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Art of the Song
Art of the Song is a one-hour, independently-produced radio show with music and interviews exploring inspiration and creativity through songwriting and other art forms. The program is heard on over 160 stations worldwide. Learn why songwriters and artists create, how they become inspired, and how you can tap into that creative source in every aspect of your life.
On this week’s Art of the Song, we are proud to feature guitarist Jon Herington on the show. Herington (born Jonathan Reuel Herington on April 14, 1954 in Paterson, New Jersey) is an American guitarist, singer-songwriter and record producer, best known as a session musician. Currently, he is Steely Dan‘s lead guitarist. He has been active on the New York City music scene since 1985. Herington was born in Paterson, New Jersey, and grew up in West Long Branch, New Jersey on the Jersey Shore. His first band (called Highway) opened for local Bruce Springsteen on several occasions. He started playing piano and then saxophone, but began playing guitar when his friends left their guitars at his house as a child. Herington studied guitar with Ted Dunbar while at Rutgers College and also studied privately with Harry Leahey and Dennis Sandole. In 1999, toward the end of the recording of their 2000 released album Two Against Nature, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker of Steely Dan wanted to hire another rhythm guitar player for some tracks. Ted Baker, a close friend of Herington’s, was playing keyboard for the band and Becker and Fagen asked for a recommendation for a guitarist. Baker played “The Complete Rhyming Dictionary,” a 1992 solo album on Pioneer’s Glass House Records that was released only in Japan, for Becker and Fagen. Soon after, Herington got a call to record Janie Runaway with the rest of the band. Herington then toured with the band to promote the album. In 2000, Herington released a solo album, entitled Like So. In 2003, Steely Dan had him back to record their release, Everything Must Go, as well as to tour in promotion of the album. In 2006, Donald Fagen hired Herington to play on and tour for his solo album Morph the Cat. He appears on Walter Becker’s latest solo album Circus Money. In 2010, Jon joined the Dukes of September touring group which is composed of Donald Fagen, Michael McDonald and Boz Scaggs. On June 14, 2012, the band performed on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon to promote their 2012 summer concert tour.
