John Iveyplays solo at various locations around the Rogue Valley, backed by his looper pedal. He has several performances lined up in February and March.

John Ivey doesn’t perform around the Rogue Valley and write songs for the money or the dream of rock stardom. He does it for community connection and internal growth.

Living in Medford for the past 17 years, Ivey has filled a variety of roles from disaster response director for nonprofit Sea Mercy to hang gliding instructor to volunteering for Jackson County Search and Rescue.

But music was always his calling, and after the COVID-19 pandemic left him with plenty of time to play and practice, Ivey returned to the guitar once more.

“I found that during the COVID time, I practiced Monday through Friday, 1 to 5 o’clock pretty much every single day, and I was putting out a ton of music and a ton of videos,” Ivey said.

“I had a crappy phone, just a $100 Samsung, and then I just filmed and filmed and recorded and made over 1,100 recordings and videos of me,” he added.

Playing at vineyard stages and other gigs around town, the artist brings rock ‘n’ roll originals as a one man act backed by his trusty looper pedal.

“I’m grateful to the venues and the people who come out and see me; people have been really kind and supportive, and I don’t mean that as a platitude,” he said of the Rogue Valley music scene.

Born in the United States with Australian parents, Ivey moved to Sydney, Australia, as an infant and lived in the “Land Down Under” through his early years.

“My mother plays piano by ear, but my dad isn’t musical,” Ivey said, noting he also learned to play the piano by ear.

He moved to the Midwest, then to Southern California, where the artist played rhythm guitar in the Orange County club scene with his band, The Likes of You.

Ivey met his wife in California, where the two competed against each other at a performance competition.

“She was a dancer, but she was appearing as a solo vocalist, and so we performed at the Upside Down Club, which is where Fleetwood Mac recorded one of their albums … We did five shows in three days and got to know each other,” he said.

Ivey’s instruments picked up dust after he got married, and decades passed before he finally got them out again. But this time around, Ivey’s pursuit of music and songwriting evolved into a form of healing and personal growth from childhood trauma.

“In working through that musical process, there was a tremendous amount of healing,” Ivey said.

Reopening old wounds of the past wasn’t easy, but he persisted, writing songs on the intimate challenges of fear and conquering personal battles one day at a time.

The creative conquered fear in a variety of ways in the past, whether through extreme sports like paragliding, surfing, skateboarding and martial arts, but a return to the six-strings and songwriting brought a new level of clarity, spirituality and personal growth for Ivey, he said.

“A friend of mine, Frankie Hernandez, who’s another musician in the valley, he says, ‘You’ve gotta work through the suck,’ and it was a great piece of advice,” Ivey said, adding, “the music for me is self-processing.”

The musician likened his journey of personal growth to bamboo.

“There’s a certain type of bamboo that grows for two years under the ground, and you don’t see the chutes, but then it grows up to 100 feet in three months,” he said.

Ivey has realized that his genuine lyricism and smooth sounds have resonated with local crowds.

“It’s about healing and embracing community, about self-love and self-growth,” he said.

While the singer-songwriter path doesn’t pay the same as prior jobs, Ivey has found his home among the players and listeners of the Rogue Valley.

“I was good at what I did, but I was totally miserable, I love what I do now,” he said. “It enables me to connect with people and tell my stories, and other people see themselves in my story, and that opens up for connection.”

Ivey said he intends to release more music in the future, but for the time being, he aims to hone his skills and make more connections in the music scene.

“I would like to do that, but I feel like I am still in the refining process and playing these songs live … they’re still cooking,” Ivey said.

Ivey will be playing a few live gigs in February and March.

Those include performances at 5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 23, at Pebblestone Cellars in Talent; 5:30 p.m. March 23 at Belle Fiore Winery in Ashland and 5 p.m. March 29 at Dos Mariposas Vineyards in Medford.

For information about Ivey’s guitar repair shop, find Rogue Guitar Tech on Facebook.

To learn more about Ivey and check for upcoming shows, new music and livestreams, see facebook.com/JohnIveyBand.