DJ Bobcat Sits Down with Jon Petronzio to Talk About Playing Keys from Reggae to Gospel and His New Role Leading the SUNY Cortland Community Choir

Bobcat: X101 Always Classic DJ Bobcat here in the Centralus Health Studios for another edition of The Cortland Beat, our local music podcast sponsored by X101 and Eves Digital. I got a very special guest in the studio with me today, one of the hardest working guys in music in our area right now, Mr. Jon Petronzio, aka JP. How’s it going, man?

Jon Petronzio: Good, Bobcat. Good to be here, man. Thanks.

Bobcat: Thanks for joining us. You do a lot of things and we’ve got a lot of stuff to talk about, but I know one of the main reasons why you’re here is the new gig at SUNY Cortland, so why don’t you tell us a little bit about that?

Jon Petronzio: Sure. I’ve just taken over the director position at SUNY Cortland for their gospel choir, which is super exciting—a first for me. I was asked to do it about a year ago and was on the fence for a bit, but then decided, “You know what? I think I’m going to go for it.” I’ve been playing gospel music for many years in the Calvary Baptist Church down in Ithaca, and I was like, “You know what? This feels like the right time. I’m going to go for it.”

Bobcat: Yeah, that’s pretty cool. I’m a big fan; I’ve been following you for a while. You play with John Brown’s Body, you’ve got your solo act with Road Man, you teach keys, and you had your college band Revisions back in the day—I knew you from back then. It’s really cool to see this progression, and I feel like Cortland’s really lucky to have you. Even though The Cortland Beat is focusing on Cortland musicians first and foremost, and even though you’re an Ithaca guy, I think it’s cool that you are coming to Cortland to bring your gospel music here. That is pretty special. How many years have you been playing gospel music now, you think?

Jon Petronzio: You know, I started in 2009. I walked into the Calvary Baptist Church off the street. Actually, Cory Henry was playing the organ that day, who’s one of the premier organ players of our time. But anyway, yeah, I started playing there. I started touring with John Brown’s Body shortly after that, but when my son was born in 2017, I went back into the church and stopped touring. So yeah, I’ve been playing there almost 10 years solid at this point.

Bobcat: Nice, that’s pretty awesome. How long have you been playing keys for now?

Jon Petronzio: Oh, you know…

Bobcat: Your whole life?

Jon Petronzio: Gosh, yeah, it’s been a long time. 35 years, I guess.

Bobcat: And I know you’re a piano teacher as well. I’ve had some friends who have taken lessons from you. Where can people go if they want some lessons?

Jon Petronzio: Well, there’s a couple of different options. I have a group course which is meant for intermediate to advanced students—people who are looking to increase their voicings, be able to play gospel music, sort of more geared towards playing in live bands and stuff. That’s called the Funk Face Mastermind Society, and you can go to funk-face.com if you want to check that out. I also have all sorts of tutorials online at Play Keys with JP. Of course, you can find me through any of my music channels as well.

Bobcat: Yeah, good stuff. Tell me a little bit more about this choir, because I find it to be so interesting. I’m not really a gospel guy myself, but I’ve got a lot of respect for it. The one thing that could get me into church, I think, would be music. I am definitely interested in knowing more about this gospel choir.

Jon Petronzio: Yeah, so it’s every Wednesday night from 7:00 to 9:30 at the Dowd Fine Arts Center at SUNY Cortland. We’re going to be learning through gospel music. My course is going to be really learning music theory, harmony, how gospel music is composed, and then creating a compelling performance out of it. Part of the excitement that I have is that I play in bands—that’s really what I do. Of course, I love singing; I got my vocal choral education degree from Ithaca College. So although I have not really flexed those muscles in the choir room, it’s kind of like a coming home in a sense. My plan is to gather together some of the greatest gospel players in our region and make a really powerful performance. And of course, have the kids be immersed in that world too, surrounded by real gospel players that really know the language. I’ve already asked The Flying Clouds to come up from South Carolina, my buddy John Rollins is coming from LA. I mean, we’re talking pretty heavy hitters. I want to get The Campbell Brothers over here if we can, as much as we can. But yeah, we’re learning through gospel music and unpacking it, and I’m breaking it down. So anybody who loves to sing—even if you don’t have the greatest voice—we are looking for people. The program used to be massive from what I understand, but right now it’s quite small. That’s really why they’ve asked me to come: to rejuvenate the program and build it back up.

Bobcat: Yeah, that’s pretty cool stuff. If you’re a musician or a singer into gospel music, if you’re listening to this or know someone who might be interested, send them JP’s way. They could use your help. It’s Wednesday nights in the Dowd Fine Arts building, room 111, right?

Jon Petronzio: Room 111, that’s it.

Bobcat: Do you guys have any performances planned? Do you think you’re going to play for the community?

Jon Petronzio: Yeah, I mean, there definitely will be. It’s to be determined; I have to wait for my department to figure out dates. But yeah, we will definitely be posting them up on the community notes and such.

Bobcat: Check out the concert calendar, yeah.

Jon Petronzio: Yeah, we’ll put them all up there.

Bobcat: Cool. What are some of the elements of gospel music that make it unique? What is it about gospel music that you love?

Jon Petronzio: Well, I’d start by saying it’s the harmony, three-part harmony. I think in many ways as a people, as a country maybe, as a culture, we’ve kind of lost it a bit. People don’t sing together enough. You look at my parents—my dad, what did he do on lunch break? He would get together with his buddies in the bathroom and sing doo-wop. Singing is just such an uplifting thing. Gospel music aside, I mean just singing any songs with your friends is such a wonderful way to get to know people and create community. Resonating your voice with other people, it’s just such a bonding experience. So there’s that aspect, and I love singing harmony with people. It’s just the best.

Bobcat: Yeah.

Jon Petronzio: For me, what’s become a defining aspect of what it is to play live music is the Hammond organ. I grew up as a piano player, but the Hammond organ has become my instrument. I’m fortunate to say that just about wherever I go, I play real Hammonds, and I feel really blessed to be able to do that.

Bobcat: And that is pretty awesome. I do feel like it’s almost like a lost art. You’ll see a lot of older guys still rocking the organ, but you don’t see a lot of the young guys. It’s all electronic piano now because you get all the sounds in one, and nobody wants to own a Leslie speaker anymore. But I mean, it’s amazing. For those that don’t know what a Leslie speaker is, go look it up because it’s one of the most special things in music, I think. It’s pretty cool.

Jon Petronzio: Yeah, I own three of them.

Bobcat: Yeah, that’s pretty wild. So it’s special, that’s pretty cool. So yeah, I want to shift gears a little bit because I think a lot of people that might know you probably know you playing keys in the reggae band John Brown’s Body, who’s an Ithaca institution. I remember before I even moved to Ithaca, I knew who John Brown’s Body was, and they’re pretty special. So yeah, do you want to touch on that a little bit? Like how long you’ve been playing with JBB now and what that’s been like? I know they’ve had some turnover and they kind of got a new lineup now, right?

Jon Petronzio: Yeah, I started with JBB back in 2009. Oddly enough, I left my short stint at the church where I hadn’t really played too many actual Hammond organs, and that was at the time headed by Elliot Martin. He had a Hammond in the trailer. So I actually learned really to play a Hammond with John Brown’s Body on the road. And yeah, so I toured with those guys for eight or nine years or so.

Bobcat: Nice.

Jon Petronzio: Yeah, and it was wonderful. I love that band. And I still play with them now, headed by Kevin Kinsella, who’s the originator. Different catalog of music, which is such a cool aspect to that band.

Bobcat: They both have great voices. I mean Elliot and Kevin both are just phenomenal singers, phenomenal frontmen. And yeah, it’s pretty cool that—I don’t know the politics behind it, but I’m sure Elliot had to give Kevin his blessing to kind of take it over, and it’s cool to see it kind of continue.

Jon Petronzio: Yeah, yeah. It is really special, honestly, that two leaders can just hand the band back and forth, you know? So I feel lucky to have been under both of their leadership.

Bobcat: Yeah, awesome stuff. Yeah, definitely seen you on stage at some festivals with JBB, and yeah, it’s a pretty magical band. So that’s pretty cool. But you know, I think the thing that also a lot of people know you as is Road Man, which is kind of your solo project. You often play with a full band. Do you want to talk about Road Man a little bit?

Jon Petronzio: Yeah, sure. So Road Man is my solo project. It started out as me just composing demos on Ableton Live in my bedroom. I think I made around 250 different grooves—they were just germs as we might call them—and then eventually they grew into some songs. I put out my first record in 2015, which got the Grammy nod and stuff, which was a really cool thing. And all the members of John Brown’s Body were the band. I didn’t play much guitar—I mean I did some guitar, but it hadn’t become as much of a passion for me at that point—but most of the JBB guys were backing me up on that, and recorded it with Alan Evans from Soulive.

Bobcat: Oh, nice. Yeah. And so did you play much guitar before you started Road Man, or did Road Man inspire you to play more guitar?

Jon Petronzio: I did write a lot of the songs with the guitar, but I didn’t really play it yet. And I would say, you know, it took me seven years or many years to get that first record out. When I started it, I didn’t play much guitar. By the time it was done, I played a lot more guitar. Most of the recording was done by other guys, but my second record, which is called Midnight Hour, I did everything on that minus the horns and some drums.

Bobcat: Cool stuff. Well, you know, this would be a good opportunity to take a break and hear some music. So you want to play a Road Man song? What song should we play for the people?

Jon Petronzio: Sure. Let’s play “Who Do You Love.” It’s a happy, bubbly reggae tune.

Bobcat: Yeah, one of my favs.

Jon Petronzio: Yeah, yeah.

Bobcat: Cool. Anything you want to say about what inspired you to write it, what it’s about, anything you want people to know?

Jon Petronzio: You know, it’s just about feeling good, man, you know? And yeah, I don’t really know, man. It’s just one of these songs that I just kind of caught out of nowhere.

Bobcat: Those are the best kind.

Jon Petronzio: Yeah, exactly. It wrote itself in a way, yeah.

Bobcat: All right, well, let’s hear it. Here’s “Who Do You Love” by Road Man.

(Music Track: “Who Do You Love” plays)  

Bobcat: All right, so we’re back with JP here from Road Man and the SUNY Cortland Gospel Choir, among other things. How does it feel to hear your song on the radio?

Jon Petronzio: Oh, man. It never gets old. It’s great. You never know who’s listening, right?

Bobcat: Yeah, you never know. That’s cool. Why don’t you tell the people where they can find some of your recordings, like where can they find your music?

Jon Petronzio: Yeah, so it’s a funny thing. I didn’t know this at the time that I named the project, but a roadman is like a UK drug dealer, and usually like little kids with hoodies. So if you type “Road Man,” you might find some unsavory stuff. But if you do @RoadManMusic, you’ll find my stuff, and that’s the best way.

Bobcat: Spotify, Apple Music, all that stuff, right?

Jon Petronzio: Yeah, all those things. Yep, Instagram and all the socials as well.

Bobcat: Do you want to tell us a little bit about why you chose the name Road Man, what’s the significance behind it for you?

Jon Petronzio: You know, a roadman is a traditional Native American ceremony holder. In so many ways, I adapted the name mostly because I play music on the road, but I also wanted music to be uplifting and medicinal, right? So I like to think that music can reach us in places that we need it to go sometimes. So I’m a traveling—I am a roadman. I travel constantly and create and write music that can reach people’s hearts and help them heal.

Bobcat: Nice, excellent. That’s good stuff.

Jon Petronzio: Yeah, I don’t know if that’s a good answer.

Bobcat: Yeah, no. I mean, music, it’s a language, you know? I always think of Sir Duke, Stevie Wonder, you know? It’s a language. It means something different to everybody, but it’s a way of communicating with each other. Like art, it means something different to everyone, and you can’t really judge art, you know?

Jon Petronzio: You know, my favorite artists, I think if I had to name one—and the one that I’ll listen to at all hours of the night if I’m ever doing a late drive—is Elliott Smith. Elliott Smith just reaches me in a place that makes me feel. Sometimes it’s very sad, but it makes me feel so good, you know? That’s what I hope to do, just for one person, if I could reach one and help them get through a hard day or a hard period of time.

Bobcat: Totally makes it all worth it, right? So speaking of inspirations, a good segue, what are some other local bands or musicians in the area who inspire you? Any favorites? Who are you listening to locally?

Jon Petronzio: You know, you brought up Driftwood before. Those are my friends; I love those guys. I definitely—my homies right up the road, Sophistafunk, right?

Bobcat: Oh yeah, Adam Gold, funk master Gold, yeah. I see you guys talking shop about keys online.

Jon Petronzio: Adam actually sold his Hammond to me, so I thank him for bringing that one into my world. That sort of changed everything when I started touring and playing out with that one. You know, my good friends in Giant Panda, love those guys. It just goes on and on. We’ve got a lot of music around.

Bobcat: Yeah, we’re really lucky, I know, I know. And I hear you’re also now playing with one of the top Ithaca bands ever in Donna the Buffalo. I mean, they started the whole GrassRoots Festival for those who didn’t know. They’ve been around for decades. They’ve raised a bunch of money for AIDS research and all that stuff through the GrassRoots Festival, and not only do it in Trumansburg, but now down south in North Carolina and Florida. So what’s it like playing with Donna the Buffalo?

Jon Petronzio: Oh my god, it’s a blast, so fun. It’s a genre that I’ve not played a lot, zydeco, Americana. It’s surprisingly funky, and I find that my sort of gospel slant on the Hammond translates really well.

Bobcat: Yeah, Jeb’s guitar is super funky, such a good tone. And Tara too, yeah.

Jon Petronzio: The songwriting is so good. Yeah, I was really stoked when Jeb gave me the call. I was playing with John Brown’s Body down in Virginia, and he called me and said, “Can you come out and do a couple shows this weekend?” I was like, “No, I’m playing this festival, Rooster Walk, down in Virginia.” He said, “Where are you playing?” He goes, “Oh, we’re in Pittsburgh and Ohio.” I said, “Oh, you know what? That’s actually eight hours away.” So I rented a car and I drove up, and then that was the rest is history. It’s a fun ride on the bus.

Bobcat: That’s funny. Good stuff, good stuff. Yeah, while we’re on interesting stories, do you have any other good stories from the road you want to share, any favorite stories from the road or in general?

Jon Petronzio: You know, I played a show with Revision. Revision was my first band.

Bobcat: You guys all met at Ithaca College.

Jon Petronzio: Yeah, we met at Ithaca College, so that was my first band, and that felt like a whole lifetime ago. But we hit the road really hard as kids. We were just in college. We got signed to a booking agent when it was my junior year and their senior year. I was a little younger than the other guys. But yeah, there was at a point where we played I think 180 shows in one year, so it was just a lot, but it was great because we really cut our teeth out there.

We played a show down in Woodstock, and what we used to do, we didn’t have money for hotels, so we would just say, “Could somebody let us sleep on their floor?”

Bobcat: Interesting people!

Jon Petronzio: Yeah, and this dude was like, “Oh yeah, you can come stay with me.” We were like, “Okay, all right.” So we follow this guy back to his barn—huge barn. We walk in, you didn’t know what to expect, but this guy had—was really, you could call it almost a warehouse, filled with antiquities, different furniture from the 1500s, palace doors. I think his thing was that he would take shutter doors from Indian and Nepali palaces, bolt them shut, put glass on the top—these beautiful, ornate carvings.

And so he had this museum essentially, filled with ancient stuff. Literally like there were two palace doors—huge, like 15-foot doors. I mean, it was crazy. So we roll into essentially a museum, and it ended up our guitar player slept on a 14th-century hemp-woven cot from Mongolia or something. We had a great hang and I ended up sleeping on the floor and got bit up by fleas all night. It was an adventure, you know?

Bobcat: My first radio gig was actually in Woodstock. I went to college in New Paltz in the Hudson Valley, and yeah, so many characters. I mean, Woodstock, New Paltz, Ithaca, they all have—it’s just like that TV show Portlandia, you know? They’re making fun of all the hip towns, and it’s like you start to see the same people in all these towns.

Jon Petronzio: Totally. We just went down with John Brown’s Body, played at Yasgur’s Farm, too. So that was kind of fun.

Bobcat: Oh, nice. That’s cool, cool, cool.

Bobcat: All right, so next one… don’t mean to put you on the spot here, we could edit this out if we don’t want.

Jon Petronzio: Okay.

Bobcat: So don’t mean to put you on the spot, but do you happen to know when and where we first met?

Jon Petronzio: I don’t think I do, man. Can you remind me of this?

Bobcat: So, I want to say it was Club Helsinki in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, probably around the year… must have been somewhere in the range ’07, ’08, ’09.

Jon Petronzio: Yeah, that’s definitely Revision days, yeah.

Bobcat: Revision days, yep. So, I used to work for a program called Nature’s Classroom all over New England, and we were working out of Colebrook, Connecticut at the time, and we had this buddy, Papa Bear, this old hippie guy with a beard, and just lived out of the back of his van with his dog, Brownie McGee, giving you shots of whiskey. And he’s like, “Oh, there’s a show… there’s this club in Great Barrington, there’s some random band Revisions playing. Anybody wants to fit in the van, we’re going to go.” And 10 of us piled into the van. Me, that’s where I got the nickname Bobcat working for Nature’s Classroom. The other characters with me in addition to Papa Bear: Sparky, Pez, Fawn… and we just… Club Helsinki’s like this basement club in Great Barrington, right? Southwestern Massachusetts, kind of in the middle of nowhere, kind of a ski town. And yeah, I feel like there was probably only a handful of people there, but after the show, we were hanging out afterwards, and yeah, I remember that. I remember I bought your guy’s CD, and I still have it. When I was telling you the joke before we started recording, you got the song about Ithaca weather, my wife and I have the joke Ithaca traffic. So yeah, it’s crazy that all these years later here I am interviewing you, and back then had no idea that I’d end up in the Ithaca area. Small world, right?

Jon Petronzio: Does that club still exist?

Bobcat: I’m sure it’s changed names a million times.

Jon Petronzio: I would love to… see, that’s the thing, they all blur together. And so I would love to, if I saw the room, I’d be like, “Oh my god, yeah! Of course.” Great Barrington, and the name for sure, Club Helsinki.

Bobcat: Yeah, it’s like a random name. I think it had a ton of different names, I’m pretty sure. But anyway, yeah, I thought that was a funny story. And then yeah, and then I got to know you a little bit when I was booking music for the Ithaca Farmers Market, got to know you, and then yeah, like I said, some friends that have played keys for you, seeing you at Reggae Night, I feel like I know you a lot better than I probably do, but it’s an honor to have you here on the show. You do a lot of stuff musically, and it’s pretty cool from the choir, now playing with Donna, Road Man, John Brown’s Body, keys, Revisions, it’s quite the resume. So I appreciate you. We got a couple last things, then we got to wrap it up. Any upcoming shows, anywhere people can find out more about you? Plug the choir again before we go?

Jon Petronzio: Yeah, sure. I’m going to be, I think there’s like 48 dates with Donna, mostly in the Eastern Seaboard, a little run out to Michigan, to Chicago and stuff. But as far as local goes, we’ve got a John Brown’s Body show up in Syracuse, and of course I didn’t look up what the actual…

Bobcat: Where is it?

Jon Petronzio: I’m like, what? Shoot.

Bobcat: Is Van Martin in that band?

Jon Petronzio: Yes, yes.

Bobcat: I used to know Spiritual Rez, I lived in Boston for a while.

Jon Petronzio: I mean, we’re going back to that time, yeah, absolutely, Spiritual Rez for sure.

Bobcat: Yeah, awesome. I love those guys.

Jon Petronzio: Yeah.

Bobcat: Yeah, so tell us about any upcoming shows you got.

Jon Petronzio: Yeah, so I got quite a bit of shows with Donna coming up, I think 48 shows through the New Year, so tons of playing with those guys. But as far as local goes, we’re playing with John Brown’s Body on October 2nd at Middle Ages Beer Hall up in Syracuse.

Bobcat: Oh nice, good spot. Yeah, I know some of those guys.

Jon Petronzio: Yeah, it’s a great venue. We played there roughly about a year ago and it was awesome, great turnout, really, really fun show.

Bobcat: Good stuff. And then yeah, I hear Donna’s coming to the Center for the Arts, but that’s not till like January or something.

Jon Petronzio: Yeah, it’s a little bit later.

Bobcat: Cool, cool. So that’s fun. All right, cool. Well, I think we can wrap it up. Is there any last-minute things you want to say about the choir? One last pitch to get people out?

Jon Petronzio: Yeah, everybody, if you are a singer or you have friends or family that sing, please come out and join us, and/or spread the word around. We really want to build this program back up, and we got some really exciting plans in the works. And yeah, we got to keep this tradition alive. It’s very important, and kind of existential in a way, you know? We really need to not only get together and sing, but carry that tradition on. So I’m happy to be the helper of that mission.

Bobcat: Yeah, get out there and enjoy life, sing some songs, because it’s a dangerous road that we travel. Tell us about the last song we’re going to hear.

Jon Petronzio: Is it a dangerous road? Okay! “Dangerous Road” is a song that I wrote down in the Virgin Islands. It was just like one of these demos that I had, and I needed to come up with some lyrics in like an hour for the show later, you know? And I just kind of like wrote it down. That’s how it happened, just caught it like that, and I was like, “All right, we’re going to try it,” and I sang it and out it came.

Bobcat: Sometimes those are the best ones, right? If you try too hard, you don’t get that magic that comes when you do it organically.

Jon Petronzio: I tend to write way too many lyrics, so it was a refreshing change of pace for me for sure.

Bobcat: Cool, cool. Well, JP, thanks so much for joining us.

Jon Petronzio: Yes, Bobcat!

Bobcat: The Key Master, check out Keys with JP, his college band Revisions, obviously John Brown’s Body and Donna the Buffalo, two Ithaca institutions.

Jon Petronzio: And the Comb Down, too.

Bobcat: Oh, you playing with them, too? Oh, nice.

Jon Petronzio: Yeah, that’s my band.

Bobcat: Yeah, I forgot to mention that. That’s right, I can’t believe I forgot about that! I don’t see them play out much these days, but when they do, right? It’s hard to do it all, right? And then of course your solo project Road Man, and get out there and sing with the SUNY Cortland Gospel Choir. All right, JP, thank you so much. We’re going to take you out with some “Dangerous Road” from Road Man. Until next time, peace out, y’all.

Jon Petronzio: Peace.

(Music Track: “Dangerous Road” plays)