Jon Brooks

FOLK FOR FOLK’S SAKE 

Just like the late nineteenth century aesthetes who believed in “art for art’s sake,” Toronto-based folk singer Jon Brooks believes in folk for folk’s sake. The passionate artist – who quotes everyone from Jesuit priests…

CANADIAN WAR STORIES DRIVE ONTARIO SINGER-SONGWRITER JON BROOKS 

TORONTO — Canadian folk music is failing its grand tradition of truthful storytelling in times of war, says Ontario singer-songwriter Jon Brooks. The straight-talking musician is nominated for a Canadian Folk…

Local singer/songwriter Jon Brooks has just released an album with an intriguing concept. It’s called Ours And The Shepherds and it had me interested even before I cracked open this record. There was a little sticker on the cover with…

Toronto singer/songwriter Jon Brooks is the latest in a long, honourable –and depleting — line of folksingers who write and perform to further the cause of social justice. 

The 13 songs comprising Ours and the Shepherds offer a clear-eyed…

Rating: 3 1/2 stars (out of 4) 

Twelve songs – originals except for World War I Canadian veteran Frank Dixon’s poem “Cigarettes”, which Brooks’ has put to music – examine the Canadian experience of war from 1914 to the…

When Jon Brooks was growing up in King City, he was more concerned about delivering his newspapers than world events. 

“I delivered papers, skipped classes, dislocated shoulders in the King arena, carried out bags of groceries at the IGA…

The vast majority of CDs received by this scribe are clearly designed to entertain or titillate. Not so Ours And The Shepherds, the brilliant new disc from local songsmith Brooks. He aims to educate us, via a collection of songs…

Rating: NNNN 

CRITIC’S PICK 

It’s hard to believe, but there’s more going on in Toronto than just indie rock. This city has a thriving folk scene, and it’s a shame more stoic indie kids aren’t heading to Hugh’s…

No Mean City 

Exile 

* * * * (4 STARS) 

If you’ve ever waited for the all-night bus to take you home after putting in overtime on the Friday late shift at a downtown bar, you’ll know…

‘Oh great,’ I thought, ‘another bloody singer-songwriter.’ But, as I’ve learned before, never judge a book by its cover. This is a startlingly simple CD, which proves that if you have solid content you don’t need much else. It is…

This is certainly no typical singer-songwriter release, as Toronto-based Brooks has one ambitious concept in mind. In his own words, No Mean City bears witness and indictment to the modern urban disaster as seen through Toronto’s example. A well-travelled troubadour…