Jonathan Coulton

In 2005 I left my day job writing software to pursue music full time. To keep myself busy I released a new song on this website every week for a year in a project called Thing a Week. A few of those songs became big internet hits (my folky cover of Sir Mix-a-Lot's Baby Got Back, a funny video called Flickr, a song called Code Monkey) and I am now fortunate enough to make my living as a musician.

I grew up in Colchester CT, a town whose motto is "Where tradition meets tomorrow." I played snare drum in the high school marching band, which was fun, but did not attract any girls (even when I played my tender snare drum arrangement of "You've Got a Friend"). I switched to guitar and wrote a series of sweet and sad songs about being a teenager and having a vague feeling of overwhelming sadness and sweetness. This worked only marginally better.

I studied music in college, and sang with an a cappella group called the Spizzwinks, and another one called the Whiffenpoofs. I spent a lot of time on stage in white tie and tails, showing my "jazz hands" only when absolutely necessary.

I write about a lot of geeky stuff because I am a geek. Some of it's funny, but a lot of it's not so funny, and even more of it is somewhere in between. I've been compared to They Might Be Giants, Barenaked Ladies, Loudon Wainwright III, and other musicians you REALLY LOVE.

I am the musical director for Little Gray Books created and hosted by friend John Hodgman, and I am the Contributing Troubadour for Popular Science Magazine (for whom I do a weekly interview podcast). My most recent project was called Thing a Week, in which I produced a new song every week and released it for free as a podcast for an entire year. All of these songs are now available on four CDs in their original order (and state of completion), but you can also buy them from my online store, or from iTunes.

I give lots of music away because I believe it helps my cause, and I love it when people use my music to create other stuff – music videos, pictures, remixes, etc. At the moment I'm unsigned, and I'm proud to say I've created this whole thing mostly on my own (with plenty of help from an amazingly supportive bunch of fans). But it certainly is getting busy…I will probably sell out and go Hollywood any day now...