Jim Knable
Jim Knable has been writing and performing songs since his college days, playing all over the United States and Europe at various clubs, coffee houses, house parties, and select fire escapes. In 2000, he recorded his first solo album Miles. Then he formed The Randy Bandits and recorded music with them. Now he plays solo gigs, gigs with various original Bandits, and gigs with other friends who become new Bandits.
UPCOMING 2024 GIGS
Monday, October 7 at Cowgirl Seahorse, South Street Seaport Manhattan
Monday, November 4 at Rockwood Music Hall, Stage 1, Lower East Side Manhattan
New Jim Knable & The Randy Bandits album BLUE REUNION is now out! Goldmine Magazine says it "sums up today's state of uncertainty while also offering hope for a happier tomorrow."
Hans Werksman reviews Jim Knable & The Randy Bandits' 2020 BLUE REUNION for Here Comes the Flood, saying: "The years have been kind to the Bandits. Creating timeless music was always their goal and with BLUE REUNION they pass with flying colours."
Joe Viglione reviews BLUE REUNION for Medford News Weekly with comparisons to Jim Croce, Bruce Springsteen, and Lou Reed.
Dan Kadsion says BLUE REUNION "takes you back to the days of sunny day drinking sessions, stripped-down campfire sing-alongs and last call blues" in NewsWhistle.
Come hear new songs here as they're written and follow other songwriter musings here: https://www.facebook.com/jimknablethesongwriter
SONG SAMPLES
SONGS OF SUFFRAGE - The 2020 Voting Concept Album, commissioned by Luna Stage and the Andrew Goodman Foundation with support from the National Endowment for the Arts
New and evolving songs from 2019:
A digital EP from 2014
Jim Knable as The Jewbadour
From 2015-2018 Jim wrote songs and performed at live tapings of the Unorthodox Podcast in addition to creating demos for the recorded podcast. He released an album of his demo songs for this thoughtful, irreverent Jewish podcast (named one of the top 50 podcasts of 2016 by The Guardian) called THE UNORTHODOX DEMOS in 2018.
About his setting of letters to Unorthodox Podcast to music the A.V.Club wrote:
"...the star of the week may be singer-songwriter Jim Knable, who pulls from the same pool of letters as Firestone and Ratliff but puts the words to music. Knable's punky take on an aggressive pitch email for a book called Crossing The Boundary, in particular, could serve as a world-class advertisement in itself."
Further evidence of The Jewbadour in full podcast context: OCTOBER 27, 2016 at Hebrew College in Boston with the Unorthodox Podcast, featuring the brand new episode song wrap-up "It's Almost Over."
And... After an interview with Mo Rocca: "Baby's Daddy"
And... here's a live broadcast featuring "The Jewbadour" and an improvised song based on audience suggestions.
Further proof of Jim Knable's songwriting life:
After playing the featured set at Big City Folk's "Song Club" at Fawkner on February 21, 2019:
At Freddy's Backroom in Brooklyn on February 10, 2018:
From live shows in February and May, 2017, at The City Winery in NYC with the band:
Other reviews:
"A playwright by training, Knable has grown more serious about song writing and performance in recent years. I've never seen one of his plays, but judging from his debut CD, he's got a valid option if the theatre does not smile upon him. For the most part accompanied only by his beloved acoustic guitar (in the tradition of B.B. King, he's named it "Loraine" and opens the record with a tender ode to the instrument), Jim projects a friendly, slightly off-kilter persona that's immediately appealing. Drawing on blues and folk music for inspiration, and delivering his lyrics with playful abandon, Knable evokes a young Bob Dylan... The unadorned production of Miles establishes an intimacy that Jim uses to his advantage. Keep an eye out for the guy - I will!"
-Jim Santos
Demo Universe
"Jim Knable is a weird, but very talented guy. His avant garde singer-songwriting style covers everything from an ode to his guitar ("Loraine") to a ditty about an overzealous civil servant ("Sexual Postman"). Knable's witty and wacky sense of humor and performance sense make these songs memorable as well as thoroughly enjoyable ("Young In America", "I'm Not Charles Bukowski"). In spirit, Knable seems to be the perfect male companion act to Phoebe from FRIENDS and her acoustic coffeehouse warbling, only Knable's guitar playing is decisively stellar. Intelligent and unique, Jim Knable's MILES is bound to earn some miles in your CD player if you're on the hunt for some David Byrne-esque left of center singer-songwriter fare.
-Mike SOS
3:16 Productions