Jonathan Guerra is an American devotional music singer-songwriter. His first record label release was an

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

, ''Glass'', released in 2014 by Essential Records (Sony). His first record label studio album, '' Little Songs'', was released in 2015 through Essential Records. His second release, ''Keeper of Days'', was released in 2020. His third studio album of devotional music, ''Ordinary Ways'', was released in 2023. He has also recorded for film.

Early life

Guerra was born Jonathan Allen Guerra, in

Whittier, California Whittier () is a city in Los Angeles County, California, and is part of the Gateway Cities. The city had 87,306 residents as of the 2020 United States census, an increase of 1,975 from the 2010 United States census, 2010 census figure. Whittier ...

in September 1985. Guerra's father is Alberto Guerra and mother is Monica Guerra (''née'', Barrionuevo), who were married in 1980 in

Harris County, Texas Harris County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 4,731,145, and was estimated to be 5,009,302 in 2024, making it the List of counties in Texas, most populous cou ...

in the City of

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

. His parents moved to the Los Angeles area in California, where Jon was born. After Jon's birth, they moved to Houston, where he grew up until he was twelve years old. His parents then settled in

Wheaton, Illinois Wheaton is a city in and the county seat of DuPage County, Illinois, United States. It is located in Milton and Winfield Townships, approximately west of Chicago. As of the 2020 census, Wheaton's population was 53,970, making it the 27th-mos ...

. Jon then moved to Chicago, Illinois.

Music career

His music career began when Guerra was in high school. After college, he started a Chicago-based band called Milano, a "gypsy prog-rock" indie group with co-members Valerie Strattan Guerra, Steve Enison, Justin Ferwerda, Hans Moscicke, and Alissa Strattan, which broke up in 2013 after having created three studio albums (several singles of which were remixed by EMD artist Hanzel). Guerra continued writing, recording, and playing both independent and commercial music, and in 2011, Guerra began releasing a series of Christmas songs with his wife. Guerra would also release an independent project in 2013 under the moniker JAGUERRA, an album called ''Hue'' which was released as an early Vinyl Me Please] subscription selection. Guerra's next releases would be under Essential Records that, at the time, had a distribution deal with

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

. First, a quiet release of an extended play, ''Working Demos,'' that found an audience on

NoiseTrade NoiseTrade was a global online audio and book direct-to-fan distribution platform. It was based in Nashville, Tennessee. It enables its users to upload original music and books and give away for free without digital rights management to anyone ...

. Next was Jon Guerra's debut

, ''Glass'', released on June 3, 2014. This would be the precursor to his first major label album, released on April 21, 2015, '' Little Songs'', with Essential Records (Sony). ''Little Songs'' was Jon Guerra's breakthrough release on the ''Billboard'' magazine charts, peaking on the

Heatseekers Infrared homing is a passive weapon guidance system which uses the infrared (IR) light emission from a target to track and follow it seamlessly. Missiles which use infrared seeking are often referred to as "heat-seekers" since infrared is ra ...

chart at No. 17, placing at No. 24 on the

Folk Albums Americana/Folk Albums (formerly Folk Albums) is a music chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine which ranks the top selling "current releases by traditional folk artists, as well as appropriate titles by acoustic-based singer-songwriters ...

chart, and placing on

Christian Albums Top Christian Albums is a weekly chart published in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the best-performing Christian albums in the United States. Like the ''Billboard'' 200, the data is compiled by Nielsen Soundscan based on each album's weekly ...

at No. 35. Jon Guerra and his wife, Valerie, released their first Christmas album, '' It's Almost Christmas'' (Jon & Valerie Guerra) in 2015, with Sony's Descendant Records and toured with

Amy Grant Amy Lee Grant (born November 25, 1960) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She began her music career in contemporary Christian music (CCM) before crossing over to pop music in the mid-1980s. Grant has been referred to as "Honorific ...

and

Vince Gill Vincent Grant Gill (born April 12, 1957) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He played in a number of local bluegrass music, bluegrass bands in the 1970s, and from 1978 to 1982, he achieved his first mainstream attention after ta ...

's Christmas at the Ryman in 2015 and 2016. In 2017, Jon & Valerie started their official musical duo, Praytell, and they released a handful of singles as well as another Christmas album, ''It's Almost Christmas, Vol. 2'', in 2018. Guerra released ''Working Demos 2'' EP in 2017. In April 2020, Guerra released his second album of devotional music, ''Keeper of Days.'' Reviews of the album say that ''Keeper of Days'' "is one of the best Christian records I've heard in years". Guerra self-produced the album, with strings by his wife, Valerie Strattan Guerra. Guerra describes his "devotional music" as "less Sunday morning worship music and more Monday morning prayer music." In May 2023, Guerra released his third devotional music album, ''Ordinary Ways'', to widespread critical acclaim. Reviews of ''Ordinary Ways'' say it is "absolutely timeless," "Listening to this album feels like praying," and "The psalm-like sonic prayers of ''Ordinary Ways'' are an extraordinary gift." Guerra again self-produced his album, with his long-time musical collaborator, his wife, Valerie, on strings. He "continues to be a voice in modern CCM worth listening to." He also composed additional music for

Terrence Malick Terrence Frederick Malick (; born November 30, 1943) is an American filmmaker. Malick began his career as part of the New Hollywood generation of filmmakers and received awards at the Cannes Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival, and ...

's '' A Hidden Life'' (2019).

Personal life

Guerra is married to Valerie Strattan Guerra, and together they reside and make music in Austin, Texas.

Discography

Studio albums

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Guerra, Jon 1985 births Living people American performers of Christian music Essential Records (Christian) artists Musicians from Chicago Musicians from Houston Musicians from Whittier, California Songwriters from California Songwriters from Illinois Songwriters from Texas