Born and raised in Winnipeg, John Einarson is an acclaimed musicologist, broadcaster, educator, and award-winning author of 15 music biographies published worldwide including Neil Young, Randy Bachman, John Kay of Steppenwolf, Ian & Sylvia, The Guess Who, The Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers, Arthur Lee & Love, and Buffalo Springfield. Four of his books have been on the Globe & Mail bestsellers list while several have been ranked among the top ten best music biographies in the UK and received award nominations. His book Hot Burritos: The True Story Of The Flying Burrito Brothers received the 2006 ARSC (Association for Recorded Sound Collections) Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research. John is the author of the critically-acclaimed Desperados: The Roots of Country Rock. He also collaborated with Randy Bachman on his two bestselling Vinyl Tap books. He is regarded as one of Canada’s finest music historians.
John has written for Mojo, Uncut, Goldmine, Discoveries, Record Collector, and Classic Rock and is a regular contributor to the Winnipeg Free Press. He wrote the Juno-nominated Bravo TV documentary Buffy Sainte-Marie: A Multi-Media Life, served as writer/consultant for A&E/Biography Channel’s Neil Young Biography episode, and wrote CBC TV’s The Life & Times of Randy Bachman. John also served as researcher on the recent Canadian-produced documentary Almost Almost Famous for Merit Motion Pictures. He curated the 2010 Manitoba Museum exhibit Shakin’ All Over: The Manitoba Music Experience and organizes the popular Magical Musical History Tour of Winnipeg each summer. John teaches music history classes on a variety of themes at McNally Robinson Booksellers, the University of Winnipeg and the Manitoba Conservatory of Music & Arts. In January 2016, John was the recipient of the prestigious Order of the Buffalo Hunt by Premier Greg Selinger in recognition of his extensive work in preserving Manitoba’s music history.
As a young guitar player, John has performed onstage with Neil Young, Randy Bachman, Burton Cummings, jammed with Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention, and at age 17 opened for Led Zeppelin and Iron Butterfly before 14,000 people.