Today we’d like to introduce you to Jon Worthy.
Hi Jon, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I fell in love with performing my senior year of college. I decided to move to Nashville after graduating with my college bandmate. We started a band in Nashville that lasted about 5 years. During that time I also started my own project Jon Worthy. I started playing more and more shows as Jon Worthy and recording and releasing music. I felt extremely passionate about the music I was writing. Eventually my first band fizzled out and so I was able to pour all my creativity in to my music. I started touring pretty heavily and releasing music that was reaching people. In 2019 I played over 120 shows that I booked and organized on my own. At that time I also had a consistent band of 2 other guys and we were planning on quitting our jobs in March 2020 to go tour full time. About 6 months before March 2020, one of the guys told me he didn’t want to do it anymore and I felt extremely discouraged about our plan not moving forward. However, I continued booking shows and filling in my band with other people. Going in to 2020, I had over 60 shows booked in to august and then while I was on the road playing shows in Oklahoma in March of 2020, the pandemic hit. All my shows were of course cancelled and with it my dreams. I also got furloughed from the corporate job I was working at that time and then eventually let go altogether. It was a pretty dark time navigating what the future looked like and feeling completely dejected. The girl I was dating at the time was also a musician and had been recording her own vocals for a number of years. She suggested that I buy some recording equipment and use my free time to learn how to record. And so I did. I watched a few YouTube videos and eventually taught myself how to record in Ableton. I started by making very rough demos. Eventually after 3 years of recording and figuring out how to make things sound better, I was starting to release music that I had produced. And then eventually I was mixing my own music. And then eventually I developed contacts to start writing and producing songs for tv shows and also producing songs for other artists. And since 2022, when I quit my corporate job for good, a majority of my music income comes from writing, producing, mixing, mastering songs for people. I was also able to get over 400 placements of songs I had written in various tv shows and secure some decent royalties. However my true passion has always been as an artist. And so today I find my self splitting my time between writing and producing songs for hire and releasing, promoting, and playing shows of my own music. In November of 2025, I played 4 shows in Argentina and Chile and shot a music video of a song I did with an Argentinian producer. In January and February of 2026, I played shows in Japan, Vietnam, and Thailand. In March of 2026 I played 14 shows in Argentina and Chile. In July and August I am playing 11 shows across Europe and then in August through October I am playing over 20 shows in South America. I feel totally alive when I’m traveling the world performing my own music. I’m hardly making any money doing it, but I’m experiencing life in a way that very few people get to experience it, and I’m also able to use these experiences and create content from it which is one of the main things you need as an artist in today’s world.
What I’m most proud of is that I continue to find ways to do what I love and experience such unique things. I have no real help from anyone. No booking agents, no promoters, no manager, no agent. I get help from people along the way that believe in me, but who aren’t involved in the music industry. Just people that see how hard I try and how much passion I have.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
There’s been so many setbacks. Endless “No’s” or no responses from venues. Constant pedestrian numbers on social media. No one really listening to my music. No one really caring whether I continue or not. But for me I think the following story details how much I love performing and my outlook on music and performing. In September of 2023, my dad took his life after battling very serious clinical depression since he was a child. It was the most draining week of my life going through the experience of driving home to Pittsburgh, grieving with my mom and my brothers and facing the fact that my own dad who was a great dad took his own life. 6 days after I had driven home to Pittsburgh I drove the 8 hours back to Nashville first thing in the morning. I arrived in Nashville around 2 pm and then at 5 pm drove 3 more hours to Knoxville Tennessee to perform for 3 hours at a show I had booked months ago. After performing for 3 hours I then drove 3 hours back to Nashville and arrived home at 3 in the morning. After paying my bassist, drummer, and gas for my van, I maybe cleared $50. But it goes against every fiber of my being to cancel a show. Even though I didn’t really have anyone clamoring to see me perform, and if I had cancelled the show no one would have really cared. But I would have cared and I need to keep my word because the show must always go on. True artists and performers perform under any circumstance. It kills me when I see people that have real fans and get to play shows I could only dream of cancel shows because of metal illness or being tired. I understand mental illness and I’ve lived through the worse possible outcome of it. We all suffer from mental illness. Life is hard. But music and art is an escape for people. And if you’re physically able to stand up on stage and sing and perform then you should do it.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
My name is Jon Worthy. I’m a full time musician based in Nashville, Tennessee. I grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, went to college at Penn State, then moved to Nashville as soon as I graduated. I took a rather unusual approach to my path as a full time musician. I graduated Penn State with finance and economics degrees and instead of doing the normal Nashville musician route of bartending or serving at a restaurant, I decided to use my degrees and get a corporate job to support myself while I pursued music. I quickly realized that I really disliked working a corporate job, but it allowed me a better opportunity to fund my music career. So through countless shows, albums, bands, and life changes, I worked a corporate job for about 8 years before I finally felt comfortable enough to pursue music full time. I’ve been a full time musician for about 3 years and while it’s a grind and very unpredictable, the freedom I have is worth all the money in the world for me. I get to choose exactly what I want to do with my time. I currently make a majority of my money doing songwriting and production for other artists a lot of which hire me online. I am also on song 8 with local Nashville artist Savraya which has been an awesome experience working consistently with an artist on their music. Performing is my favorite part of being a musician especially with a full band, so my current goal is to grow my fanbase and get to the point where I can play legit shows and do what I love the most. One of the ways I’m attempting to grow my fanbase is through social media. When I started my travel bender a few months ago, I realized I had a lot of content to share from my travels and I have released so much music that I could share the two in tandem and show more of who I am as a person. In today’s world where everyone is addicted to their phones and has access to all the videos, people aren’t as impressed by music videos and professional quality performances so the need to show who you truly are a s a person is imperative. And that’s what I’ve been attempting to do with my social media videos. I am letting it all out. Attempting to show my true self and be as vulnerable as possible.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Resilience and self belief. Literally nothing that anyone else thinks about you and what you do matters. If you can get that across to yourself and find a way to do what you want, how you want to do it, then you’re well on your way to success. Believe in what you’re trying to accomplish and find a way to make it happen. It doesn’t mater how other people are doing it. Make your own path and be confident in your decisions.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jonworthythebends.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonworthymusic
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jonworthymusic
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@jonworthy
