“Plaintive, soft-spoken and with vulnerability front and center, John Elliott’s music rides a diagonal which crosses the early work of Ben Gibbard. For those who wish the Death Cab singer’s work had stayed bedroom-sized instead of distending into stadium rock, Elliott’s gentle Rhodes and reverby guitar may have what you’ve been missing. On the recent album North Star, the California singer projects internal desires for meaning, connection and escape onto the night sky, following the same celestial metaphor for freedom that has inspired dreamers for generations.”
— Good Times Santa Cruz
“John Elliott’s lyrics get in, make their statement, kick you in the teeth, and get out before they start talking too much...And this lends to the urge of rolling any track to its beginning for another spin.”
— San Diego Troubadour
“In case you’re feeling more reflective than turned up this New Year’s, fear not — there’s a perfect song for you, too. San Francisco singer/songwriter John Elliott’s ‘At The End Of The Year’ is the perfect late-night/early-morning soundtrack for the baton pass from the old you, to the new you. On the first single from his upcoming album, North Star, Elliott sings with a fresh frankness, ‘Everything is changing down here at the end of the year,’ and somehow we know something better is just around the corner. It must be.”
— Grammy.com
“A legend among songwriters…bold and brave…incredible poet and performer…his shows are not to be missed.”
— The Austin Chronicle
“Were I a Professional Critic, I’d liken Elliott (who also records with an elastic entity called The Hereafter) to a Freedy Johnston or a Loudon Wainwright III or a Ben Folds, tres hombres of considerable inspiration to me, and in ways that have naught to do with music. They wield their instruments, acoustic and otherwise, as sharpened smartass weapons, proving that singer-songwriters need not be overly sensitive serious simps: in their depth and transcendence, they can also be funny, crude and caustic. Mostly, though, I appreciate Elliott’s singular way with words. He has an affection for the malleability of language, the clever twists of phrase, an appreciation for the liquid kinship between rhythm and sounds — how they collide in beautiful violence, how they stand as ideas and images — even if they ordinarily wouldn’t deign to dance together or be seen in the same room.”
— Corvallis Gazette-Times
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