Champaign based Singer / Songwriter John Aulabaugh has this certain way of vying for your heart. You may as well just hand it over though, the tenderness and vulnerability of his lyrics and songwriting winds its way through your senses while the music takes you for a ride you won’t soon regret. John’s passion for crafting an emotion flows from strange and sometimes dark sources, but they always are tucked in perfectly like a track carved into lacquer. On September 17th John will be releasing his third solo album, the emotionally captivating Sweet As You - with a limited run vinyl pressing as well. Recording his first album - Of Sins Present and Past (20 weeks:Americana charts) with executive producer Rami Jaffee (Foo Fighters), John blended the sounds of Dave Krusen (Pearl Jam), Frank DiVanna (Trashcan Sinatras), Jason Roberts (Candles/Norah Jones) and Jessy Greene (Foo Fighters/Pink). Apparently, it isn’t easy to write a song that sounds SO cool, yet really means something – but this is exactly what this music does. Sweet As You is born of 1970’s technology – recorded to 2” tape at New Monkey Studios (Elliott Smith’s LA studio) and mixed with Larry Crane (TapeOp), very little electronics touched this album. Every imperfection and incidental “happening” survived into the final mix, making this an honest and vulnerable masterpiece. In his music, you will recognize the kinds of music he has listened to over the span – Wilco, Spoon, Radiohead, it’s the kind of music that makes you feel like you are watching a REALLY great film! As the country opens up, John takes the stage with veteran Canadian guitarist Adam Batstone, Bloomington's own Alex Auer on bass and Peoria's pride Alec Rodriguez on drums - John and his music literally stand taller with a new and energetic vibe on the other side of last year (ikr?)*. Don't miss the show when they come around. Ask Chuck Taylor, editor of Billboard Magazine - Johnny nails it! [the songs] are wholly professional with sing-along hooks and a phenomenal live performance! Plain and simple: beautifully done!