Notes
Songwriter/Singer Jon Wikstrom got a late start in the music game; he was a 20-year old Charleston, West Virginia native halfway through college at Duke when the music bug bit and he picked up a guitar for the first time. Jon remembers, 'I had just taken an end-of-the-school-year trip to Key West with three friends. We all had crammed into a Volkswagen beetle and driven 3,000 miles with maybe one clean shirt each, and cassettes of ten Jimmy Buffett albums to pass the time. In fact, we went to Key West to hang out with Jimmy Buffett. Mr. Buffett was likely not even there, nor had he been informed that four morons were expecting to vacation with him. I returned home powerfully sick of Jimmy Buffett songs. And then about a week later, I realized I was really missing Jimmy Buffett songs - to the point that I decided I needed to buy a guitar right then and start learning to play some of them. So I did.' Then, after graduating from Duke (with a degree in history of all things), Wikstrom began to ply his musical craft, playing bars and coffeehouses from West Virginia to Florida before settling into the Washington/Baltimore music scene. He worked on Capitol Hill by day, and by night watched local musicians like Mary-Chapin Carpenter reach for the brass ring in Nashville. A move to Music City soon followed for Jon. This turned into nearly eight years as a working songwriter in Nashville for Jon, who says, 'I loved it there, but never really fit in. I wasn't nearly country enough for Nashville'. Despite Wikstrom's lack of boots, twang and appropriate headwear, Jon nonetheless enjoyed successful songwriting stints with Sony Music Publishing and worked with some of the top songwriters on Music Row and up and coming artists of the time including Sara Evans. Passion to do his own music, his own way led Jon back to the Washington/Baltimore area as a base. Jon made frequent trips home to West Virginia to record his debut CD 'Reckless Devotion', an album full of romance, longing and love in the vein of James Taylor and Billy Joel. The album also features guest musicians and songwriters from Jon's Nashville days, as well as ace production from Ron Sowell of Public Radio International's hugely influential 'Mountain Stage' program. Today, Jon, his wife Katherine and their two kids live between Baltimore and Washington in a home filled with music, laughter and Jon's Taylor Guitars.
