"This is a strong album. 'The Beautiful Princess of Never Come True' is a total sledge hammer to the heart!" - Peter Finch, The Finch Files (formerly of KFOG San Francisco)

John Lester’s latest album, Fathers and Sons, is a collection of his most personal and powerful work yet. Inspired by the often unspoken family relationships between men, each song messages the love, pain, tension, struggle, and questions that arise and confound these ties and bonds. From the full acceptance and embrace of a young boy’s gender fluidity in “The Beautiful Princess of Never Come True”, to the merciful attempts at reconciliation with an estranged father during his final days in “The High Road”, to the feeling of forever growing family love in “Real Real Love”, John’s life experience as a father, husband, son, teacher, and songwriter is felt throughout each song.

John has collaborated with incredibly talented musicians from around the globe and from many phases of his career for this recording. With John on vocals, acoustic basses, guitars, and ukulele, the core band is rounded out by his long-time European touring partner Paul Tiernan on acoustic guitars and background vocals, and San Francisco Bay Area drummer Tim Bulkley. Grammy-nominated songwriter Gretchen Peters (background vocals) and Nashville pianist Barry Walsh guest on the “The Beautiful Princess of Never Come True”. Other contributors on the album include drummer Michael Urbano (drums on “The Beautiful Princess of Never Come True”, “67 Minutes” and “They Come and They Go”), Baxter Robertson on Hammond organ (“Love Attack”, and addition bass parts by UK bassist Steve Lawson (“67 Minutes”) and Grammy award-winning fretless bassist Michael Manring (“They Come and They Go”. John’s two sons, ages eleven and nine, also make a guest appearances on vocals on the track “Real Real Love”.

Fathers and Sons was recorded in the San Francisco Bay Area at 25th Street Recording by Grammy award-winning engineer Michael Rosen (Rob Wasserman, Santana, Country Joe McDonald, Green Day) and mastered by Randy Merril at New York’s Sterling Sound (Adele, John Mayer, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon). Randy recently a Grammy for his mastering work on work Adele's “25” album.

John has released six albums to date: “Live at the Freight and Salvage” in 2001, “Big Dreams and the Bottom Line” in 2003, “So Many Reasons” in 2007, "Jazz?" in 2012, "Live ~ with Paul Tiernan" in 2015., and most recently “Fathers and Sons” in 2017.

Back in San Francisco after over a decade living in Europe and two years in New York City, John has carved a niche touring circuit throughout the US, the UK, Germany, France, Switzerland, and The Netherlands. As a solo performer, he has created a unique show featuring his 100-year-old upright bass named Sarah (after Sarah Vaughan, for her lovely vocal-like quality). John plays jazz venues as well as doing singer-songwriter shows. He is currently working on a new all bass and drums project with guest drummers and bassists under the name Bass Bureaucracy.