PRISM (2025)
Get this album: CD Vinyl Record 24-Bit Download Stream
Still Searching (2024)
Get this album: CD Vinyl Record Tape 24-Bit Download Stream Tracklist 1. Banjo Loop2. Celt Blues3. East and West4. Remembrance5. Running To Keep Up6. Sunrise Credits Written, Arranged & Produced by John Butler Recorded at Crescent Moon Studio, Santa Fe, New Mexico, U.S.A Thank you to KT Tunstall and Chris Light for taking me into your home and letting me be the first project recorded at Crescent Moon. I owe you one. To James Raymond for listening to an inordinate amount of guitar takes, all my strange grunting whilst playing percussion and somehow still being able to pull a great sound. Engineered by James Raymond Mixed by James NewhouseMastered by Zino Mikorey Instrument Photography by Duncan WrightJB Photo by Nick McKinlayArt Concept by Kester Sappho AlbumArtwork by Tom WalkerTitles by John Butler Thank You toMaton Guitars, Seymour Duncan Pickups & D’Addario stringsfor all theiryears of support Banjo LoopJB: 5-String Banjos ● National Lap Steel ● Percussion ● Moog ● Vocals Celt BluesJB: 6-String Banjo ● 11-String Guitar ● PercussionJames Raymond: Piano ● Moog East and WestJB: Weissenborn Lap Steel ● Guitar Percussion ● Percussion James Raymond: Additional Programming RemembranceJB: 6-String Banjo ● Percussion Running To Keep UpJB: 6-String Guitars ● Weissenborn Lap Steel ● Moog James Raymond: Clavinet ● Piano James Newhouse: Additional Programming SunriseJB: 6-String Guitar Percussion ● Weissenborn Lap Steel ● Percussion
Running River (2024)
Get this album: CD Vinyl Record 24-Bit Download Stream APRIL 10TH 20024 SEASON ONE: HEALING – RUNNING RIVER There is a fundamental principle in ancient Vedic philosophy that asserts the nature of all manifestation is that it moves between the states of creation, sustenance, and destruction. Things begin, they have a middle, and they end. That’s the universal deal. The idea is not to resist or rush any stage of the cycle, rather stay in the flow of where you are at. John’s journey of creating this new album, Running River was a direct reflection of that principle, and a beautiful reminder of the power of going with the universal flow. After the release of his 7th studio album HOME and the subsequent global touring, tumultuous times lay ahead. Not only had the world gone crazy with Covid 19 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but his own world was turned upside down with the loss of his father, the disbanding of the Trio, the continuation of personal anxiety and weariness from years of being on the road away from family. Within this crazy backdrop, John returned to the studio to generate new restorative music. This recording proved difficult with John fighting to produce and engineer the album himself, diving deeper into a world that was technologically challenging and not proving productive. The harder he tried, the further he pushed, the more lost he became. Somewhere amongst it all he hit a wall and admitted defeat. He didn’t want to listen to any of it anymore. All that exertion, all his futile attempts to think his way into fixing it, amounted to nothing. This album returned to a dormant state. It was not ready to be born. But in that crash, in things falling apart, came true surrender. In Sanskrit, the word swaha means to offer it up to something higher, to the divine. It’s not a renunciation or throwing in the towel. It’s letting it go and offering it up to the light. In the failure, John did just that. The surrender was like a giant exhale, the ultimate offering up. Surrender provided space. In the pause there was deeper listening, instead of trying so hard to say something. For too long he had been too much in his head, and in now, in the exhale, he could let go and just be. In the quiet, he could move from the external to the internal, the gross to the subtle. “Out of the chaos, came the order.” It was this stillness and space that allowed John to get clarity to see his way forward in the recording process. A way to “rebuild” himself for a new era that may lay ahead. The “download” he received in the silence and surrender contained a structure: a form of scaffolding almost: Four Seasons: each season a different album of music. 1. Season One: Ambient, starting simply. Heal first. 2. Season Two: Instrumental, beginning again from where it all started busking on the streets of Fremantle, Western Australia. 3. Season Three: Solo song album. 4. Season Four: Back with a band. And so here we are at the offering of the first Season, Running River. Over the years John had found himself drawn to the soothing sounds of ambient music that brought him back into balance. Using it on the long passages of travel to gigs or backstage to block out the industrial noise of festivals. He found listening to this style of music allowed him a little peace and sonic space to maintain wellness practices such as mediation, yoga, breathing, exercise amongst the backdrop of generators and blasting backstage sounds. As he leaned more deeply into these lulling compositions, a desire emerged that he wanted to create this kind of work so others could benefit in the same way. “It’s the continuation of an agreement I made a long time ago which is: if I’m going to do this thing that seems so self-indulgent, making music and “playing with glitter”, let me be a conduit for the divine. Let me be a vehicle for healing. Let me be a vehicle for change. Let me be a vehicle for something bigger than myself.” He had always loved the meandering, improvised, introductions of Blues, Eastern and Celtic compositions and having incorporated that approach over the years with songs like Ocean, decided to expand on that approach. Fuelled by the need to make an album that could offer greater healing he departed from his characteristic progressive blues roots & rock dynamism and threw himself into recording an ambient album. The way back into the first season was slow, quiet and spacious. John kept it simple. He gave up trying. He stopped over-thinking and over-complicating and instead sat in the surrender. He went into the studio, open and ready for what came out of silence, and received a three-hour download. Rather than rushing through a three-minute rollercoaster that so many songs can end up being, he stripped the music back, let it come slow and steady. Songs were minimal, and he lingered in them for long periods of time, ten minutes or more. Where there would usually be up to twenty different takes on other albums, here they only recorded one or two. In this subtle realm, it became about the feeling, the music taking the listener to places the mind can’t. “I’m always taken by how music by itself can make you feel and go to places that you can’t get to through intellect. I love when the lyrics of a song pass the baton onto the music to say everything the lyrics couldn’t” John’s hope is that people will connect to the album in the same way it was created. Slow gestation, slow time, slow music, finding the people it needs to find when they are ready. Perhaps it changes their states and provides space for healing in some way. He envisages it will live in places people are seeking calm and peace. The length and tone of the music will be conducive to many areas including: • Meditation • Yoga • Breathing • Sweat ceremony and/or sauna • Plant medicine journeys. Going up, duration or coming back down. • Travel • Massage • Acupuncture • Kinesiology • Osteopathy • Putting kids to bed • Waiting rooms • Hospitals • Movement expression • Rituals of
Live In Paris (2023)
Get this album: CD Vinyl Record Music Playlist 1 Videos John Butler – Live In Paris – Pre Order Now! 0:28 Tracklist Triple Vinyl EditionCD Edition is split over 2 discs, disc 2 starts at Wings To Fly Disc 1Side One:1. Cold Wind2. Spring To Come3. Miss Your Love4. Better ThanSide Two:1. Betterman2. Faith Disc 2Side Three:1. Treat Yo Mama2. Coffee, Methadone & CigarettesSide Four:1. Wings To Fly2. Wade In The Water3. Zebra Disc 3Side Five:1. Ocean2. RevolutionSide Six:1. Peaches & Cream2. Pickapart Credits John Butler: vocals, acoustic/amplified 11-string guitar, lapsteel, banjo, harmonica Keys & Vocals on ‘Coffee, Methadone & Cigarettes’ by Elana Stone Recorded at Le Trianon, Paris, France on the nights of May 26th & May 27th 2022 Recorded by Pedja Babic Front of House Engineer Tim MillikanGuitar Technician Rohin Best Mixed by James Newhouse Mastered by William Bowden Liner Notes May 2022 After two years of lockdowns worldwide. After bearing witness to a graphically tumultuous time. What seemed to me to be a lifting of the veil that took the world by storm and rolled out a series of socio-political reckonings and subsequent shit shows. Somehow, after two years of social upheaval and a virus that had grabbed our global society by the scruff of the neck and shaken the shit outta it, tickets to my solo European tour (that had been postponed twice!!) were still being held on to by fans. WTAF!!! Seemed like I wasn’t the only one who was holding on to the idea of something better on the other side of what ever the hell we’d all been through. This tour, during the first spring after it all, was nothing short of a tender balm on a weary heart. A soft bandage on a raw wound. It felt like that for me at least and I know many of the audience felt the same way. I’m so glad it was solo. It needed to be intimate, raw and vulnerable. It needed to go back to the very basics and the core. To story telling and bearing the bruised heart open so all could see that we were in the same boat together trying to work out what had just happened and where we were now. The fact that I could record a couple shows in Paris during this tour was truly a gift. France has always, from the very beginning, welcomed me like a long lost brother. We have a kindred spirit of rebelliousness and fire. Of cheeky irreverence and a passion for romance and art at it’s most unabashed. I’ve been wanting to make a live album in France for decades. I’m so grateful it happened when it did. In such a profound time and in a spring that will probably never have the same prelude again. I hope you enjoy it even half as much as I did making it. With love always, John
John Butler (1998)
Get this album: CD Vinyl Record Music Tracklist & Lyrics 1. Valley – 8:342. Inspiration – 5:183. Busted – 7:404. Sista – 3:185. Ocean – 12:286. Colours – 9:057. Crazy – 5:298. Keeper – 5:008. Under an Indian Sky – 7:39 Credits John Butler – vocals, guitarsGavin Shoesmith – bass, vocalsJason McGann – drums, percussion, vocals Additional Info John Butler is the first full length album by the John Butler Trio, released 27 December 1998. It was recorded at Studio Couch, Fremantle and engineered by George Nikoloudis and Shaun O’Callaghan, mixed by Shaun O’Callaghan and George Nikoloudis and mastered by Shaun O’Callaghan and Richard Mahony at Studio Couch and Toad Hall. All music and lyrics were written, arranged and produced by John Butler, except for the words of the chorus in “Colours” which were written by Sly and the Family Stone. With Jason McGann on drums and Gavin Shoesmith on bass, the first version of the group recorded the album in December 1998 which was launched at Mojos Bar in North Fremantle. 1. Valley So have you been to the valley lately?Have you noticed that the shepherd is gone?So walk gently ladyAs you walk alongCos I once fought for his forcesBut that cross bears nothing nowI’ve seen all but your Crusades succeedAnd it’s growing sour Gonna be a long time waitinThings are always looking little better when you’re on the backSide of them And then you know all that you think you might need to knowBut even then, my little wing, you’ll have to growYou’ll have to grow So have you been to your God lately?No Jesus Christ, he ain’t nowhere to be seenHe is not there mateyHe has never been So have you been to your church latelyNo cannot find the key to your homeThere is no support for you now my friendThey got problems of their own 2. Inspiration I’m going way downDown SouthWhere I feel a little better about myselfGonna find some inspiration real soonMother Earth and I’m gonna find a way Cos I’m riding through this valley all the way, yeah, on my ownGonna learn to, say, live by myself, I’m gonna learn to be aloneCos I’ve chained myself to someone’s hip, so long, now, I can’t seeAnd I’ve forgotten who I really was, I forgot about me Gonna find some inspirationGonna take it real slowNo pressure on myselfI’m gonna go with the flowCos it seems like the only person I can’t escape from is meSo I’m gonna open these old eyes, I’m gonna open them up and see Cos I’m riding through this valley all the way, yeah, on my ownGonna learn to, say, live by myself, I’m gonna learn to be aloneCos it seems like the only person I can’t escape from is meSo I’m gonna open these old eyes, I’m gonna open them up and see Hey, I’m commin’ homeHey, I’m commin’ home 3. Busted All, all that I knowIs that I stand here before you as criminalFor what I have done, and for what I still am doingWhat you see is wrongBut I’m just watching the sunset and playing my old songSo why did you even have to come along And all, all that amIs a good man searching for some truthSo why, why mess with meJust cos you say I’m doing something wrong against societyBut I’m just having a smoke and playing guitar, can’t you seeBut I made the mistake and thought I was free Thought I was, thought I was freeThought I was, thought I was freeWell you got your alcohol and your tobacco and you make your money offAnd your sending our kids off to war and your killing all of usBut I can not have a smoke, no, cos your whole world come crumbling downNo I cannot smoke a spliff, no, cos your whole world come crumbling downI don’t think so, I don’t think so All, all that I knowIs that I stand here before you as criminalFor what I have done, and for what I still am doingWhat you see is wrongBut I’m just watching the sunset and playing my old songSo why did you even have to come along Hey man, why won’t you just, won’t you just leave me alone 4. Sista Sista, Sista, why can’t you seeThat I’m a part of youAnd you’re a part of meAnd all I want is to be your friendSo Sista, Sista, won’t you let me in Cos all your life I have seen you growAnd yes you are, you’re a beautiful woman,And all I wanted is the best for youEven though sometimesMe meaning gets confused But all I can do is let you knowThat I’ll be there when ever you callCos I am your familyI am a part of you and you’re a part of me So, Sista, Sista, do you feel aloneCos the family’s apart and brothers all left home,And all you want is someone to talk toBut there’s no-one there I’m here, whenever you need meI’m here, I am your familyI’m here, whenever you are downAll you got to do is look around And there I am, and there I am Know I don’t get to see you much anymoreBut all you got to do is give me a callAnd there I’ll be, yes I’ll be there for youYou’ll have someone to talk toCos I am your familyAnd I’m a part of you, and you’re a part of meThere isn’t a single thing I would not doGive it all away for youFor you 5. Ocean Instrumental 6. Colours Chorus lyrics by ‘Sly & The Family Stone’ from their song “Don’t Call Me Nigger, Whitey“, from the album “Stand!”Originally released 1969. Lyricist: S. Stewart [Chorus lyrics by ‘Sly & The Family Stone’]“Don’t call me ni**er, wh**ey”“Don’t call me wh**ey, ni**er”“Don’t call me ni**er, wh**ey”“Don’t call me wh**ey, ni**er” Why’s all the time in this world, we stumble in the nightWhen all we have to do is get along, we don’t need to fightAnd in this great beauty, beautiful beauty, beautiful world we live uponWell say its far too small, far
Living 2001-2002 (2003)
Buy the CD from the JBT shop Tracklist & Lyrics Attitude Pickapart Valley Spring Crazy Colours Treat Yo Mama Sista Earthbound Child Betterman Don’t Understand Believe Money Take Home Is Where The Heart Is (studio version) Credits The JBT’s first live album, featuring 2-discs of live tracks from 2001 – 2002. Also features the studio single “Home Is Where The Heart Is”.
Live at St. Gallen (2006)
Get this album: CD Music Tracklist Treat Yo Mama Company Sin Somethings Gotta Give What You Want Band Introduction Oldman Ocean Peaches and Cream Pickapart Betterman Hello Zebra Take Credits Live at St. Gallen is a 2005 live double CD by The John Butler Trio recorded in St. Gallen, Switzerland.
One Small Step…(2008)
Get this album: CD Tracklist Used To Get High Treat Yo Mama Daniella Ocean Better Than Zebra Fire In The Sky Funky Tonight Credits Australian pressing of this live mini-album that captures a very rare solo performance by John Butler recorded at Twist and Shout Records in Denver, Colorado on June 29th, 2007.
Live at Red Rocks (2011)
The CD / DVD release is now out of print. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRRBvA6tap8 Tracklist Disc One Intro Used To Get High I’d Do Anything Betterman Don’t Wanna See Your Face Revolution Hoe Down Better Than Johnny’s Gone Take Me Treat Yo Mama Losing You Disc Two Intro To Ocean Ocean Ragged Mile Zebra Good Excuse C’mon Now Close To You Peaches & Cream One Way Road Funky Tonight DVD – Disc 3 (PAL / Region Free) Included the full concert video from both audio CDsplus bonus content:– Traditional Native American Dance introduction– Behind the scenes & interviews– Revolution video clip Credits John Butler Trio’s epic concert at Red Rocks is captured here on this 2CD live album with bonus DVD of the entire show. John Butler – vocals, guitarsBryon Luiters – bass, vocalsNicky Bomba – drums, percussion, vocals
Tin Shed Tales (2012)
Get this album: CD Music Tracklist Disc One Acknowledging Ancestors (spoken word) Johnny’s Gone Grass Is Greener (spoken word) Better Than We Drove Out to Kalgoorlie (spoken word) Gonna Be a Long Time Joesph & Paddy (spoken word) Kimberley My Grandfather’s Guitar (spoken word) Danny Boy Pickapart Disc Two Mystery Man Koprivshtitsa (spoken word) Revolution Guy On My Shoulder (spoken word) Used to Get High Pinjarra (spoken word) Treat Yo Mamma Losing You Yogurt & Football (spoken word) Zebra A Good Friend (spoken word) Ocean Credits The live CD companion to John Butler’s solo & acoustic tour of Australia through March and April 2012. Recorded live across 3 venues in Western Australia at the beginning of the tour.