Listening Lyrics

Listen now - - Banjo Bones sings themes of the present in a voice of the past.  With lyrical content that spans the introspective to the esoteric, Banjo Bones combines elements of roots music into a genre defying style that borrows in equal portions from blues, jazz, country and folk.  Whiskey infused philosopher, frustrated poet, and wannabe cowboy, Banjo Bones takes listeners on a journey filled with the musical landscape equivalent to Death Valley, as told by a pallet of characters that would be perfectly at home in a Fante or Bukowski book. 

A founding member of post-punk band Samsara, based in Washington DC in the early part of the 1990s, JL Espada recorded and released a regionally successful EP (recorded in the legendary Inner Ear Studios, home of underground legends Fugazi), only to turn away from the music industry in 1996.  He eventually found his voice again through the alias Banjo Bones, and after relocating to Sacramento, CA in 2011, released several works, including the EP Failed Ambitions (2012), and the popular single Snowy Mountain (2013).  The full-length CD of new material, The Place of Dead Roads, was released March 5, 2015.  2017's Cowboy Dreams is the most recent release, a ten song collection of songs that can best be described as the soundtrack to a desert adventure.

In a music environment cluttered with overproduced, empty-minded flavor of the month music, Banjo Bones makes an honest attempt to keep the musical story-telling tradition alive. Visit Banjo Jones at www.banjobones.com. Note only songs played from the CD Cowboy Dreams are listed on the playlist