John Kadlecik

John Kadlecik
John Kadlecik performing with Furthur @ Mann Center in Philadelphia July 23, 2011
Background information
Born	(1969-06-28) June 28, 1969 (age 47) Council Bluffs, Iowa
Genres	Folk rock, jam, bluegrass, country rock, jazz
Occupation(s)	Musician, singer-songwriter
Instruments	Violin, guitar, mandolin, vocals, percussion
Years active	1986–present
Associated acts	Dark Star Orchestra (1997–2009) The Mix (2003–2005) Furthur (2009–2014) John K Band (2010–2014) Phil Lesh & Friends (2012-present; sporadically) Golden Gate Wingmen (2015-present) John Kadlecik Band (2015-present)
Website	http://www.johnkmusic.net

John Kadlecik (born June 28, 1969 in Council Bluffs, Iowa) is an American guitarist. He was a founding member as the lead guitarist for the Grateful Dead tribute band, Dark Star Orchestra, in 1997. From 2009 to 2014 he performed with original Dead members Bob Weir and Phil Lesh in Furthur. Kadlecik lives in Takoma Park, Maryland with his wife, Katy Gaughan, who is a percussionist in the jazz trio, Djesben.

John Kadlecik's mother is a visual artist and his father a city manager. Because of this, his family moved every few years in his early life. He lived in Omaha, Cincinnati and Davenport where he began studying classical violin before his family relocated to the Chicago area. In high school he became interested in improvisation and he began teaching himself guitar.

Kadlecik played in several garage bands throughout high school before he became interested in jazz and folk music. In 1990 he began performing regularly with a Chicago area folk-rock band called Uncle Buffalo's Urban Mountain Review before joining Hairball Willie in 1991. With John on guitar, violin, and vocals, Hairball Willie performed around the Midwest and released several recordings, including a full length studio CD, Just Defying Gravity. He then had a brief stint with a Grateful Dead tribute band called Uncle John's Band in 1996 before forming his own group called Wingnut.

In 1997, he co-founded the Dark Star Orchestra, which was originally intended to be a one night a week Dead cover band formed by deadhead musicians. Before long all the group members quit their other projects and began concentrating on the group full-time. Since then John has been noted for his abilities to emulate Jerry Garcia's playing and singing abilities. On several occasions former members of the Grateful Dead have joined Kadlecik and the Dark Star Orchestra on stage.

In 2003, Kadlecik began performing occasionally with Melvin Seals in several tributes to the music of the Jerry Garcia Band. This led ultimately to the formation of the Mix with Melvin Seals, Greg Anton, Jeff Pevar, and Kevin Rosen. The Mix signed a recording contract with Rainman Records and released a full-length CD, American Spring, which featured two of Greg Anton's songwriting collaborations with Robert Hunter sung by Kadlecik as well as two of John's Hairball Willie songs co-written with lyricist Eric Olson.