Jason Webley

Webley is originally from Everett, Washington.[1] In high school, Webley played in a punk rock band called Moral Minority. He picked up the accordion in 1996 in his last year in college at the University of Washington when he was part of a performance of Bertolt Brecht's play The Caucasian Chalk Circle, and wrote a couple of songs for the play on the accordion.[2] He later recalled, "I was just a geeky kid; accordion came later. It's since playing accordion that I've become cool. I used to be a geek with an electric guitar. I had a guitar and played in punky bands and I had a computer. I sequenced stuff. I was much geekier."[3]

In the spring of 1998 Webley quit his day job and began busking.[4] Later that year he recorded the album Viaje in his kitchen and independently released it. In 1999, Webley released Against the Night, which would become one of his most popular albums. Against the Night includes "Last Song" and "Dance While the Sky Crashes Down," which would be staples of his live performances for the next two decades.

Webley's first four albums were released or re-released by Springman Records, but he now owns his own record label, Eleven Records, and sells his merchandise via website or at concerts.

Webley plays various instruments on his albums, including guitar, accordion, piano, marimba, and glockenspiel; when he tours, however, he usually only brings his guitar, an accordion, and a vodka bottle filled with coins from around the world. He has been known to do short tours with a backing band. Webley has performed at several festivals, including Burning Man, Glastonbury Festival, VanFest, and the Oregon Country Fair.[5] His sound has been compared to Tom Waits,[6] Vladimir Vysotsky,[7] Leonard Cohen,[6] and Bob Dylan.[8]

Webley's music and live performances reflect his eclectic personality. Webley has a fascination with the number 11.[9] References to the number can be found throughout his discography. He also performed a special commemorative concert on November 11th, 2011.

Webley was also once known for incorporating vegetables into his performances.[10] He once owned a late 1990s model Toyota Corolla that had been converted into a giant tomato. It was painted red, and had a green fiberglass stem attached to the roof of the car (until the stem was stolen).[11] He reported at a concert that his beloved Toyota had "passed away" around January 18, 2011. Webley's vegetable fixation is no longer a main element of his live performances.

From 2000 to 2004 Webley pretended to die every Halloween only to be born in the spring.[6]

In May 2014 Jason Webley performed the songs 'Promise To The Moon' as well as 'These and More Than These' by Joseph Fink; while doing a series of live shows with the show Welcome to Night Vale, as well as writing an original song as the character Louie Blasco on the podcast.[12]

In 2011, Webley scaled back his touring schedule and started focusing more on other projects. He still performs annually at some venues such as the Oregon Country Fair.

Webley (right) and Amanda Palmer as Evelyn Evelyn.

Webley has announced that there will be a series of 11 collaborative projects between him and his songwriter friends, and each recording will be limited to 1,111 numbered copies. He has thus far collaborated with Jay Thompson, Andru Bemis, Reverend Peyton, and Sxip Shirey.[21]

In September 2007, Webley collaborated with Amanda Palmer to release Evelyn Evelyn's debut EP Elephant Elephant via Webley's Eleven Records.

After a December 2007 concert at Hampshire College, Webley and Hampshire student Professor Science collaborated on a song about mittens known as "The Mitten Opera". Webley repeated this tradition the following two nights, first after a concert at Bard College, where he and a group of students collaborated on a song called "Clown Car to Mulberry", then at Sarah Lawrence College, where Webley and almost the entire audience performed the hardcore punk-inspired "Bad Milk". All three songs are available on YouTube.

At a concert at The Saint in Asbury Park, New Jersey in January 2009, Webley was joined on stage by Calamity Menagerie to perform "Ways To Love" and "Quite Contrary" – a song he rarely plays at live shows.

In December 2011, Webley announced the intention to make his back catalogue available as paid downloads online on the website BandCamp.

In February 2018, Webley announced the release of the new Amanda Palmer music video "Judy Blume" which he directed.[22]

• von Buhler, Cynthia; Palmer, Amanda; Webley, Jason (2011). Evelyn Evelyn (illustrated ed.). Diamond Comic Distributors. p. 144. ISBN 978-1-59582-578-0.

• Official website of Jason Webley
• Monsters of Accordion website
• Jason Webley at AllMusic
• Jason Webley's channel on YouTube