About John

John Dillon has had a fascination with creativity most of his life.

He grew up in a Pennsylvania town that was settled by his Irish immigrant great-great-grandfather, whose son, John’s namesake, started a flower-growing business that flourishes to this day. John was given a guitar at age thirteen, and shortly thereafter began playing blues and rock with his teenage bandmates. A major turning point came in his late teens when he discovered firsthand the power of music to build community and transcend severe physical limitations.

Pack on back and guitar in hand, John spent a couple of years crisscrossing the United States, absorbing the landscape and culture of our great country. Eventually he settled in northern New Mexico, where he joined a spiritual community and studied the art of meditation.

He was so passionate about guitars that in his mid-twenties he learned how to build them. He made more than eighty acoustic guitars, including custom instruments for several music stars.

A twelve-year stint in the family floral business gave John the opportunity to apply his creativity to marketing and business. He started a division of the company that sold plants to mass-market outlets and developed a program for importing directly from the flower auction in Aalsmeer, Holland. While in the floral business, he was an active leader in state and national trade associations.

Throughout John’s varied vocational endeavors, songwriting and music performance continued to be vital forms of creative expression. He recorded his first solo CD, Piece of Paradise, in 1998. His second release, Callin’ Me Home, which chronicled his return to the West, received seven New Mexico Music Award nominations and one win.

In 2004, John and his wife, Vivian Nesbitt, created the syndicated radio program Art of the Song: Creativity Radio, which is now heard by more than 200,000 listeners every week on more than two hundred public and community stations across North America.

John is the proud father three very creative individuals: Michael, a successful composer and performer of electronic music in Berlin, Germany; Jessica, a student of the arts and the mother of a two-year-old in California; and Jackson, a budding guitar player with his band in Las Vegas.