Jonny Fritz

An alt-country songwriter blending wide-ranging wit with intimate narrative detail, Jonathan Russell Fritz has issued recordings as both Jonny Fritz and Jonny Corndawg. Montana-born and raised in Esmont, Virginia, he absorbed the styles of classic country figures including Roger Miller, Waylon Jennings, Tom T. Hall, Jerry Reed, and Kris Kristofferson. At seventeen he began composing material and performing at any venue that would book him, using Philadelphia as a home base between tours. For more than a decade he traveled across the United States and to several other continents, forging connections with sympathetic musicians while gradually cultivating listeners.

In 2008 he cut his debut album, I'm Not Ready to Be a Daddy, in Philadelphia with the Extraordinaires providing accompaniment. Released on his own Nasty Memories Records imprint under the Jonny Corndawg name, the record prompted a relocation to Nashville shortly afterward, where he connected with similarly unconventional voices in the local songwriting scene. A split single with Deer Tick appeared in 2010, followed the next year by the second Corndawg full-length, Down on the Bikini Line. Impressed by the songs, Jackson Browne extended the use of his studio; produced by Dawes’ Taylor Goldsmith, the sessions for a third album wrapped in under a week.

That project, Dad Country, marked a breakthrough, issued as Fritz’s first release under his own name after he decided the Corndawg moniker suggested a novelty act and earning him a contract with ATO Records. Strong critical notices followed, and Fritz’s touring band—Joshua Hedley on fiddle, Spencer Cullum, Jr. on pedal steel, Taylor Zachry on bass, and Jerry Pentecost on drums—moved up to larger and higher-profile shows alongside Dawes, Alabama Shakes, Shooter Jennings, and Jamestown Revival. In October 2016 he issued his fourth album, and second under his own name, Sweet Creep.