Background

John F. Lilly was born on November 3, 1954, in Chicago, Illinois, United States. He is a son of George P. Lilly, Sr., an insurance actuary, and Myrtle Lilly, maiden name Sheber, a homemaker.

Education

Around the age of 14, John Lilly acquired his older brother's guitar and along with his singing talent, he began to explore the world of playing music. In 1972-1975, he attended the University of Illinois. In 1976, he attended Arizona State University. In 1996, Lilly received a Bachelor of Arts from Davis and Elkins College.

Career

In 1988-1991, John Lilly worked as a tour guide at Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum of Country Music Foundation. In 1991-1996, he was an associate editor of Old-Time Herald magazine. In 1992-1997, he was a publicist for the Augusta Heritage Center of Davis and Elkins College. Since 1997, he has been an editor at West Virginia Division of Culture and History, Charleston, and an editor of Goldenseal, the state's quarterly journal of history and traditional life. His book, Mountains of Music: West Virginia Traditional Music from Goldenseal was published in 1999. He is also a contributor to periodicals.

John Lilly is a multi-faceted performer and songwriter. He accompanies himself on acoustic guitar and mandolin, playing original songs that sound as old as the hills and old songs like they were made yesterday. He has traveled to 48 states, South and Central America, and in the United Kingdom, both as a solo artist and a member of performing groups including the Green Grass Cloggers, Ralph Blizard and the New Southern Ramblers, Company Comin', and, most recently, Blue Yonder.

John Lilly is considered a fine yodeler and frequently teaches workshops in yodeling, as well as workshops in the songs of Jimmie Rodgers and Hank Williams. He has been on the teaching staff for Early Country Music Week at the Augusta Heritage Center of Davis & Elkins College five times. Lilly has recorded six solo CDs. His most recent release is titled Thinking about the Weather, a solo acoustic recording featuring 12 original songs and released in January 2015.

In addition to his solo performances and recordings, John Lilly appears regularly with the band Blue Yonder, based out of Charleston, West Virginia, featuring two-time national flatpicking guitar champion Robert Shafer and bassist Will Carter. He also produces an annual Hank Williams tribute in Charleston, West Virginia, featuring Steel Guitar Hall of Fame member Kayton Roberts, Grand Ole Opry veterans Buddy Griffin and Roger Carroll, vocalist Rob McNurlin and others.

Achievements

• In 2005, John Lilly won first place in the Ghost Writers in the Sky songwriting competition for songs in the style of Hank Williams, sponsored by Hank Fest, a Chicago-based music festival, for his song "Blue Highway." In 2010, John won first place in the "Next Great Road Song" competition sponsored by Midas Muffler and Spin! magazine, for his original song "Come and Go."

Works

More photos

• book

  • Mountains of Music: West Virginia Traditional Music from Goldenseal

    (From fiddle tunes to folk ballads, from banjos to blues, ...)

    1999

• music

  • Broken Moon 2000
  • Last Chance to Dance 2003
  • Haunted Honky Tonk 2007
  • Live on Red Barn Radio 2009
  • Cold Comfort 2011
  • Thinking About the Weather 2015

Membership

• 

  Folk Alliance International , United States

• 

  Americana Music Association , United States

• 

  West Virginia Library Association , United States

Interests

• Music & Bands

  country, Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams, George Jones, Louvin Brothers, Tyler Childers, Jason Isbell, Gillian Welsh, Marty Stuart

Connections

John Lilly married Catherine Carpenter on October 7, 1989. They have two sons: John Mason, George Stuart.

Father:

George P. Lilly Sr.

George P. Lilly Sr. was an actuary in the life insurance industry who ran his own consulting company for many years. He served in the Army Air Forces in World War II and returned home in 1945 to earn a bachelor's degree in mathematics from DePaul University.

He began his career as an actuary, calculating insurance premiums and risk, developing new policies and filing financial statements with Bankers Life & Casualty Co. in Chicago. In 1955, George Lilly moved his family to Topeka, Kansas, where he worked for five years as an actuary for the state. He returned to the Chicago area and joined Transcontinental Insurance Co. in Evanston as vice president and actuary.

In the mid-1960s, he started George P. Lilly & Co. Inc., an actuarial consulting company to small insurance companies throughout the Midwest and Western states. He ran the business, with frequent help from family members, from an office in the Loop before moving it to Arlington Heights. In the early 1980s, he closed the business and worked as an actuarial adviser for Beaven/Inter-American Companies Inc. in Chicago until his retirement in 1991.

He was a chairman of a supervisory committee for the local Cub Scouts when his children were young and coached baseball teams for many years through the Arlington Heights Park District. George Lilly loved to play the piano and sing. In 1978, he joined the Chicago Swedish Glee Club. He wasn't Swedish, but he performed with the group for more than 20 years, singing holiday programs at local hospitals and for other charitable events.

Mother:

Myrtle Lilly

Wife:

Catherine Carpenter

Son:

John Mason Lilly

Son:

George Stuart Lilly

Brother:

Frank Lilly

Brother:

Robert Lilly

Sister:

Rosemary Pusateri

Sister:

Susan Cleary

Sister:

Mary Beth Olsen

Sister:

Barbara Lear

References

• John Lilly