Johnathan Rice has had a pretty busy career. You might not know the name but you've seen Johnathan the actor as Roy Orbison in the Johnny Cash biopic 'Walk The Line' and he contributed songs to 'Ricki And The Flash' starring Meryl Streep and Rick Springfield. Away from Hollywood, Johnathan has released three solo albums and frequently collaborates with Jenny Lewis, sometimes in the duo Jenny and Johnny. Or I could mention his session work which includes contributions to Elvis Costello's 'Momofuku' release...and I've not even got around to his poetry which went from Instagram to a book deal. As I've said, Johnathan Rice is a very busy guy with, you won't be surprised to find, a new album on the way from which the terrific 'The Long Game' is taken. The single is a near perfectly formed, and frankly quite gorgeous, 2.32 which Johnathan describes as a simple love song (the harmony vocal by Courtney Marie Andrews is stunning). The song was inspired by a comment Johnathan's friend Marc Silverstein (the director of the Amy Schumer film 'I Feel Pretty' and co-writer of 'The Vow') made one evening which stuck in Johnathan's head. More about Johnathan Rice and a stream of 'The Long Game' follows:

“The Long Game is the first song and title track on my new record. The song was premiered on the great Jenny Eliscu ’s radio show on Sirus XM recently where I was joined by Marc Silverstein and Busy who went on Jenny’s show to talk about their new film I Feel Pretty. Marc and I talk a lot about everything. He writes romantic comedy and I’ve always been fascinated by that because my life is a romantic comedy. One evening he was explaining to me about personality types and how they apply to his writing process in his films. He told me: “the Type B personality plays the long game.” It really stuck with me, and I wrote this song the next day.

The Long Game is my attempt at a simple love song. Some songs are harder to write than others. For me, in the past, writing something that has no trace of cynicism or irony has been difficult. It’s easy to hide in those feelings, until it becomes impossible to do so. There’s no overarching concept to this new record, but there is a sustained push for simple honesty and sincerity in the lyrics and music. I’m joined on the song by the incredible Courtney Marie Andrews who is one of my favorite artists working today. I am so grateful for the depth that she lent to this recording. I’m also joined by the great Dylan Day on guitar and Gabe Noel on the upright bass. This song was produced by Tony Berg. ”

— Johnathan Rice

Bio:

Johnathan Rice is a songwriter and poet living in Los Angeles. Raised between Virginia and his parent’s native Glasgow, he was signed to Reprise Records at the age of nineteen. Rice has made four solo records and along the way his songs have been recorded and performed by Ryan Adams, Jenny Lewis, Conor Oberst, and Meryl Streep. He worked as a producer on Jenny Lewis’ “Acid Tongue” and “The Voyager” albums. He has worked extensively in film, playing Roy Orbison in Walk The Line and writing original songs for Anne Hathaway’s “Song One” and Meryl Streep’s “Ricki and The Flash.” In 2016, Rice began writing and posting what he called “dystopian haikus” on the Instagram App. The poems have garnered a global audience and celebrity fans frequently post “readings” of his work on Instagram. He signed a book deal with LA’s Hat and Beard Press and released “Farewell My Dudes - 69 Dystopian Haikus” in 2017. It is the fastest selling book in the publishing house’s history. He finished his fourth solo record “The Long Game” in 2018.