Biography 

Jonathan Lay has performed as a professional musician since 1992. He has been making music, or at least making lots of noise, all of his life.

Jonathan has powerful and supple baritone voice that can do justice to a gentle ballad or a rough-and-tumble sea chantey. He also plays guitar, tin whistle, harmonica, djembe, and a rollicking bodhran (Irish drum). Much of his repertoire is drawn from the traditional music of America and the British Isles, with a few tasty songs of more recent vintage. He is an occasional songwriter, having written a handful of songs including "When Carissa Came Ashore," a tongue-in-cheek ballad of the 1999 wreck and salvage of the cargo ship New Carissa on the Oregon coast.

In addition to performing with Spinnaker, Jonathan performs regularly with Shanghaied on the Willamette, a lively duo with singer and multi-instrumentalist Gordy Euler. Shanghaied on the Willamette features vocal harmonies and a small fleet of acoustic instruments. They perform songs "plundered from land and sea," specializing in traditional music of the sea and waterways.

Jonathan has entertained in concerts, outdoor markets, and festivals in Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. With Shanghaied on the Willamette, he has performed at Saltwater Maritime Music & Arts Festival (Sidney, BC, Canada), Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival, Northwest Folklife Festival, Portland Wooden Boat Show, Oregon Folklife Festival, Tumbleweed Music Festival, the Oregon State Fair, and at farmers markets in Hillsboro, Beaverton, Corvallis and Gresham Oregon. He has played with the Celtic band The Nettles at the Oregon Bach Festival’s "Earport" concert, and has performed with the Portland Shanty Singers in the annual "Work Songs of the Sea" concert since 1992.

Jonathan’s recordings include Shanghaied on the Willamette’s "Weighing Anchor" (1997) and "Tasting the Salt Air" (1999), and his CD-single "When Carissa Came Ashore."

Jonathan is an active member of the Portland Folklore Society, of which he is a past president. He is a volunteer radio host for KBOO community radio in Portland, part of a team producing two early-morning folk music shows, "Folk Espresso" and "Rise When the Rooster Crows." Besides music, Jonathan is employed in software, audio, electronic, and acoustic engineering and consulting.