Under the name Red Jug Horizon, Americana songwriter John Rodriguez uses that persona to create image-rich storytelling songs about you and your journey. His relatable, fictionalized characters and narratives come from a place of emotional and thematic honesty, with topics ranging from acceptance to rejection and the many twists in between. 

He started performing in the 90’s, with the Long Beach acoustic quartet “The Almost,” releasing two records as co-writer. The last 25 years, he has performed original songs at hundreds of solo shows in coffee shops, small venues, and writer rounds. Songwriting and performing has been his lifelong source of joy and a respite from his career as an educator.

His spare sound and raw delivery has been compared to John Prine and Bruce Springsteen, and reflect early influence from classic, acoustic blues and country songwriters. In live shows, he can rock a bar, quiet a coffee house, or make a listening room chuckle in the right spots.

During the Covid lockdown, he joined a yearlong songwriting group led by folk singer Peter Mulvey. Each week, Rodriguez wrote, recorded, and workshopped a new song. By the end of the sessions, he had enough material for five full albums in the works.

Last summer, he recorded and released his first solo record, “I Seek Your Lights,” in a style inspired by Bruce Springsteen’s “Nebraska” album. “During the songwriter sessions, I went through stages of increased production value,” Rodriguez said, “but for my first record, I challenged myself to let the songs be more organic, less polished. This collection of songs sounds like you’re in the moment with me when I wrote them.”

The music of Red Jug Horizon is available on Bandcamp, Spotify and all other streaming services.