Jon Butcher is an American rock, blues songwriter, guitarist & freelance multimedia producer.
Born Jon A. Toombs to Joan Butts and John A Toombs Sr., Jon picked up his new last name and his first guitar simultaneously at the age of six, through inspirations of Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and other singing cowboys seen in old movies. In 1967, Jon's stepfather William Butcher adopted him and moved the family from Philadelphia, PA to Clear Air Force Base, Clear, Alaska, for career opportunities. In 1969, Jon's family moved back to Pennsylvania where Jon and his younger brother Brian finished Secondary education at Conestoga High School. Jon then attended Grahm Junior College in Boston, Massachusetts for Broadcast Journalism and it was there that his professional music career began in earnest.
Many people have made comparisons between Jon Butcher and Jimi Hendrix particularly in the early stages of Jon's career. These comparisons were fueled by Butcher's onstage appearance and manerisms, patterned after Hendrix, and his choice for the band name Axis, which was an obvious reference to Hendrix legendary album Axis: Bold as Love. Butcher's stated influences are Richie Havens, John Lennon, Phil Lynott, Bob Dylan and Taj Mahal and today he maintains that the Hendrix comparisons are superficial and has been quoted as saying "Being black and playing a Stratocaster created certain inevitable comparisons, particularly in the early days".
During the middle to late 1970s, Jon Butcher toured the Northeast U.S. with the Boston based band, Johanna Wild. The band generated a large following during its tenure. Their early success was due to promotional practices such as self promotion, self marketing and self management. The most successful Johanna Wild lineup was: Jeff Linscott , Derek Blevins , Troy Douglas Sutler III , and Jon Butcher . Their most popular song, "Suzanne" attained regular airplay at local radio stations like WBCN. Johanna Wild's chemistry influenced much of the Boston music scene of the 1970s.
Relentless touring and strong fan support for Johanna Wild afforded Jon Butcher quick media attention through the then blossoming cable TV networks MTV and radio medias, particularly the influential radio station WBCN in Boston, MA. With the radio promotion of supporters such as WBCN radio personalities Mark Parenteau, Oedipus and Carter Alan, Jon Butcher became a Boston music staple, and in late 1979 (opened for KISS as Jon Butcher Axis 10/23/1979 in Fort Worth, TX) he created Jon Butcher Axis with Sandy Higgins (guitar), Chris Martin (bass) and former Johanna Wild drummer Derek Blevins. Soonafter, Higgins left to be the front man for Balloon, while Charlie Farren fronted the Mk3 lineup of The Joe Perry Project. After several other guitarists came and went, Axis became the power trio which Butcher had always envisioned. Jon Butcher Axis performed throughout New England including Uncle Sam's, the infamous The Rathskeller, The Paradise Theater and many others. The timing and apparent surge in popularity afforded Jon Butcher Axis' next opportunity through Peter Wolf, lead singer of The J. Geils Band.
Jon Butcher Axis was invited to tour with Boston's already world famous J. Geils Band through Peter Wolf, for their 1982 Freeze Frame American tour, culminating in three sold out night shows at the Boston Garden. It was the experience of performing in the Freeze Frame tour that led to Jon Butcher Axis first international record deal with PolyGram Records. This began a recording and touring career which saw the release of Jon Butcher Axis' Stare at the Sun. Further enforcing the reference to Jimi Hendrix, Axis album Bold as Love had cover art depicting Hendrix in front of a blazing sun. Both of the PolyGram records were produced by Pat Moran, also producer for Robert Plant.
1983 saw the release of their first and self-titled album, Jon Butcher Axis, featuring a Johanna Wild revision of "(It Takes) A New Man". Other notable tracks included "Ocean in Motion" and "Walk Like This". This album reached No. 21 in the Billboard Pop Albums chart and Jon Butcher Axis' video "Life Takes a Life" became one of the first videos by a black artist to receive airtime on MTV. At that time, the only two black artists enjoying MTV coverage were Jon Butcher Axis and Michael Jackson. Their second album, Stare at the Sun (1984), reached No. 55 on the Billboard album chart and as a result of these two albums' successes afforded further growing popularity for the band, which added the opportunity to tour with Rush and Def Leppard.
In 1985, Jon Butcher Axis signed with Capitol Records and released Along the Axis. The track, "The Ritual", earned multiple writers in the band a Grammy Nomination for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. On that same album, singles and videos were released for the songs "The Sounds of Your Voice" and "Stop". "The Sounds of Your Voice" (written by band member Thom Gimbel) was the only single to hit the Billboard charts Hot 100 reaching No. 94. Quotes Jon, "The Capitol Records experience was a positive one. Jon Butcher Axis frequently toured major venues across the US during this period, opening for INXS and again with Rush".
The following releases, Wishes (1987) and Pictures from the Front (1989) were simply recorded under the Jon Butcher name. Wishes was Butcher's most successful album. Rumored to have achieved Gold Award status, there is no evidence of this on the RIAA database. MTV videos released from both of these records included "Holy War", "Goodbye Saving Grace" and "Wishes".
In 1991, Jon Butcher Axis ended its run. Jon Butcher himself spent most of the 90's on various multimedia projects. In 1994, he formed Barefoot Servants which released their self-titled album on Epic Records. The band included Leland Sklar (bass), Ben Schultz (guitar) and Ray Brinker (drums). Their second record, Barefoot Servants 2 was released by Atom Records in August 2005. Drummer Ray Brinker was replaced by Londoner Neal Wilkinson.
Solo endeavors
In the mid 1990s, Butcher released two solo blues albums, Positively the Blues and Electric Factory, a title loosely derived from Jimi Hendrix's Electric Ladyland. In 1998, Razor & Tie released The Best of Jon Butcher – Dreamers Would Ride. In November 2000, Butcher released a CD exclusively through his web site A Long Way Home. A Stiff Little Breeze was released on Atom Records in 2001 and was Jon's first solo project with the independent label. This CD resurrected the Jon Butcher Axis name, and again the Hendrix reference. 2002 brought an additional Jon Butcher Axis release, An Ocean in Motion – Live in Boston 1984. Jon joined the Chris Pierce band in 2008 as guitarist and released a live CD Live at the Hotel Cafe. Jon is currently working on Chris' third studio release.