A Brief Introduction

Jon Lock is a songwriter and musician based in Poughkeepsie, New York. Born in 1968, he spent most of his life on Long Island and has played music since he was young. In his twenties, he was active primarily as a bass player, with much of his attention directed toward jazz, though music gradually became less central as work and family life took precedence.

Lock made his living as an ironworker, erecting structural steel and eventually becoming a partner in a successful business. In his late forties, with more time available, he returned to making music more seriously, learning to play guitar and sing and beginning to release simply recorded music from home. The writing was always the principal concern; recording was, at first, mostly a practical way of preserving and sharing the songs.

After a serious fall, Lock retired from ironworking in April 2022 and moved to Poughkeepsie. His injuries left him unable to play music for nearly a year. As he recovered, he gradually returned to writing, performing, and recording. Made slowly during that period, Poughkeepsie brings together a lifetime of musical interests—from jazz and mid-century songwriting to late-1960s pop and independent art-pop—and is his first full-length vinyl release.