Meet John Fontenot | Musician, Drummer/Artist and Producer

We had the good fortune of connecting with John Fontenot and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi John, we’d love for you to start things off by telling us something about your industry that we and others not in the industry might be unaware of?
The one thing about my industry that outsiders are probably unaware of is how much hard work and dedication it takes to do what you love to do. Especially me being a drummers. I mean, I do make it look easy to some people, but they have no idea the amount of energy and focus it takes from me to be able to do what I love to do. This is why I’m so grateful for my health and strength to be about to share this type of gift and energy to the world. When you play such a physical instrument its so important to workout and have a healthy diet. Even setting up and breaking down the drums in itself takes a lot of energy. Imagine doin it for four nights a week.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
What I’m most proud of is, being able to be a musician/artist and doing what I love love to do professionally for 30 years plus. I got paid for my first ever gig when I was 12 years old. Staying consistent, perseverance, ambition and being open to learning is how I got to where I am today professionally. Was it easy? No, Nothing is easy. I overcome my challenges by consistently staying focused on my why. It’s really not in competition against others, the only competition I have is against myself. I strive to become a better version of myself everyday. Everyday is a new day to make my wrongs right. I’ve accomplished so much in the music industry but. A challenge I had is, I’ve been in the music industry so long, that sometimes I didn’t realize the moments that happen until it has actually passed, Ive truly struggled with this. So I’m learning how to be more present in the moment, seizing it, feeling it and embracing it. Life is moving, it waits for no one.

I’ve been fortunate in my career and had a lot of opportunities open to me because of my persistence, attitude and drive. Ive traveled the world and opened with musician/groups. In fall 2017, I toured with legendary Artist Scarface from Ghetto Boys out of Houston. I played with Gorgeous George on that tour. Shoutout to Htown’s own Scarface and Gorgeous George.

I’ve traveled and lived in Berlin, Germany on residency with Joe Sample Creole Joe Band, his son Nicholas Sample and Ray Parker Jr. Ray is the artist from the hit song “Ghostbusters” in the 80’s for those that don’t know. I was born in 1985 that song was released in 1984, so was not even born yet. Fast forward to 2019 Berlin, I’m on stage playing Ghostbusters on the drums with Ray. Highlighting, Joe Sample’s story and the Southern Louisiana culture. The production I was working with in Berlin was called HOODOO. I was there for 2 months, this was a highlight of my career, an immersive experience for me. High class performances, to a World Premiere. I remember Vogue Magazine Berlin coming out doing a write up on the production. I learned a lot about stage production/management during this time. Shoutout to Nic Allen Music Director of the production for the call. He stated to me that, he literally thought of me when this opportunity opened.

In 2019 and 2020, I also traveled to South Korea, that was one of my dopest experiences. I had an opportunity to live there for about a year which would probably be impossible to do. Being that it was also the most challenging because of the Covid pandemic. I was not able to make money, everything was shutdown and limited, but I was determined to make the most of my time there. I was working with an artist/musician Beck Junghyun a phenomenal piano player/producer. I met her in Jeju Island, South Korea 2019 while their on residency playing at the Shilla Hotel. Two weeks before my residency was up, she booked and invited me to the studio there to record and the first down beat off us playing together we started creating the EP AKASHA. The first track on that EP is called “When We First Made Love”. We fell in love with the music we were creating together, so we started dating. I came back home to Houston for about a couple of months because my residency ended, of course the Ep was not finish yet and we were determined to finish it. So, January 2020, she came to visit me in Houston for about 3 weeks. While she was here in the states we perform at Cafeza in Houston recording the second part of our Ep. While in Houston, she asked if I would like to move to South Korea. February 2020 I was on the first flight to South Korea. February 14, 2 to 3 days after I arrived, South Korea shuts down due to the pandemic. During that time, was very challenging for Beck and I so we broke up. March 16th 2020, I attempted to make my way back to the states because the US was shutting down. I took the last little money I had and brought a one way ticket back to the states. I remember arriving at Incheon Airport, Beck dropping me off and her being so heartbroken that it didn’t work out the way we expected. I got to check in desk with China Air. They stated I couldn’t board the flight because I need a visa to travel to their country to transfer flights. I was even more devastated! That is when it dawned on me that I was stuck in South Korea. 30 minutes passed and I received a call from a drummer from S. Korea I met Davin. Some how he heard my situation was in dyer need and opened his home to me rent free for as long as I needed to stay. In turn I show him some funk drum skills from my approach. While there though it was challenging I made the best of it. Beck and I didn’t get back together with dating, but we were determined to finish what we started with the EP. We were able to make our way through Seoul with her network, I met new friends/artist and musicians. We recorded a Senggi Studio Session in 4K. Shoutout to Senggi Studio Familiar! They open their arms to me and embraced me as one of them. Everyday I would walk to Senggi Studio and by me being there at Senggi all the musician would come out just meet and play music with me, and we would have jam session the whole day. I met K-Pop sensation Soyoon from the band SE SO NEON at Senggi. We recorded a song on her sophomore album Episode1: Love; called “Gave You All My Love”. I remember, the night of the recording, I invited a couple more musicians I met in Korea to record with me and Soyoon, Docskim on keys and Jaeshin Park on bass. The crazy part is how we were in the middle of Covid Pandemic and everybody showed up to Senggi Studio that night with masks on because all the Koreans and musicians wanted to see this take place. So, I had a hiphop track reference in my achieve for years and Soyoon wanted to create something that had a Sade feel. So I got on drums and started playing the groove from Sade’s No Ordinary Love with the chord progressions from my hiphop track I brought and around that we created the melody “Gave You All My Love”. Talk about a chemistry unit! We started jamming like we had been playing together for years. It turned out to be a wonderful masterpiece. Soyoon produced and added all the other elements to the song after I left Korea. Singer RM from the sensational K-Pop group BTS is also on this same album. I’m truly honored to be apart of such a big International record with them. Shoutout to Soyoon I love you and miss you my friend. I started to living the life style of Korea, Beck Junghyun is a yoga Master, so she introduced me to Yoga Wave Familiar there in Seoul. I learned the yoga way of life, every morning about 5am I would attend a yoga session. Shoutout to Wonjin and the Yoga Wave Studio Family. I will never forget those times, thank you for the love, hospitality and even wanting to sponsor my stay for a work visa. Beck and I finished our EP AKASHA in July 2020. My time there in Korea was coming to a close, being that I was an immigrate to country. I visited Immigration Office every 30 days to insure my stay was not over stayed during the pandemic. In the process, being that my money was scarce, a great young brother I’ve been knowing for sometime now. Chris Whittaker also a great young drummer placed it in his heart, helped me with a plane ticket to get back to Houston. If it wasn’t for him I probably wouldn’t be able to go back to S. Korea to this day. Shoutout to Chris, you are a real brother and friend. I will never forget you bro.

I also worked alongside and toured with artist/musicians such as, just to name a few… Hubert Laws, Gerald Albright, Everett Harp, Althea Rene, Bobby Lyle, Kirk Whalum, Tom Browne, Frank McComb, Kim Waters, Karen Briggs… it’s many more I could name and each artist, I have a story. All have contributed to my career and success.

I want to world to know, that I don’t create music for glitz and glam. Yes, sure I want to be very successful at what I do and want the audience to love my music and want the followers and make the money etc. But in deeper spirit, I feel like I’m a music minister of the universe to serve and create, help heal the sick with good musical vibrations and frequency. My name is John Fontenot. My brand is called Ma’at Musiq. Ma’at is an ancient Egyptian goddess of truth, justice, balance and order. She was often depicted as a young women with an ostrich feather on her head, and sometimes with wings. Why I named my brand Ma’at Musiq? Because as a man I am masculine, I just didn’t want to create masculine hard hip-hop tracks or hard funk beats and just be known as hard playing drummer. I realized I had a soft and vulnerable side as a drummer also. I wanted to display drums as a soothing instrument, so I show this in my music. I didn’t realize where this concept was coming from. So some how, the universe introduced me to Egyptology, I came across Ma’at. I realized that life is balance and order and plus I’m obsessed with Egyptian Hieroglyphs lol. Its like the writings on the walls for me. So to set myself apart from others and take my own lane, I started making Afro beats, Latino and Reggaeton beats. I named my brand Ma’at Musiq with a (q) at the end of the word music. Also, this is why I create cultural diversity with music and create different genres of music. Becoming a diverse drummer was and currently still is my goal throughout my music career. I’m so grateful for what I’ve accomplished so far. I’m still learning everyday, still pushing to become a better version of myself. I’m still pushing to become my full potential. It gets tough often, but I’m learning to get out my comfort zone by challenging my creative process, by making music I don’t normally create. Diamonds are made from pressure.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’m absolutely loving the city of Phoenix, Arizona. It’s a booming city with so many places to go. I’m in the middle of everything downtown Phoenix, it’s lit downtown. Any one of my family and friends who would come a visit the first place I would take them is to the Breakfast Club at Cityscape. Their food is amazing! As a matter of fact, when I first moved to Phoenix The Breakfast Club was my first job in the city. It was my very first time ever working in a restaurant kitchen.

Another place I would take them is to Infruition at Church Hill. They have the best Acai bowls and Smoothies this side of the galaxy. Shoutout to Alan Devine, he is the owner. A very nice guy, always smiling and you definitely catch him there working. Almost every morning, midday I go get my Morning Mix smoothy or Mango Berry Acai Bowl, it taste like pure nourishment.

Another place I would take someone is to North Mountain Hiking trail. It’s straight up 7th street about 10 – 15 minutes from Downtown Phoenix. A pretty easy trail to hike. When you get to the top of the mountain, you get a spectacular view of the city from the north looking south towards the city.

Next I would take my family or friends to Lush Cafe and Lounge in Tempe about 10 -15 mites from downtown. I actually play there some nights with a band called Kreative Culture. Shoutout to Dane Tazz Cole Music Director. It’s an upscale lounge, upscale dress code after 7pm. Their have food is amazing! Its live music there Wednesday through Saturday night. On Sundays they have a gospel brunch, the only venue on Sundays where you can eat and listen to gospel music at the same time.

On first Fridays I would take them to downtown at about 6pm to see the festivities and small business vendors that’s throughout the city. My very first time goin to First Friday, I was shocked and amazed how the city showed up downtown. It was like a mini festival. Then afterwards we would go down the street to a small place on 16th Street and McDowell Street called Boom Boom Room. It’s a Cocktail Bar. Craft Cocktails, Live RNB music Wednesday through Saturday. Real small intimate spot with a bar. I play there every first Friday with Kreative Culture also. If you want food they have a food truck outside.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
First, I would like to thank Shoutout Arizona Magazine for the opportunity to share my story. Alexsoy an artist I’ve been working with for about 10 years plus, he recommended me to Shoutout Arizona. Shoutout too Alexsoy! You all should definitely tap in with this artist, we’ve got a lot of new music we are about to release. I’m excited and forever grateful. I’m currently working with Alexsoy here in Phoenix and we are getting ready to release his Junior album my Sophomore Album with him called “Love In Spanish” Volume 2 in January 2025. He is mainly the reason why I moved here, after winning the Nosotros Music “Best Song of the Year” Award in 2023. We decided to take our careers and successful accomplishment to the next level. I visited Phoenix for the first time and while getting off the plane, I could feel the vibe here. I remember feeling like I had so much more opportunities that could transpire here, I could even feel it in the air. It was in November of 2023, I believe this is the best time to even be in Phoenix because the weather is so perfect during this time. As you all know, it gets hot as hell here. I experienced my first summer here this year and man is it something serious! Me being from Houston, I thought that the humid heat was worse. Phoenix got Houston beat with the heat! lol. Shoutout to H-town, I’ll always rep my city. Anyway, let’s get into my story, I got a lot to say.

Let me first shoutout myself for my Grammy Nomination this year. I was nominated with Legend Icon Artist Jewel Brown on her last album. Jewel Brown is a legendary singer who toured/performed alongside with Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie. She was inducted into the Blues Smithsonian Hall of Fame in 2007. I’m super grateful and blessed to be apart of the last album she ever made. She passed this year June 25, 2024 RIP to Jewel Brown. My roots sure runs deep of the caliber artist/musicians I’ve been around and worked with throughout my career.

My Shoutout, is to my family, mom, dad, sisters, brothers, teachers and mentorships that supported me and contributed to my success to where I am in my career. Without them, I don’t think I’ll be as successful as I am currently in my career. Also I want to give a shoutout to my young brother Jomi Calhoun for hitting the road with me, driving and setting up my drum equipment for my shows when nobody else would, I consider bro family. These people made it a little easier for me to do what I love to do by supporting me when I could not support myself. Being a full time musician is not easy to do. It’s a full-time job in itself. In the job world, you kinda have 401K’s and tax stuff thats managed for you through government/job assistance. While being an entrepreneur/musician you have to manage and execute those things yourself. Big shoutout to the family.

One major shoutout I want to recognize is my Middle School band Director Mr. Rodney Goods. He is the one who lead my twin brother (Joseph Fontenot J. Font) and I to the music industry door to walk through it. Yes, I do have a twin brother, he is also a phenomenal Artist/musician, but we are fraternal twins.
But what I mean by Mr Goods leading us to the music industry door is, being from a predominantly African American school district in Houston (North Forest Independent School District) in which no longer exist. We didn’t have the amount of resources and opportunities that other students from magnet school programs in Houston like Johnston and Houston School of Performing and Visual Arts had. He recognized our talent, ambition and drive for music. He went above and beyond, bringing, creating the opportunities and resources to us and to other like-minded students that was also in our class. Till this day, I still keep in touch with him by checking on him and letting him know what I have going on in the music industry. So, major shoutout to Mr. Goods.

My dad and mom introduced me and my twin brother to jazz and funk music when we were 7 years old. I remember they took us to see The Elements, R&B funk group Earth, Wind and Fire and Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly that same year at Rodeo Houston. That experience for us was life changing, from that day I knew I wanted to be a musician.

Shoutout to the Summer Jazz Workshop of Houston and Conrad Johnson Youth Orchestra. These programs had a tremendous impact in molding and shaping me into the professional musician I am today. The Instructors and mentors were not only just regular teachers, but also professional musicians/artist themselves with major accomplishments and accolades. Professional Drummer Bubba Thomas and Conrad O. Johnson were the founders of these programs. They really poured into my potential and also shaped a lot of the current professionals and touring musicians today. Rest In Peace to those Iconic legends. Shoutout to my mentors, Claude Robinson, Horace Alexander Young, Al Campbell and Kyle Turner for mentorship and support. Placing me in an environment of opportunities and passing the knowledge down to me to thrive in this music industry, much gratitude, love and respect to them. In August 2002, we had an opportunity with the Summer Jazz Workshop to open the Houston International Jazz Festival. On the line up that year was the great Latin Iconic’s Celia Cruz and Pancho Sanchez. I was 16 years old, at that time the venue was called The Verizon Wireless Theater, present day Bayou Music Center. In attendance that night was 25,000 standing room only. I met Celia Cruz at 16 years old, from that day I knew I would be doin some type of latin beat or music in my future.

Instagram: @fontenot.john

Twitter: @maatmusiq

Facebook: John Fontenot

Youtube: @maatmusiq

Image Credits
First Photo: Alexsoy and Me
Second photo: Me
Third photo: Me
Fourth photo: Me
Fifth photo: Ray Parker Jr., Me, Nicholas Sample
Sixth photo: Hubert Laws, Me, Bobby Lyle
Seventh photo: Me, Scarface
Eighth photo: Me, Beck Junghyun
Ninth photo: Me, Frank McComb, Cleon Edwards