Johnnygoody

Johnnygoody is an indie singer-songwriter of the melancholic kind. He goes into the deep and dark that others keep hidden. With emotional vocals and acoustic guitar, doubts are overcome and only beauty is left. Leading Dutch indie magazine 3voor12 selected the track 'Same Old' for their compilation album series Hollandse Nieuwe in February 2012. In July Johnnygoody's debut album 'Introducing' was featured as one of the streamable albums on 3voor12's Luisterpaal. Just after the release of the debut album Johnnygoody was invited to play on Dutch national television as one of the 30 best singer-songwriters from the Netherlands. His album was released on CD and LP (on Independent Future Recordings). In 2005 Luutzen Dijkstra started performing as Johnnygoody and directly won a local Dutch singer-songwriter contest. After studying philosophy in Utrecht and playing all over the country, Luutzen left the Netherlands in 2010 in order to focus on his music. A journey of exploration began in New York, then London and now Berlin, where Luutzen currently lives. Just before moving to Berlin, Luutzen recorded debut album 'Introducing' with the help of friends. The story on the album goes from agitation to resignation and from submissiveness to decisiveness, influenced by Luutzen's background in philosophy. When presented with many possibilities it feels as if making a choice will exclude all options that are left unchosen. This can be paralyzing or can make you desperate. Johnnygoody concludes that it's alright not to know what to do or to be confused sometimes. By showing and accepting this despair, things may not become clear all of a sudden, but at least you move on. And options to choose will always come around. Musically Damien Rice is a good reference, as well as Ane Brun and Nick Drake. Next to that Johnnygoody has one foot in indie-rock like Elliott Smith and Arcade Fire. This way a wide dynamic range arises from small and soft to loud and big. When playing solo Johnnygoody builds his own vocal harmonies live on stage with a looping pedal, but with a willing crowd this becomes unnecessary as the songs easily turn into sing-alongs. With a band Johnnygoody is able to amplify the emotions in the songs even more and will pour them all over you.