John Einarson

Born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, John Einarson is an acclaimed musicologist, broadcaster, educator, and award-winning author of 20 music biographies published worldwide including Neil Young, Randy Bachman, John Kay of Steppenwolf, Ian & Sylvia, The Guess Who, The Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers, Arthur Lee & Love and Buffalo Springfield. Four of his books have been on the Globe & Mail bestsellers list while several have been ranked among the top ten best music biographies in the UK and received award nominations.

His book Hot Burritos: The True Story of The Flying Burrito Brothers received the 2006 ARSC (Association for Recorded Sound Collections) Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research. John is the author of the critically-acclaimed Desperados: The Roots of Country Rock. He also collaborated with Randy Bachman on his two bestselling Vinyl Tap books. He is regarded as one of Canada’s finest music historians.

John has written for Mojo, Uncut, Goldmine, Discoveries, Record Collector, and Classic Rock and is a regular contributor to the Winnipeg Free Press. He wrote the Juno-nominated Bravo TV documentary Bully Sainte-Marie: A Multi-Media Life, served as writer/consultant for A&E/Biography Channel’s Neil Young Biography episode, and wrote CBC TV’s The Life & Times of Randy Bachman.

John also served as researcher on the recent Canadian-produced documentary Almost Almost Famous for Merit Motion Pictures. He curated the 2010 Manitoba Museum exhibit *Makin’ All Over: The Manitoba Music Experience and organizes the popular Magical Musical History Tour of Winnipeg each summer. John teaches music history classes on a variety of themes Friday evenings at McNally Robinson Booksellers as well as teaching music history topics at the University of Winnipeg, the Manitoba Conservatory of Music & Arts, and the Creative Retirement Centre. John is an award-winning high school teacher receiving two Teaching Excellence awards from the University of Manitoba (before retiring in 2008) and former consultant for the Manitoba Department of Education. He co-wrote the official Grade 8 History textbook People Through The Ages as well as several edukits and teaching guides. For 25 years he ran a popular extra-curricular rock music program at St. John’s-Ravenscourt school that involved some 100 students per year.

In January 2016, John was the recipient of the prestigious Order of the Buffalo Hunt by Premier Greg Selinger in recognition of his extensive work in preserving Manitoba’s music history.

On July 20, 2023, John was invested into The Order of Manitoba for his decades of pioneering research and writing on Manitoba music.

In 2021, he published an exhaustive history of Winnipeg’s rich and diverse music heritage spanning multiple genres under the title Heart of Gold.* A History of Winnipeg Music. It was on McNally Bookseller´s Top Selling Books list for eight weeks. It has been turned into an 8-week radio series by CBC Radio-Canada.

John hosts three radio shows on Lifestyles 55 Digital Radio, Winnipeg´s only 24-hour online radio shows; “OFF The Record”, a weekly 1-hour afternoon show that focused on a particular music topic such as an artist, album, genre, or event; “Desperatos” a weekly journey through the roots of country rock; and “My Generation,” his popular weekly 2-hour show where John played a varied and eclectic song list from his extensive collection of ’50s to ’70s music and shared the stories and info about the artists and recordings. He is also a frequent commentator on music history for CBC and television.

Soon after witnessing the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964, John acquired a guitar and later played in several well-known local bands through the 19602 and ’70s. He has performed onstage with Neil Young, Randy Bachman, Burton Cummings, jammed with Frank Zappa´s Mothers of Invention, and at age 17 opened for Led Zeppelin before 14. 000 people.

 “John Einarson’s biographies have been characterized by their deeply comprehensive studies of the subject at hand.” –Discoveries

“A work of deep research and poignant detail.” -David Fricke, Rolling Stone

“An insightful glimpse into life after stardom.” –Entertainment Weekly Magazine

“Thoroughly researched, meticulously executed.” –Mojo magazine.

“A fascinating work based on exhaustive research” –Sing Out! Magazine

“Einarson´s devestating thorough plunge into life of this gifted artist serves as a primer for inner workings of the music scene in the ’60s and ’70s” –Pop Culture Press magazine

“Well worth the cover price” –Harp magazine

“This is a fascinating biography…well-crafted and well worth reading.” –Winnipeg Free Press, Canada

“…..effortlessly engrossing with impressive attention to detail.” –Paste magazine

I´ve just had my heart haunted and broken by a rock star biography.” –Dusted Magazine

“…..as definitive a rock & roll biography as any in recent print.” –Ugly Things magazine

“Einarson´s scholarly meticulously researched bio draws on fresh interviews with family, friends and musicians…” –Uncut magazine

“The book is well-researched.”-Vintage Guitar magazine

“Einarson´s prose is compassionate – you can almost visualize him shaking his head, sadly – but he avoids being too judgemental.” –Maverick magazine

The above posted April 16, 2024.