John Patrick Starling is a singer-songwriter, traveller, and storyteller.  Born in Baltimore, Maryland, John served in the U.S. Air Force directly after high school at the close of The Cold War. After the military he studied creative writing at the University of Baltimore, where he won the Homeland 3 Arts Award for Creative Writing.  He taught in Baltimore for 4 years, including a 1 year stint as the Writer in Residence at Carver Center for Arts and Technologies, and then taught abroad for a year in Korea. 

He returned to Korea in 2014, and formed a nine-piece string band "John Patrick Starling & Drownin' River" playing original blues, bluegrass, country, folk, and rockabilly. He then signed with the venerable Korean indie label Ruby Records.  The band released one album with Ruby "Tell My Boss I'm Dead" and he followed up with a solo album of original late-60's/early 70's style country ballads "By the Time This Gets to Nashville... It Won't Matter."  

Now living back in the U.S., he's travelled to more than 20 countries guitar in hand, collecting experiences he shares with his audiences.

His 3rd album "Less Traveled," will release this fall, as will the prequel to his illustrated children's book, "Flight of the Platypus" – a story of self-discovery.  As a service to the communities he visits, Flight of the Platypus can be read in its entirety for free on the Website!