American Heart single from Jon Kahn

American Heart - Jon KahnJon Kahn is a country music artist and songwriter, who was convinced by a chance encounter with a bluegrass band that his song, American Heart, needed to be recut as a bluegrass song and released to bluegrass radio. Kahn is also a political writer and editor for a Los Angeles-based company.

American Heart is of a sort that you hear often in country music, a mega-patriotic number that compares the singer to an American made product, with all American parts. The original version was produced in Nashville by Jeffrey Steele.

When Kahn was visiting Washington, DC for a political event in March, he chanced to meet up with Virginia band, The Blinky Moon Boys, who had been engaged to entertain at an after-event get together. The band includes Jeff Huss of Huss & Dalton guitars, and Chris Burton who has had a number of songs on our Weekly Airplay Chart of late.

Jon sang the song with them on stage and it went over so well, he came up to do it a second time. He loved the way it sounded with a grooving bluegrass beat, and decided then and there that he needed to re-record the song that way.

Aaron Ramsey engineered the session at Mountain Fever Studio, and played guitar, mandolin, and bass. Burton added banjo and baritone vocal (and produced the track), and Ron Stewart laid down fiddle. Ashley Primm sang tenor.

The single has an interesting vibe, with the gruff-voiced and tight-throated Kahn sitting atop a smooth bluegrass bed.

 

Radio programmers can grab the track at Airplay Direct. It is available for download purchase in iTunes.

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About the Author

John Lawless

John had served as primary author and editor for The Bluegrass Blog from its launch in 2006 until being folded into Bluegrass Today in September of 2011. He continues in that capacity here, managing a strong team of columnists and correspondents.