Afternoon Originals: Johnathan Len

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (KFVS) - Johnathan Len is a Paducah-born and raised musician.

“Every record, cassette, CD, and every music station my mother would play for me as a kid, I fell in love with music.”

He attributes that love to artists he calls heroes like Conway Twitt and Delbert McClinton.

“Even remember as a kid...Lou Hobbs who used to have a TV show here on KFVS-12 so, so many greats,” he said.

His schedule is busy traveling across the country performing on cruises, restaurants, bars and many other places.

When I asked what the one thing he hopes people take away from listening to his music, he replied, “A connection, truly a connection. Because when I feel like when we listen to music we find a connection whether it’s a sad moment or a happy moment or a great memory that’s what the music does for us, so I’m probably like any other song-writer, I want folks to have a connection because if you connect with people even when you perform live they become invested and I don’t mean monetarily, they become invested in who you are and what you have to offer with your emotions and your feelings and that’s portayed in your music.”

Len also said he believed in performing at least one Gospel song at shows as a gratitude of thanks to his faith.

When asked about his career goals he explained, “Everybody has goals of going to somewhere big like say the grande olde opery and performing at big festivals and for me of course those things would be nice, but I just want to get my music out for people to hear. Especially this new song we performed for you Sad Girl, so many people can relate to that.”

He also makes it a point to mention the title of that song and how the meaning correlates to real life.

“It’s the truth, you don’t have to be sad in this world and it’s so easy for us to be dragged down and feel negativity but there’s so much positive and that’s what we should focus on,” he said. “I know it’s hard, but you have to keep your eye towards the positive.”