“I LOVE PLAYING music,” Jonny Polonsky says. “To some other people it’s a career. But to me, it’s just my life.” And what a wild, colorful life it’s been so far. After releasing a series of homemade cassette tapes of his own music in the early ’90s, the Chicago-born singer-songwriter was invited by John Zorn to play his New Jewish Music festival in New York City, where, still a teenager, Polonsky was backed by a band featuring Mark Ribot, playing in front of an audience that included soon-to-be fan Jeff Buckley. His solo career kicked off in earnest when super-producer Rick Rubin signed Polonsky to his American Recordings label, which released his acclaimed 1996 debut, Hi My Name Is Jonny. That album, a sharply written and incisive collection of infectious power-pop tunes, saw Polonsky performing all the instrumental parts and vocals himself, and was self-recorded at his childhood home.
Since then, Polonsky has continued to release critically lauded, if not necessarily commercially massive, solo efforts, making him something of a cult favorite among rock and pop aficionados in the know. At the same time, he’s experienced a remarkable career as a collaborator, with his name attached to recordings by and ) and Neil Diamond to Tom Morello, the Dixie Chicks and Donovan.
