Romanelli Jr.

Twenty Years of Songs

Niagara-rooted. Story-driven. Two-plus decades of writing the kind of rock that earns its space slowly — three chords and the truth.

For over twenty years, John Romanelli Jr. has been playing guitar and writing songs — the old-fashioned way, with a melody and something worth saying. The records came out of Niagara, on the Canadian side of the border, where he produced and played alongside a rotating cast of musicians who became friends, then family, then history.

Drawing on the storytelling tradition of Tom Petty and Bob Dylan, his rock trades polish for honesty — songs built to be played loud and felt close. The early sessions were cut at Prodigy Audio Resources in St. Catharines, Ontario, with engineer Rob Deacon at the board — a partnership that defined the sound of both albums.

The first record dropped in 1999: Baby Blue Suit — the album that put John on the map. The suit on the cover was custom-made by his aunt, Assunta Romaniello. Tracks like Fireball and It's All Your Fault built a small, devoted following that still talks about the record like they were in the room.

Three years later, Other Various Movements (2002) followed — an eleven-track project that gathered the whole crew into one room. Piano, Hammond organ, banjo, pedal steel, even a tuba. A choir on a couple of tracks. Same honest core, bigger shape.

Both albums came home to streaming in 2020, and the catalog kept growing. Over twenty years on, John released a new wave of singles: Indian Blue, Angels, Horses, The Lonely Man, and his latest — I Believe.

A small detail tucked into the original liner notes captures the whole spirit of the catalog: a hand holding a napkin folded into the shape of a Goat's Head — which, turned around, looked like a Walleye or a Trout. The kind of inside joke you only get from a record made by friends.

"Guitars, gravel, and a little truth — that's the whole record in one line."