Central NY's Jon Liebing was gifted musician, 'most gentle soul'

Many, many years ago I was playing at a bar in the North Country. The club owner also owned a bar in the Utica area. When we were done he said, “You gotta come see this 16-year-old kid I have playing down there. He’ll blow you away.”

I went; he was right.

That 16-year-old kid was Jon Liebing. Thus began a friendship that endured for close to a half-century.

Jon died July 17. The specific details regarding the cause of his death have not been disclosed publicly but he had been waging a courageous battle with glioblastoma, a form of brain cancer, for the past few years, robbing us of one of the most gifted musicians ever to come from Central New York.

“I was always amazed by his ability to hear guitar parts and vocal parts from records and emulate them,” says longtime friend and local guitarist John Kelsey. “He had an almost photographic memory.”

Where to start? His mastery of several instruments? His gift for vocal mimicry while never losing his own distinctive voice? His ability to craft instantly accessible songs? His flair for connecting with a live audience?

Because the truth is there wasn’t much Jon couldn’t do.

“He was also an incredible golfer,” marveled local musician, Justin Smithson, “but most of all, he was the kindest, most gentle soul I’ve ever met in my life.”

I know some musicians who may have been better schooled musically, or who have worked diligently to perfect their craft, but I can honestly say I never met anyone with Jon’s natural talent.

People who don’t play assume that if you are born with talent, that means you didn’t have to work at it. That was not the case with Jon. He was constantly striving to improve, to learn new skills, such as taking up drums later in life to play the Ringo role in a Beatles tribute band, Plastic Soul.

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“Jon was a highly underrated drummer, yet not only did he knock out those parts perfectly, but he also sang complex harmonies as well,” points out Plastic Soul guitarist Mark Barnes. “Jon was probably the only musician in Central New York who could have done what he was asked to do in that band.”

I mentioned earlier his courageous battle with his illness, but the bravest thing I ever saw him do was following the tragic death of his brother and longtime duo partner Kim. Jon refused to cancel his show and went on and gave his usual stellar performance despite the heavy weight he carried. When I commented to him that there was no way I would have been able to do that, he said, “I had no choice. It was something I had to do.”

Jon did not have an easy life, for reasons I won’t go into, and he would be the first to tell you his methods of dealing with the tragedies he faced were not always the best. But he had only recently learned to live with his grief and had become more self-forgiving. On a recent record, “Pull Me From The River,” he showed the incremental nature of his journey to self-acceptance, writing, “At least I’m at peace, sitting here by myself. So glad it turned out this way.”

Rest in peace, brother. You’ve earned it.

This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Remembering Jon Liebing, Central NY musician who died July 17