Elvis Costello, They Might Be Giants and XTC. In the summer of 1990, John picked up an acoustic guitar and hasn't put it down yet.

John's first songs, written during the first Bush administration, were very political and addressed such topics as freedom of speech, unchecked corporate power and the Gulf War. His more recent material tends to explore personal politics with songs about dysfunctional relationships, hypocrisy and the power of natural cycles, equilibrium and fate.

Over the past ten years, John has traveled between Louisiana and Vermont playing in coffeehouses and music festivals. He has released 3 full-length CDs of original music, his songs have been included in three CD compilations and he once opened a show for Livingston Taylor.

Burlington, VT's "Seven Days" arts magazine describes John as "a self-deprecating wordsmith who knows a thing or two about melody... A modern folk popster who seems in love with the world and doesn't need to make himself the center of it."

Listeners have compared his performance style to John Denver, Don McLean, Billy Joel, Phil Ochs and James Taylor (but he wishes he sounded more like Ray Charles).

You can hear John's music at johnvoorhees.com and read his weblog at soundacious.com/weblog.html.