John Wesley Harding (singer) - Career

Career

Harding most often plays solo, or as a duo, but has also done concerts with various backing bands: The Good Liars, The Family Values, The Radical Gentlemen and a band in NYC called The English UK. His work includes "I'm Wrong About Everything", which was included on the soundtrack for High Fidelity. He has also covered the Madonna song, "Like a Prayer". Harding has released 15 albums, including 2009's Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead which he recorded with The Minus 5. His subsequent album, "The Sound Of His Own Voice", featured members of that band as well as The Decemberists and was released in 2011.

Harding was chosen by Bruce Springsteen as his first opening act in 20 years for his solo shows at the Berkeley Community Theatre in 1995.

In 2005, he published his first novel, Misfortune, under his real name, Wesley Stace. It was nominated for the Guardian First Book Award, and shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers Prize and the James Tiptree, Jr. Award. Misfortune was also chosen by Amazon.com as one of the Ten Best Novels of 2005, and was one of the Washington Post's Books of the Year. Misfortune, translated as L'infortunée, became a bestseller in France, and has also been translated into many languages including Hebrew, Chinese, and Japanese. The movie rights to "Misfortune" were sold in 2008. His 2005 album Songs of Misfortune comprises songs written for, or appearing in, that book.

His second novel, By George, was published in August 2007; it was one of the New York Public Library's "Books To Remember" of 2007, and Booklist Editor's Choice for books of the year. A third, Charles Jessold, Considered as a Murderer, was published by Jonathan Cape in the UK in July 2010 and Picador in the USA in February 2011.

Harding reviews for the Times Literary Supplement. Other writings include chapbooks for some of his albums, and essays for various music publications from Creem to Raygun. His essay, "Listerine: The Life and Opinions of Laurence Sterne," published in Post Road #5, was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

His series of "Cabinet of Wonders" variety shows, beginning in Spring 2009 in New York City at (Le) Poisson Rouge, has included appearances by Rosanne Cash, Graham Parker, Josh Ritter, Rick Moody, Colson Whitehead, Jonathan Ames, A.C. Newman, Rhett Miller, Steven Page, Eugene Mirman, David Gates, John Roderick, Jon Auer, Tanya Donelly, Martha Plimpton, Todd Barry, Steve Almond, and Stephen Elliott. The spring 2010 series featured, among others, Sarah Vowell, Sondre Lerche, Buffalo Tom, Janeane Garofalo, Robbie Fulks, Paul Muldoon. Some of the artists in the 2011 series, at the City Winery, were Andrew Bird, Tift Merritt, and David Wax Museum. In 2012, Harding launched a weekly NPR version of the "Cabinet of Wonders."Template:Http://www.npr.org/series/153299281/cabinet-of-wonders

Harding is an artist-in-residence at Fairleigh Dickinson University, where he curates the Words & Music Festival. On May 6, 2010, the Festival ended with "Jersey Rain: Robert Pinsky and Bruce Springsteen in conversation with John Wesley Harding" in the Dreyfuss Theater. The series also included a presentation by Harding and Paul Muldoon on their collaboration.