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Jonathan Gregg (born January 26, 1955) is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist (pedal steel, guitar, dobro) based in New York City. Founder of the musical group Jonathan Gregg & the Lonesome Debonaires and co-leader of alt-country band The Linemen.

Early life
Jonathan Gregg was born and raised in New York City, where he lived until the age of 14, when his family moved upstate to Poughkeepsie, N.Y. He attended Deerfield Academy in Deerfield, Mass., and got a degree in French in 1977 from Brown University in Providence, RI. He moved back to New York in 1981 and has lived there ever since.

1979-1985
Gregg led two bands in college, the Lonesome Debonaires and Guns Galore, the latter of which included saxophonist Ken Field. After graduating he joined New Wave rockers the Mundanes in 1979. The Mundanes were led by bandleader/guitarist/songwriter John Andrews (who went on to work in animation, notably as executive producer of Beavis & Butt-Head ), and included keyboardist John Linnell, who went on to form They Might Be Giants with John Flansburgh. The Mundanes won the first WBRU Rock Hunt in 1980 and released an indie single that charted on WBCN. They played throughout New England, opening for the likes of the Ramones, Talking Heads, Joe Jackson and the B-52’s, and appeared on Boston’s WGBH-TV.

In 1981, the Mundanes moved to New York, at which point Linnell and drummer Kevin Tooley left the band and Gregg began taking on a more prominent songwriting role. The band recorded a demo produced by Mick Ronson (David Bowie, Lou Reed, Mott the Hoople) in 1982.

Gregg then played guitar with various groups, including The Egyptians, who were managed by CBGB owner Hilly Krystal and opened for Spinal Tap; Lonesome Val, winner of the Musician magazine best song contest in 1985; and Life in a Blender, whose first album was produced by Chris Butler of The Waitresses. Gregg also began a six-year course of study with jazz guitar legend Sal Salvador.

1985-2000
In 1985 Gregg started up a new version of Jonathan Gregg & the Lonesome Debonaires that included John Linnell on accordion before settling on a permanent lineup of Michael McMahon (guitar), Chris Smylie (bass) and Ken Meyer (drums, later succeeded by Stan Mitchell and Nat Seeley).

Jonathan Gregg & the Lonesome Debonaires released their first album, Blue on Blonde, in 1992, on the JAGDISC label. Described as clever and intellectual, the album was a critical success that some thought was destined to be picked up by a major label. Rolling Stone compared Gregg to Dave Edmunds and Albert Lee and called him a triple threat with his guitar playing, singing and songwriting. Stereo Review Magazine compared the band to Dire Straits, and Gregg to John Hiatt and Tom Verlaine of Television. Allmusic compared Gregg to Richard Thompson of Fairport Convention and Elvis Costello. The band toured with They Might Be Giants and appeared on Vin Scelsa’s radio show, Idiot’s Delight.

Two other well-received releases ensued, Unconditional in 1994  and The Hardest Goodbye in 1998, but by the time Chris Smylie was offered the bass chair for the Broadway musical The Full Monty (with music by Gregg's Brown classmate David Yazbek) the band had run its course, and they played their last show in March of 2000.

2000-Present
In 2000 Gregg decided to focus full-time on pedal steel guitar. He made a pilgrimage to Nashville to study with the late Jeff Newman, and since then he has done countless sessions and sideman gigs, most notably as a longtime member of The Doc Marshalls (now Runner of the Woods). He filmed a series of pedal steel instructional videos for Howcast, and in 2011 he formed an instrumental group, The Combine, with veteran New York musicians Josh Kaufman (producer and guitarist on Bob Weir’s 2016 comeback album Blue Mountain), drummer Brian Kantor (Nina Persson, Fruit Bats ) and bassist Terence Murren (Bobby Previte). He also plays dobro with bluegrass ensemble The Crusty Gentlemen. .

In 2013, Gregg teamed up with Kevin Royal Johnson to form a new iteration of The Linemen. The two knew each other from sharing bills together with the old Linemen and the Lonesome Debonaires in the '90s. Their first album, titled Close the Place Down, was released in 2016. It was recorded at Brooklyn Recording Studios by Andy Taub (Keith Richards, Calexico, Yo La Tengo ) and mixed by producer/engineer John Alagia (John Mayer, Dave Matthews, Liz Phair ).

With Jonathan Gregg & the Lonesome Debonaires

 * Blue on Blonde (1992) - on JAGDISC
 * Unconditional (1994) - on JAGDISC
 * The Hardest Goodbye (1998)

With The Linemen

 * Close the Place Down (2016) - on SAM Records

With The Mundanes

 * Make It the Same 3-song EP (1980) - on Portable

Life in a Blender

 * Welcome to the Jelly Days (1986) - on Fake Doom Records

Kevin Johnson

 * Sunday Driver (2000)

Chris Rael

 * The	Devil You Know (2004)

Edward Rogers

 * You Haven't Been Where I've Been (2004)

The Doc Marshalls

 * Honest for Once (2008)
 * Look Out Compadre (2010)

Deena

 * Somewhere In Blue (2008)
 * Rock River (2014)

Arty Hill

 * Another Lost Highway (2011)

Mark Cutler

 * Sweet Pain (2012)

Runner of the Woods

 * Thirsty Valley (2014)

George Usher

 * The Last Day of Winter (2015)