Greg Koons
Greg Koons (Musician and Songwriter)
Greg Koons was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, known for being the founding member of the Americana band Greg Koons and The Misbegotten.[1] His songwriting was hailed for its gritty, cinematic storytelling.[2] The Philadelphia Inquirer called him an "alt-country craftsman"[3] and Steve Leftbridge of PopMatters wrote that "his protagonists work hard to keep plugging amid the hard-biting realities of getting kicked around... like the heartbreaking “A Picture of My Pa Before He Died in Vietnam” or “Los Angeles Looks Prettier on TV”, a dreamy love-hate letter to L.A., or “By the Light of a Truck Stop Moon”, the prettiest song you’ll ever hear about falling in love with a beaten-up hooker in a road-side bathroom.[4] His songwriting has been compared to Bruce Springsteen and Townes Van Zandt.[5][6]
Biography
Greg Koons is a native of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.[7] [8]
Career
Before founding Greg Koons and The Misbegotten, Koons was in a band called Bad Cat Friday and pursued major label deals, auditioning for industry heavyweights in New York City. Though the elusive big break never materialized, his search for success took him to Nashville, Los Angeles, and Florida.[9]
Koons’s sole album as Greg Koons and the Misbegotten was entitled Welcome to the Nowhere Motel, and many of the album's eleven songs were written in a U-Haul self-storage unit in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, where he’d outfitted the space with a sixteen-track recorder. The isolation allowed him to make as much noise as he wanted, channeling the raw edge of his surroundings into the music. The album was later recorded properly at Fireproof Studios in Los Angeles and produced by singer-songwriter Matt Keating and engineered by Adam Lasus.[10]
Released in North America and in the UK on Kealon Records, a now-defunct New York City-based record label, on June 23, 2009[11], Welcome to the Nowhere Motel went on to be named one of the Top 10 Americana albums of the year by both Magnet Magazine[12] and PopMatters[13]. It climbed to #23 on the EuroAmericana Charts in August 2010[14] and received airplay from notable outlets including the BBC Scotland.[15]
Art Edelstein of the Times Argus noted that "Koons' work represents a genre of songwriting in which the artist points out the bleaker side of life, the problems we face in making a living, in relationships, and with our parents. This is life that is not pretty, populated by characters you might not want to hang out with on a regular basis. We have on this disc something of a musical movie, or songs that could be the backdrop to any number of "loser" movies. The currently running "The Wrestler" comes to mind. It is in some way a window into the hearts and lives of the broken and the misbegotten."[16]
During his career, Koons has been a showcasing artist at major music festivals such as South by Southwest in Austin, Texas[17], and the Americana Music Festival in Nashville, Tennessee.[18]
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- ↑ Writer, JON FERGUSON Staff (2009-05-07). "Out of storage and onto the stage with Greg Koons and the Misbegotten". LancasterOnline. Retrieved 2025-07-11.
- ↑ Correspondent, ART EDELSTEIN Arts (2009-02-20). "L.A. singer-songwriter to introduce gritty new album in Vermont". Times Argus. Retrieved 2025-07-11.
- ↑ "Regional arts and entertainment events". Inquirer.com. 2009-05-03. Retrieved 2025-07-11.
- ↑ "The 10 Best Americana Albums of 2009 » PopMatters". www.popmatters.com. 2019-10-09. Retrieved 2025-07-11.
- ↑ "Greg Koons and the Misbegotten: Welcome to the Nowhere Motel » PopMatters". www.popmatters.com. 2009-09-03. Retrieved 2025-07-11.
- ↑ Reed, Jim. "Greg Koons & The Misbegotten". Connect Savannah. Retrieved 2025-07-11.
- ↑ Correspondent, ART EDELSTEIN Arts (2009-02-20). "L.A. singer-songwriter to introduce gritty new album in Vermont". Times Argus. Retrieved 2025-07-11.
- ↑ "PA Musician Releases Album Written in Storage Unit". www.insideselfstorage.com. Retrieved 2025-07-11.
- ↑ Writer, JON FERGUSON Staff (2009-05-07). "Out of storage and onto the stage with Greg Koons and the Misbegotten". LancasterOnline. Retrieved 2025-07-11.
- ↑ Writer, JON FERGUSON Staff (2009-05-07). "Out of storage and onto the stage with Greg Koons and the Misbegotten". LancasterOnline. Retrieved 2025-07-11.
- ↑ "Release Details » PopMatters". www.popmatters.com. 2017-10-23. Retrieved 2025-07-11.
- ↑ Staff, MAGNET (2009-12-24). "Best Of 2009: Americana". Magnet Magazine. Retrieved 2025-07-11.
- ↑ "The 10 Best Americana Albums of 2009 » PopMatters". www.popmatters.com. 2019-10-09. Retrieved 2025-07-11.
- ↑ "Euro Americana Chart - Augustus 2010". Written in Music. Retrieved 2025-07-11.
- ↑ "BBC Radio Scotland - Iain Anderson, 12/08/2010". BBC. Retrieved 2025-07-11.
- ↑ Correspondent, ART EDELSTEIN Arts (2009-02-20). "L.A. singer-songwriter to introduce gritty new album in Vermont". Times Argus. Retrieved 2025-07-11.
- ↑ Luciana Lopez, The Oregonian (2008-02-08). "19 Portland artists headed to SXSW". oregonlive. Retrieved 2025-07-11.
- ↑ "Americana Music Festival Schedule". Nashville Scene. 2010-09-02. Retrieved 2025-07-11.
