">Originally from Saint Louis, Missouri, John was influenced early on by that town's rhythm and blues and his Oklahoma mother’s singing. This funky start was drastically tempered by a nine-year stint in a Catholic seminary where silence and Gregorian chant were his daily bread. After leaving the brotherhood, and armed only with his vow of poverty, John moved to New England and pursued the path of an itinerant musician, playing in sundry bands and bad barrooms. It was during this time, he realized, that his audience could not understand Latin.

His music is memorable, poignant, hopeful, wise, and passionate.

Winner of both the 2003 Boston Folk Festival Songwriting Contest & the 2006 Rose Garden Performing Songwriting Competition,  

John lives in Jaffrey, NH with his wife, Jane and cats, Iko & Godzilla.

"Wise, witty and dark."  Charlie Hunter of Flying Under Radar

  Dick Pleasants, WUMB: "John's songs really connect."

"New Hampshire's John Schindler knows how to translate life into wise, oddly witty songs and his new Memory Train album collects many of the calm little gems he's been writing in recent years." Daniel Gewertz, The Boston Herald 

“ A true original.” WUMB’s Boston Folk Festival

 "I would close for that man again any time." Tom Rush

“…John's the best singer songwriter I've run into in the last 10 years or so."  Bob Franke

  For booking (603) 532-6096 or star.broom@gmail.com

">"Photo above and 2nd down at right: Copyright Boyd Estus,2004 .

Balance of photos courtesy of Phil Knudsen

Dear Friend(s), True Story: My first year in a Catholic seminary, I knelt down for most meals. They were pretty strict about talking back then; silence was pervasive and breaking the silence rule was punishable by having to kneel at meals. These were meted out 3 meals at a time so, again, because of my talkative nature, I spent most meals on my knees! Of course, you couldn’t talk at meals either. Instead, we had “spiritual reading”. Each, in our turn, would read from a lectern in the dining room. This often was from the “Roman Martyrology” a compendium of the delightfully vivid descriptions of the dismemberment & disfigurement of the saints of old. Not a great accompaniment to meatloaf! I used to kneel across the table from Doug Kamer, a fellow hayseed from Missouri also in his first year there. Limited as I was from communication with my peers, I made up for it with facial expressions guaranteed to get laughs. Once, I made Kamer laugh so hard (pardon me for this) he snorked a loogie in his milk! Without being too descriptive, I’ll just say it was there, half in, half outside his glass… So here I was, on my knees, not able to talk, much less laugh; listening to someone describe how St Matthias’ ears were torn off and then when it couldn’t possibly get any more bizarre… KAMER DRANK THE MILK!!!! So it is that I invite you down for a beer (never milk) Find out more at my next gig

For Musi-cal gig schedule click here: 

Get my CDs here at CD Freedom.

 Get my CDS at CD Baby here: CDBABY 

For booking and scheduling information, call (603) 532-6096 or write
76 North Street, Jaffrey, NH 03452
 E-mail star.broom@gmail.com

"Someday I'll be a star."