I was excited about this show since the minute I heard J.S. Ondara was scheduled to play in Baltimore. His voice is full of emotions that range from longing to overwhelming desire. His songs are about relationships and coming to America from Nairobi, Kenya to realize a long-shot of a dream.

The following background story is a summary of a February 2019 interview on npr music’s World Cafe. While in Nairobi, J. would frequent the local internet cafe and watch music videos for hours. He was enamored with Bob Dylan while in high school, to the point of being obsessed. He admits to “falling into a rabbit hole of folk music”. Although he had been writing poems, lyrics and songs for a few years, there was no acoustic guitar in his family’s home. J. asked his mother to buy him one. Her response was, “Do you want to eat dinner for a month, or do you want a guitar?”

J. left his family and friends after obtaining a Green Card in a lottery and relocated to Minnesota in the middle of winter. The influence of Bob Dylan was behind him choosing that locale, even though the climate was nothing like he had ever experienced.

He did purchase a guitar in order to accompany himself during gigs. J. opened for high profile musicians such as Lindsay Buckingham. As his audience grew, he got signed to the Verve Forecast label to release a debut collection of songs called Tales of America. Well-known indie musicians Andrew Bird, Taylor and Griffin Goldsmith, and Sebastian Steinberg contribute their talent as J.’s backing band. It’s expensive to take a band on tour, so J. is touring solo, at least for his first headlining dates.

Baltimore’s venerable and intimate club, The 8x10, was the perfect place to see J.S. Ondara on a warm summer night. The singer-songwriter told engaging stories in between songs and genuinely enjoyed hearing audience comments. He was wearing a beautiful vintage suit and fedora, which added to the uniqueness of the evening. J. played almost all of the songs from Tales of America. He asked the audience to sing the chorus of Saying Goodbye with him and was impressed with the enthusiastic response.

After a brief break, J. came out to take photos with fans and sign merch. It was a wonderful evening of music from a young man who had the guts to follow his dream to a new country with an unlimited future ahead of him.