You might have heard the music of singer-songwriter J. Hardin before, but you probably wouldn't have known it. Hardin wrote and performed for years under a pseudonym, Everett Thomas. His new album, "The Piasa Bird" is the first he released with his own name attached to it.
"What I'm writing about is a search for kind of an inner truth that I'm trying to find, so it seemed a bit silly to be wearing this mask of something else," Hardin explains.
The Illinois native who now lives in Madison says he was content for some time to leave music behind and never release new work again.
"I just thought, 'I'll play it for my friends and my dog and my wife, and that's good enough for me," says Hardin. "But as time passed, you kind of - it's hard to completely let go and you feel pulled towards chasing after it again."
The result was "The Piasa Bird" album produced by Milwaukee's Hayward Williams, who also plays on the record.
For Hardin, making new music under his own name is a way to also reconnect with his hometown of Alton, Illinois, which he left when he was 19 years old.
"All of my family still lives there, I love visiting Alton. But I'm beginning to love it in a way that I've never loved it before either growing up there or leaving there," says Hardin.
J. Hardin and Hayward Williams will play a CD release show Friday night at Linneman's in Riverwest.
