K&K's Artist of the Month: John Standefer
May 2003
Born
in West Texas, John Standefer has been playing music on various instruments
since he was five years old. At age twelve, John's family moved to Washington
state. It was here that he began to focus on the guitar as his main instrument.
By age fifteen, John had received a teaching certificate from a music
conservatory and had begun playing professionally. For the next eleven
years John taught private guitar lessons and toured with numerous bands,
performing with a number of nationally famous entertainers along the way.
Since 1977, when John became a Christian and got out of the bar scene, he has worn many hats: being a guitar salesman and repairman, an inventor, a manufacturer of guitar tools, an artist in residence in pubic schools, a partner in a publishing company, a composer, arranger, and recording artist. He has four solo guitar albums to his credit and has performed on around two hundred album, demo, radio, and commercial projects over the years.
John is currently a columnist for Christian Musician Magazine and is often featured in Fingerstyle Guitar Magazine. He has also authored Gospel Cookin', a book and CD of jazz guitar arrangements, as well as having contributed to several other solo guitar collections. John's latest CD, Guitar Stories, contains the best of John's original pieces.
Each year, John performs and teaches along with Phil Keaggy at the Christian Guitarist's Conference in California. He also teaches classes and performs at the annual Chet Atkins Convention in Nashville.
John plays the K&K Pure and Trinity Systems and says, "I've been on the quest to find the perfect pickups for decades. I've tested prototypes for many other companies but never found the ideal pickup for my guitar and my playing style until I tried the K&K Pure Western."
K&K would like to congratulate John for winning the 2002 National Fingersyle Championship!
John
Standefer Music
9915 NE 130th Ave.
Vancouver, WA 98682
(360) 828-8301
http://www.praiseguitar.com/