So my album of cover songs, which is so cleverly titled COVERED, is coming out July 14th. Last month I shared a rocking version of Bob Marley's Three Little Birds and today I'm sharing with you a version of Chris Isaak's Wicked Game. I'm told all the time that our voices are similar but I don't hear it. But because of that, I tried to do something unique with the vocals to make them different then Chris's version. So let me know what you think! The song is available on all the streaming platforms.

Spring has sprung, so here's a new song for the season.  Click on this link to be directed to your prefferred streaming service.

Out today is a new EP from me and Piewackit (aka Jeff Allen) called AIM HIGH.  Two of the five tracks have already been used several times on CBS's Young & The Restless TV show (It Will All Be Beautiful & Where We Long To Be), while the title track is signed to a high end LA music library.  If you want to hear it, just follow this link. 

Last year I sent out a year in review update on my music career and people seemed to like it, so I thought I'd do it again.  Here are some of the highlights of my year. 

(Note that at the very end of this post I have included links to both Spotify and YouTube playlists for the songs mentioned below, if they are currently released). 

- 2022 started off with a unique use of a song called Believe In Santa.  A virtual fitness app out of the UK licensed the song for a two month use.  When I started seriously doing this 9 years ago I was solely focused on getting my songs used in Films & TV shows - who knew that a whole world of opportunity would appear with things like this and social media? 

- I've had a tonne of placements on the Young & The Restless CBS TV show.  On 5 days a week, for 40 minutes each day, the Y&R uses more music than any other TV show in North America.   All of these songs, save one, have been used multiple times this year on the show; Hold That Thought, If We've Only Got Today, Don't Want To Be Alone Tonight, For All Time, Wherever We Are, Could I Ever Be Your Man (currently unreleased), and It Will All Be Beautiful (coming out on an EP in January 2023) 

- I released two completely different albums this year; The Beaten Path and Cowrites Vol. 1.  The first one focused on songs that I wrote specifically for my artistic side while the second one was written specifically for sync placements in Film & TV and features songs that I co-wrote with many other talented songwriters. 

- The Beaten Path got some good press and a bit of radio airplay, but probably the coolest thing was being interviewed by the Americana Music Profiles podcast.  If you'd like to hear it, here’s the Spotify link, but you can also Google my name with the word podcast and find it all over the web: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1GWI2biHNoGuQHa3VY3HIu. 

- In the summer I spent some time at the Tragically Hip’s studio in Bath, Ontario helping my friend Mik Perlus record his debut EP.  Beyond producing it, I played the bass guitar and other assorted instruments.   It was a pleasure to play with Mik and his fellow Student Bodies co-star Jamie Elman, Josh Trager of the Sam Roberts Band (a man with many cool stories), and guitar wunderkid Randy Starr.  The EP comes out January 27th and an album release show is scheduled for the night before at the Supermarket in Toronto. 

- I did a country / hip hop crossover track with Owen Chaim (he’s the one doing the rapping) and Matt Hirt that has gotten dozens and dozens of uses on an ESPN show called Portraits. 

- I signed my one hundredth song back in October (and a bunch more after that!).  But what exactly does that mean?  In a nutshell, I sign my songs to music libraries, either exclusively or non-exclusively, and then these libraries go out and pitch them to Film & TV opportunities. 

- 31K people streamed 80k songs of mine on Spotify last year.  That’s a lot of people listening to someone whose name isn’t Justin  Beiber.  Add in Apple Music and Pandora and it’s over 40k listeners! 

- After a two year hiatus because of Covid, I was able to go to my favourite music conference in LA this year and hang out with all my music friends and make some new ones as well! 

- For 2023 I'm planning on releasing a bunch of music.  Confirmed is a new EP with Jeff Allen called AIM HIGH which is coming out January 13th (you can presave it here: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/johnlewittandpiewackit/aim-high ).  Also in the planning stages is a full blown album of cover songs that I did for a specific music library and an album of piano ballads that I have written over the years.  And then who knows what else! 

- Oh yeah, and I turned 50 this year! 

If you’ve gotten this far, thanks for reading and I wish everyone the best this holiday season. 

Thanks, 

John 

P.S.  Here are the playlists I mentioned. 

Spotify Playlist:

 https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6uhlB05ptpu5X8LOlvXDN8?si=fAQdp7edQkCaykyGVLnuVA 

YouTube Playlist: 

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-lB-4fCuClFL-TDrO-GEKC0qr6KXBEye

Out today is a brand new album from me called Cowrites, Vol. 1.  As some of you may know, I write and record a lot of music for Film & TV sync opportunities.  What does that mean?  Well, basically I sign songs to specific music libraries that then pitch these tracks to TV shows, Films, Video Games, Commercials and more.  To increase my chances of success I collaborate with a lot of other musicians and songwriters.  As such I thought I'd start an annual tradition of releasing some of my favourite co-writes from the past year.  Tracks 5 & 9 have already been used a bunch on The Young And The Restless, while track 1 was pitched to two TV shows and a national advertising campaign just last week (it can take years for songs to end up being used, so the fact that these new tunes have already garnered some attention is very rewarding). 

My co-writer for each song is listed in parenthesis.

1. Gonna Be a Good Day (Tom Hoy) 

2. Last First Kiss (Graham Verdon) 

3. A Better Day (Tom Hoy) 

4. (We Could Be) Something Good (Katleen Dugas who is also on vocals) 

5. If We've Only Got Today (Tom Hoy & Susan Marie Simonson) 

6. Where It Hurts (Graham Verdon) 

7. Such A Beautiful Day (Tom Hoy & Susan Marie Simonson) 

8. I Can't Go Home (Tom Hoy & Susan Marie Simonson) 

9. Don't Want To Be Alone Tonight (Casey Hurowitz) 

10. 'Til I Am Home (Tom Hoy) 

And in the spirit of collaboration, the cover uses a piece of graffiti art done several years ago by my son Connor.

You can stream the album by clicking here.

Hey all, I'm happy to share this brand new interview I did for this Podcast from the Americana Rhythm Magazine and Website. You can listen here: https://cms.megaphone.fm/channel/americanamusic

Out today is 'Look In My Eyes', the third song from my upcoming album 'The Beaten Path'.  I released the mellow 'Late To The Game' 12 weeks ago, the upbeat 'Stop Me In My Tracks' 6 week later, and now here's the jamming 'Look In My Eyes'.  All of these songs have garnered some nice radio play, playlist adds on Spotify and some mentions on blogs - and the promotion is really starting to pick up with only 42 more sleeps to go before the whole album drops! 

As usual, you can listen to these songs everywhere music is found. 

Spotify 
Apple Music 
YouTube 
All Streaming Sites 

Thanks for your continued support. 

Cheers, 

John