Jon Patrick Walker reveals his video for the light-hearted, sun-drenched, blissfully vintage, easy-rolling ‘Auto-tune My Love’. It’s a slick little number that opens his new album “The Rented Tuxedo & Other Songs” which finally see the light of day next month. The video was written by Jon, shot by Sebastian Heinrich and directed by Bob Cucuzza.
Jon tells us:
“I love this song, I’m proud of the lyric (any songs that name-checks Pat Boone [rhyming it with Baboon] in 2021 has to be doing something right!), and as far as the recording, Pete Finney’s pedal steel solo just fills me with happiness every time I listen to it.(Thanks, Pete!). For the video, I was trying to devise a story-line that would require the fewest other humans as possible (this was pre-vaccines, last spring) so I came up with the idea that my scene partner would be my dog, Jennie. The song is essentially about one who cannot fake their love, and who to better represent this truth than a dog, for whom fakery is impossible?? I got the idea of me wearing the old-time bathing suit from Monkees clips from their 60’s TV series (which brings me back to Pete Finney—he plays with them when they tour). We had such fun working on the vid, the weather was perfect, Jennie was in fine form, and the lifeguard was super-friendly and allowed us to set up right in the shade next to his lifeguard station.”
A highly respected actor appearing on Television, in Film, and on Broadway (most recently playing King George on the National Tour of Hamilton to raves), Jon has increasingly turned his creative energies to songwriting and recording, an early passion sidelined by his acting career until the death of his mother provoked a mid-life reassessment of priorities. Since his debut LP, 2013’s “The Guilty Party,” he has put out two records co-produced with the Grammy-nominated Josh Kaufman (2016’s “People Going Somewhere” and 2018’s “You & I”), the self-produced and critically lauded demo collection “Welcome to the Edge Times” in 2019, and last year, the lockdown home studio EP, “The Great Unravelling!” His latest, “The Rented Tuxedo & Other Songs” is an eclectic and beautifully arranged 9-track collection of originals made in Nashville with co-producer Roger Moutenot (the haunting title-track was recorded with local musicians in Memphis at Sun Studio while JP was touring with Hamilton). The record features an array of brilliant musicians (including Pete Finney on pedal steel, drummer Russ Pollard, Eric Fritsch on sitar and vibes and Kirby Sybert on guitars and keys) and reveals Walker at the height of his creative powers. Jon is currently writing a comedic rock musical called “The Devil & Doctor Faust” and working on material for his next record. He lives in Los Angeles and Brooklyn with his wife, the actress Hope Davis, their two daughters, and their dog, Jennie.
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Photo Credit: Danny O’Connor