John Stevens is a performing songwriter who has been entertaining audiences throughout Central Indiana for over 20 years. John’s performances include a unique blend of original songs as well as cover songs of artists covering a wide variety of the music genre. John covers songs from Jimmy Buffett to George Jones, from James Taylor to Johnny Cash, from Garth Brooks to the Eagles and hundreds of others.

John feels that playing music professionally is something that just happened naturally for him. As his family recalls, John started his musical career at the tender age of three when he could be found singing “Them Old Cotton Fields Back Home” while sitting in the bathtub.

John was deeply influenced by the love for music that many family members displayed. They would frequently sit at the kitchen table at family outings and sing while his Great Aunt Billie played her guitar. When the other kids would run off to play, John would sit and listen to Aunt Billie for hours. By the time John reached the age of 12, he was playing along on his own guitar.

In high school, John began to write songs and he would perform the songs for friends and occasionally at parties. After two years of college at Indiana State University, John decided he wanted to pursue the music business full time. He began playing gigs in “honky tonk” bars, pubs, clubs, and hotel lounges in central Indiana. Three years later, he made the decision that he wanted to pursue his songwriting dreams seriously, so a move to Nashville, Tennessee was made.

Nashville was initially good to John. He recorded some of his original songs onto 45rpm records and they received some regional airplay in five different states. Two of John’s songs were published by Coal Dust Music which was Loretta Lynn’s publishing company at the time. He was also asked to sign with SESAC, a performing rights organization.

After commuting between Indiana and Nashville for a couple of years, John moved to Nashville permanently in 1984. He began to play on “writer’s nights” and started making many music related contacts in Nashville. In the four years that John lived in Nashville he had dozens of his songs published but never seemed to get that one big break that all singers and/or songwriter’s hope for.

In 1988, John became disillusioned with the music business and he stopped playing professionally and moved back to Indiana. His love of music never diminished, so in October of 1994, John once again began playing his music before live audiences. By January 1996 he was back performing on a full time basis. He began commuting to Nashville again and he met David Lindgren one night when he was playing on writer’s night. John and David began writing songs together in 1997 and there was a certain chemistry between the two that just seemed to click. Their first song written together was “My Southern Belle Ain’t Ringin’” and this song was included on John’s “From Both Sides of My Heart” CD which was released in 1998. John and David Lindgren collaborated on five other songs on this CD and they continue to write and shop their music in Nashville.

John also released a two song “party” CD titled “I’ll Do Anybody But You” in 1998. About 50 of John’s friends joined him in the studio to sing along and create a real party atmosphere and feel to the recording of the song.

As we enter the new millenium, John continues to work an extremely busy performance schedule. This has somewhat limited his time for writing new songs, but his fan base is showing a steady increase. Indianapolis and the surrounding areas are relatively weak when it comes to live entertainment for those not in the “college” crowd category. John’s appeal to virtually all age groups, along with a music style that spans a wide range -- from country to pop to rock and roll -- make him a very unique entertainer. His ability and willingness to take song requests from the audience when he performs assures an enjoyable experience for everyone. It is common for John to invite members of his audience to come up on the stage and show off their singing talents while he accompanies them on the guitar.

John plans to continue performing his live shows and also wants to continue to write new songs. Being around music is what truly makes him happy, and he can’t imagine doing anything else in life.

The main purpose of this web site is to allow John to build a larger fan base. We are confident that as more people become aware of John’s talents and where they can go to see him perform, his popularity will reach new heights. We know that there are thousands of people out there who are starved for great live entertainment and we hope to bring John Stevens and those people together.