NYC singer-songwriter Jessie Kilguss presents her latest single “Howard Johnson’s”, previewing her sixth album They Have A Howard Johnson’s There, with an era-inspired nostalgic video by Deborah Magocsi. This album was engineered, produced, mixed, and mastered by Charlie Nieland (Debbie Harry, Rufus Wainwright, Blondie, Scissor Sisters) at Saturation Point Studios in Brooklyn.
For this single, Kilguss is accompanied by John Kengla (David Byrne, Ben Kweller, Serena Ryder) on guitar, bass and keys, Rob Heath (Madison Square Gardeners, Julia Nunes) on drums and percussion, and Dave Derby (The Dambuilders, Gramercy Arms, Lloyd Cole) and Charlie Nieland on backing vocals. Other tracks on this album features Andrea Longato (duncan Shiek, Jeremy Jordan, Alphonso Ribeiro), guitarist Kirk Schoenherr (Tegan and Sara, Elle King, Chet Faker), and Rembert Block (Rembert and the Basic Goodness).
Jessie Kilguss offered detailed insight on “Howard Johnson’s” – “This song originated from some writing I did in a poetry workshop with performance artist Karen Finley. I had seen her read at the fantastic On The Verge Festival, which celebrates women artists of all disciplines at the Wild Project, produced and curated by my friend Heather Litteer. I was drawn to Karen’s writing and saw a post of hers on Instagram advertising an online poetry workshop inspired by the movie ‘Dog Day Afternoon’, as well as dogs in general. I had never taken a poetry workshop before but I am a huge dog lover and though ‘what the hell’. I like pushing myself out of my comfort zone. In the movie, Al Pacino is speaking with his lover about what he’ll do to prove his love and he says something like ‘I’ll charter a place to Algeria. They have a Howard Johnson’s there.’ It stood out to me because it was so ridiculous and also, my father, Howard Kilguss, is also inspired by ‘Dog Day Afternoon’. My father had a deep connection with dogs, so I thought it was even more appropriate to write this song for him.”
This offering follows her singles “Too Far From Texas”, “You’re the One”, and “Wuthering Heights”. Kilguss’ 2022 album What Do Whales Dream About at Night? LP features drummer Brian Griffin (Patti Smith, Brandi Carlisle, Lana Del Rey), bassist Whynot Jansveld (The Wallflowers, Butch Walker, Sara Bareilles), composer-producer Naren Rauch, and Nathan Schram (Bjork, David Crosby, David Byrne), with whom Kilguss ran the non-profit organization Musicambia.
A former actress, whose acting highlights include “The Crucible” and the stage production “As You Like It”, Kilguss made songwriting her focus after working with musical heroes Marianne Faithfull and Mary Margaret O’Hara in the Tom Waits / William Burroughs musical “The Black Rider”.
Apart from writing and performing her own music, Kilguss sings with the Loser’s Lounge, Gramercy Arms, Jim Andralis and the Syntonics, and Benjamin Cartel. She’s also performed at the Sundance Film Festival and with Freddie Stevenson, touring as support for The Waterboys’ European tour. In June 2025, Kilguss was an artist in residence at Fish Factory Creative Center in Stodvarfjordur, Iceland, where she wrote 9 new songs. For more information on Kilguss, click here.
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