Music Appreciation, Rock History, Manitoba Music

John Einarson a musicologist, broadcaster, educator and author of more than a dozen critically-acclaimed music biographies. He has written for Mojo, Uncut, Goldmine, Discoveries, Record Collector, and Classic Rock and is a frequent contributor to the Winnipeg Free Press. He wrote the Juno-nominated Bravo TV documentary Buffy Sainte-Marie: A Multi-Media Life, served as writer/consultant for A&E/Biography Channel’s Neil Young Biography episode and wrote CBC TV’s The Life & Times of Randy Bachman.  John curated the acclaimed 2010 Manitoba Museum exhibit Shakin’ All Over: The Manitoba Music Experience and organizes the popular Magical Musical History Tour of Winnipeg. 

Four of his books have been on the Globe & Mail bestsellers list while several have been ranked among the top ten best music biographies in the UK and received award nominations. His book Hot Burritos: The True Story Of The Flying Burrito Brothers received the 2006 ARSC (Association for Recorded Sound Collections) Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research. In January 2016, John was the recipient of the prestigious Order of the Buffalo Hunt by Premier Greg Selinger in recognition of his extensive work in preserving Manitoba’s music history. In 2021, he published an exhaustive history of Winnipeg’s rich and diverse music heritage spanning multiple genres under the title Heart of Gold: A History of Winnipeg Music. It was on McNally Robinson Booksellers’ Top Selling Books list for seven weeks.

John is an award-winning high school teacher and former consultant for the Manitoba Department of Education during a 30 year teaching career. During that time he was awarded two teaching excellence awards from the University of Manitoba. John wrote the teaching guides for the Grade 9 and Grade 11 Social Studies curricula as well as the acclaimed archival documents edu-kit Brother Can You Spare A Dime. John is co-author of the prescribed Grade 8 textbook World History as well as contributing to several other textbooks and teaching materials.