Having appeared on Broadway, TV and film for many years, multi-talented actor Jon Patrick Walker has increasingly turned his creative energies to songwriting and music-making. He’s traded in the royal trappings of his role as King George in the national tour of Hamilton for a rented tuxedo—more specifically, The Rented Tuxedo & Other Songs, Walker’s latest collection of original tunes.
Imbued with humor, pathos, wit and musical sophistication, the songs variously recall work by Bowie, Simon & Garfunkel, the Beatles, Dylan, and Springsteen yet sounds as fresh and original as the man himself.
A busy man wastes little time, and Walker told Elmore how this song came to fruition: “This one had the aura of the Mystical about it, for me. I started writing it on the Hamilton tour bus one day, driving from Kansas City to Memphis. It was a Monday, always our day off from performing. The idea came to me as we rode down the highway, the notion of waking up in a motel room in a rented tuxedo, and it seemed like a fun story to tell.
“I started working on lyrics only, because my guitar was under the bus with the luggage. Got to Memphis, worked on it over the next couple of days and finished the song on Wednesday.”
The title-track was recorded in Memphis, at Sun Studio, the other eight tracks with legendary producer Roger Moutenot in Nashville. Walker lives in Los Angeles with his wife, the actress Hope Davis, their two daughters and their dog, Jennie.
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