John Gratton is a Vermont singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer. He reintroduced himself to the state's music scene in 2021 and has been playing steadily since — solo, with The Owl Stars, with the Americana band Citizen Bare, and on two tours with Troy Millette and the Fire Below.

His recorded work goes back further. He produced the 2002 Firewater Experience EP Open Eyes, played lead guitar on every song, and sang background vocals throughout, taking the lead on "Our Father," his own musical setting of the prayer. Nine years later came Carnival, made with Citizen Bare, the band he co-founded: producer, engineer, lead guitarist, co-writer. More recently, guitar on The Owl Stars EP Embrace Yourself. Somewhere in the middle of it, he built his own recording studio from the ground up.

His sound is Country Soul — country songwriting built on R&B, southern rock, and gospel. He makes records for people who need one. The sound does some of it; a song someone recognizes their own life in does the rest.

Welcome to the Family, his first album under his own name, is now in production. It began with a single song: after losing his great Uncle Leo, the family's music patriarch, Gratton wrote "A Little More Country" and kept writing from there. What started as a tribute became a record about belonging, rooted in family and memory.

He lives near the Canadian border with his wife Vickie.

Be well and do good.