28 Facts About Jon Langford

Jonathan Denis Langford was born on 11 October 1957 and is a Welsh musician and artist based in Chicago, Illinois, United States.

Jon Langford has campaigned against the death penalty in Illinois.

When he was young, Jon Langford would visit his grandparents in Croesyceiliog, whose family friend ran two pubs, the Cambrian Arms and The Six in Hand.

Jon Langford attended Gaer Infants School and Gaer Junior School, then Brynglas Primary School, the Newport High School middle school on Queen's Hill.

Jon Langford played a lot of David Bowie and was listening to a lot of Man.

Jon Langford attended art school at University of Leeds as a painter.

Jon Langford left school temporarily when The Mekons were founded, but later went back to college and finished his degree.

Since the mid-1980s, Jon Langford has been one of the leaders in incorporating folk and country music into punk rock.

Jon Langford has released a number of solo recordings as well as recordings with other bands outside of The Mekons, most notably the Waco Brothers, which he co-founded after moving to Chicago in the early 1990s.

Jon Langford was originally the drummer for the punk band "The Mekons" when it formed at the University of Leeds in 1977, but he later took up the guitar as other band members left.

Jon Langford initiated another project, the "Pine Valley Cosmonauts", which performs the music of other country music groups.

Jon Langford followed it with All the Fame of Lofty Deeds, in 2004, and Gold Brick in 2006.

Ever since releasing the original 2008 album, Jon Langford continued to intermittently use the "Skull Orchard" band name, usually when recording or performing live with accompanying electric instruments.

Jon Langford invited them first to accompany him at a CeltFest in Chicago in 2007, and then to re-record the whole of the Skull Orchard.

At the 2014 Hideout Block Party in Chicago, Langford debuted the band "Bad Luck Jonathan".

Jon Langford has brought a band to nearly every annual Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival, in San Francisco, in the 21st century.

Jon Langford has painted portraits of famous and forgotten figures from the dawn of country music, such as Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, and "The Cuckoo", many based on classic photographs.

Jon Langford has designed and painted the covers for many music recordings.

In 2015, Jon Langford was commissioned by the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum to paint a series of portraits for its "Dylan, Cash, and the Nashville Cats: A New Music City" exhibition, which opened on 27 March 2015.

Jon Langford has designed the graphics for T-shirts, tote bags, and other items to support various organisations, including: Chicago's Giveashirt, which benefits StreetWise magazine ; Chicago's Hideout Inn during the COVID-19 pandemic; Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music; and San Francisco's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival.

Jon Langford's paintings appear on bottles and other items for the Dogfish Head Brewery, and Few Spirits.

Since 2015, Jon Langford has designed covers for a series of novels by author Jay Spencer Green, including Breakfast at Cannibal Joe's and Ivy Feckett is Looking for Love.

For over 10 years, Langford illustrated the pop-music parody comic strip Great Pop Things under the pseudonym Chuck Death with a friend from his hometown, Newport, Wales, Colin B Morton, who wrote the text.

In 1988, Jon Langford co-produced a Johnny Cash tribute album, 'Til Things are Brighter.

In 2006, Jon Langford was commissioned to develop a performance based on the compilations for the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago; the show was performed at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.

Jon Langford was an honorary board member of the Chicago-based nonprofit organisation Rock for Kids.

Jon Langford is married to architect and jewellery designer, Helen Tsatsos.

James Jon Langford is a designer and, while in high school, was in the band The Ungnomes; Tommy Jon Langford is a songwriter, performer, sound engineer and record producer.