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NEW SONG, NEW ALBUM 

I’m thrilled to announce the release of my new song This Is The Life, which is the first track off my upcoming album ONE MORE TIME (due July 19th).  There’s lots that I could tell you about this song and the album, but I don’t want to waste your time - just go give the song a stream on your favourite streaming platform!  Love it, like it, share it, and add it to a playlist if you can.  Listen now!

And if you’re not following me on Instagram or Facebook now’s your chance to do so easily and quickly - just click here!   I’ll be posting some cool reels (aka videos) and photos over the course of the next few months so you don’t want to miss them. 

COWRITES, Vol. 2 

 
 
 
Out today is a brand new album featuring some of my favourite co-writes from the past year and it's the second volume in my COWRITES series. It is an eclectic collection of music, but it flows really well IMO.  For those of you who know, and for those of you who don't, I make music to licence to Film, TV, and Advertising and these songs have been created for those opportunities.  I hope you get a chance to listen to it.  I have listed my co-writers in parentheses.
 
 
 
 
  1. Nothing More I Need Than You (Jeff Allen)
     
  2. Second Chance (Owen Chaim)
     
  3. This Is Our Moment (Tom Hoy)
     
  4. The Way The Song Plays (Gregg Mandel & Dean Taylor)
     
  5. We Belong Together (Tom Hoy)
     
  6. Everything I Can (Rich Tanzilli)
     
  7. Coming Back To You (Tom Hoy)
     
  8. Safe & Sound (Katleen Dugas)
     
  9. Once Upon A Lifetime (Casey Hurowitz)
     
  10. You'll Always Be Mine (Cass McEntee)
 
And the album cover is by Connor Lewitt.
 
Stream the album now;
 
 
 
 

COVERED: An album of reimagined cover songs 

I'm thrilled to announce that my album of reimagined covers songs is now out in the world for your listening pleasure.  Music can be many things - joyful, cathartic, spiritual, sad, emotional, and so much more.  But for me this album is all about fun.  And while all of the songs aren't necessarily upbeat, happy tunes, they were a blast to do.  Unshackled from having to write them, I was able to record 20 tunes over the course of several months and here are some of my favourites from those sessions.  So this Summer as you're kicking back at the beach, the pool, cooking at the BBQ or nestled inside enjoying your air conditioning, I'd love for this album to be your soundtrack.

 
And a shout out to Jeff Allen, who I did three songs with, and Paul Croteau who came up with the horn parts for Help!
 

AIM HIGH Ep Out Now! 


Out today is a new EP from me and Piewackit (aka Jeff Allen) called AIM HIGH.  Two of the five tracks have already been used several times on CBS's Young & The Restless TV show (It Will All Be Beautiful & Where We Long To Be), while the title track is signed to a high end LA music library.  If you want to hear it, just follow this link. 

 

2022 Year In Review 

Last year I sent out a year in review update on my music career and people seemed to like it, so I thought I'd do it again.  Here are some of the highlights of my year. 

(Note that at the very end of this post I have included links to both Spotify and YouTube playlists for the songs mentioned below, if they are currently released). 

- 2022 started off with a unique use of a song called Believe In Santa.  A virtual fitness app out of the UK licensed the song for a two month use.  When I started seriously doing this 9 years ago I was solely focused on getting my songs used in Films & TV shows - who knew that a whole world of opportunity would appear with things like this and social media? 

- I've had a tonne of placements on the Young & The Restless CBS TV show.  On 5 days a week, for 40 minutes each day, the Y&R uses more music than any other TV show in North America.   All of these songs, save one, have been used multiple times this year on the show; Hold That Thought, If We've Only Got Today, Don't Want To Be Alone Tonight, For All Time, Wherever We Are, Could I Ever Be Your Man (currently unreleased), and It Will All Be Beautiful (coming out on an EP in January 2023) 

- I released two completely different albums this year; The Beaten Path and Cowrites Vol. 1.  The first one focused on songs that I wrote specifically for my artistic side while the second one was written specifically for sync placements in Film & TV and features songs that I co-wrote with many other talented songwriters. 

- The Beaten Path got some good press and a bit of radio airplay, but probably the coolest thing was being interviewed by the Americana Music Profiles podcast.  If you'd like to hear it, here’s the Spotify link, but you can also Google my name with the word podcast and find it all over the web: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1GWI2biHNoGuQHa3VY3HIu

- In the summer I spent some time at the Tragically Hip’s studio in Bath, Ontario helping my friend Mik Perlus record his debut EP.  Beyond producing it, I played the bass guitar and other assorted instruments.   It was a pleasure to play with Mik and his fellow Student Bodies co-star Jamie Elman, Josh Trager of the Sam Roberts Band (a man with many cool stories), and guitar wunderkid Randy Starr.  The EP comes out January 27th and an album release show is scheduled for the night before at the Supermarket in Toronto. 

- I did a country / hip hop crossover track with Owen Chaim (he’s the one doing the rapping) and Matt Hirt that has gotten dozens and dozens of uses on an ESPN show called Portraits. 

- I signed my one hundredth song back in October (and a bunch more after that!).  But what exactly does that mean?  In a nutshell, I sign my songs to music libraries, either exclusively or non-exclusively, and then these libraries go out and pitch them to Film & TV opportunities. 

- 31K people streamed 80k songs of mine on Spotify last year.  That’s a lot of people listening to someone whose name isn’t Justin  Beiber.  Add in Apple Music and Pandora and it’s over 40k listeners! 

- After a two year hiatus because of Covid, I was able to go to my favourite music conference in LA this year and hang out with all my music friends and make some new ones as well! 

- For 2023 I'm planning on releasing a bunch of music.  Confirmed is a new EP with Jeff Allen called AIM HIGH which is coming out January 13th (you can presave it here: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/johnlewittandpiewackit/aim-high ).  Also in the planning stages is a full blown album of cover songs that I did for a specific music library and an album of piano ballads that I have written over the years.  And then who knows what else! 

- Oh yeah, and I turned 50 this year! 

If you’ve gotten this far, thanks for reading and I wish everyone the best this holiday season. 

Thanks, 

John 

P.S.  Here are the playlists I mentioned. 

Spotify Playlist:

 https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6uhlB05ptpu5X8LOlvXDN8?si=fAQdp7edQkCaykyGVLnuVA 

YouTube Playlist: 

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-lB-4fCuClFL-TDrO-GEKC0qr6KXBEye

COWRITES, VOL. 1 

Out today is a brand new album from me called Cowrites, Vol. 1.  As some of you may know, I write and record a lot of music for Film & TV sync opportunities.  What does that mean?  Well, basically I sign songs to specific music libraries that then pitch these tracks to TV shows, Films, Video Games, Commercials and more.  To increase my chances of success I collaborate with a lot of other musicians and songwriters.  As such I thought I'd start an annual tradition of releasing some of my favourite co-writes from the past year.  Tracks 5 & 9 have already been used a bunch on The Young And The Restless, while track 1 was pitched to two TV shows and a national advertising campaign just last week (it can take years for songs to end up being used, so the fact that these new tunes have already garnered some attention is very rewarding). 

 

My co-writer for each song is listed in parenthesis.

1. Gonna Be a Good Day (Tom Hoy) 

2. Last First Kiss (Graham Verdon) 

3. A Better Day (Tom Hoy) 

4. (We Could Be) Something Good (Katleen Dugas who is also on vocals) 

5. If We've Only Got Today (Tom Hoy & Susan Marie Simonson) 

6. Where It Hurts (Graham Verdon) 

7. Such A Beautiful Day (Tom Hoy & Susan Marie Simonson) 

8. I Can't Go Home (Tom Hoy & Susan Marie Simonson) 

9. Don't Want To Be Alone Tonight (Casey Hurowitz) 

10. 'Til I Am Home (Tom Hoy) 

And in the spirit of collaboration, the cover uses a piece of graffiti art done several years ago by my son Connor.

You can stream the album by clicking here.

 

A COUNTRY CHRISTMAS SONG 

Out today on every digital platform is a song called 'Who Doesn't Love Christmas?' (listen here).  I was asked to write this one for a Hallmark movie a couple years ago.  I had 24 hours to write and record it, and while I did so in 12, someone beat me to the punch before I could get it submitted.  I've always liked it and wanted to share it, but I had to wait for the appropriate season!

American Songwriter Feature 

I'm thrilled to be the featured member this week on American Songwriter's site. It's a great magazine (to which I'm a subscriber), website and newsletter. Check it out if you get the chance. 

https://americansongwriter.activehosted.com/index.php?action=social&c=1689&m=1955

#ASMemberSpotlight