Ash St. John’s “Witness To Greatness” Named November “Best Song Of The Month’

Ash St. John, a talented acoustic/pop singer/songwriter based in St. Paul, Minnesota, has won the SongwriterUniverse ‘Best Song Of The Month’ Contest for November, for his song “Witness To Greatness.’ This song will be included on his upcoming 4-song EP Million Miles Away, which St. John will release independently in January (2012).

‘Witness To Greatness’ is a graceful, acoustic midtempo song which has a heartfelt lyric theme, about thanking and honoring friends and family. The song has a strong melody in both the verses and choruses. The recording provides a fine showcase for St. John’s soulful, expressive vocals, and he also plays guitar and violin. Also contributing to this cut is veteran musician/artist Paul Peterson (of The Family and The Time) who plays bass, and Steve Yaeger, who plays percussion. “Witness To Greatness” was expertly produced by St. John, Tom Tucker (who won a Grammy award for mixing Lucinda  Williams’ album Essence) and Andy Keech (from the band Small Town Hope).

St. John was born and raised in the city of Waterloo, Iowa, where he began playing violin at an early age, and later learned to play guitar, bass, viola and piano. He was inspired by listening to Mozart, plus the Beatles and Jimi Hendrix. During high school, St. John played in the orchestra (making all-state as a violinist) and choir, and he also fronted a rock band called Synergy, which won a local Battle of the Bands competition.

For college, St. John attended the University of Iowa at Iowa City, where he subsequently graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree majoring in both Philosophy and Religious Studies. It was also during this period that he developed his songwriting, and he would perform as a solo singer/songwriter in local clubs and coffeehouses.

Upon graduating, St. John moved to the Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul) to pursue his music career. In 2009 he recorded & released his first full-length album, titled The Faint Whisper Calling… Then in spring 2010 St. John released a 4-song EP called False Prophecies, which featured a more stripped-down, acoustic sound.

Currently, St. John is working on his latest EP, which features “Witness To Greatness.” “This song & lyric is a direct reflection of my life,” said St. John. “It’s a ‘thank you’ to all the people in my life–it’s an ode to my friends and family.”

In addition, St. John continues to promote his recordings and steadily perform live. He pitches his songs for film & TV projects via the popular music site, Broadjam. “Broadjam just notified me that my song ‘Harbinger At Dawn’ has been placed in a TV show,” he said. Lastly, St. John has written many new songs, and he hopes to release another full-length album later in 2012.

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Dale Kawashima

Dale Kawashima is the Head of SongwriterUniverse and a music journalist. He’s also a music publishing exec who has represented the song catalogs of Michael Jackson, Prince, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and Motown Records.

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