Everything about Corn Mo is a contradiction. He’s a shy Kentucky boy living in a Brooklyn ghetto; a college graduate who ran away to join the circus; a vaudevillian entertainer belting out heavy metal hits with an accordion. And he tells what can only be described as simultaneously the greatest and worst jokes of all time.

Two breakfast cereals walk into a bar and order beer.
The bar keep says, "That's awful."
The cereal says, "I'm sad."
The other cereal says, "Me, too."

On first sight, you might dismiss him as a goofy rock nerd, with his bleached-blond hair, accordion in hand, a single drumstick shoved into his right shoelace, hovering above a cymbal on the floor. But within a verse or two, you’ll come around and you, too, will be a Corn Mo fan. After just 30 seconds on MTV’s Total Request Live, the entire studio audience was chanting his name, and Dave Holmes proclaimed, “I’ve seen the future of rock and roll, and his name is Corn Mo.”

Who knew Dave Holmes was so smart?

It all began after a ninth grade jazz band performance, when a little female attention led Jon Cunningham to abandon sports and other methods of “fitting in” for a career on stage. His religious upbringing made him at first reluctant to embrace bands like Motley Crue and Black Sabbath, but some influential friends made him see the light. And as the saying goes, once you go “Black”…

“I had the balance of good and evil with my Crue tape in one hand and my Stryper tape in the other. But my Crue hand just got heavier, and now that hand shoots man-o’-war flames when I’m playing the accordion.”

And so Jon became Corn Mo and the world hasn’t been the same since. He’s traveled the country as part of a circus act, and played in several bands (most notably the Dallas, TX, art rock phenomenon known as Dooms UK). As a solo act, Corn Mo has opened for Joe Walsh, Marty Stewart, Tiny Tim, Styx, and comedian Paul Rodriguez. Fans include Woody Harrelson, Flea, and actor/comedian David Cross. According to Cross, “He's a good man with the heart of a temptress and the soul of a vixen. In fact, all of the members of Vixen.”

Every interviewer or critic has seen in Corn Mo an absolute adoration for rock and roll and the lifestyle associated with it. His charm lies in bringing an audience to hysterics, while earnestly paying tribute to his heroes. He is uniquely hilarious without a trace of irony. And whether he’s singing about trouble “scoring” in Junior High, or performing magic tricks in the middle of a Tom Jones song, it’s hard to look away. It doesn’t matter if the crowd came to see Daniel Johnston, or a punk rock show – they all leave talking about Corn Mo.

He even made me not hate “Freebird”.