• Tim Calabro
• Jon Gailmor

Jon Gailmor has been feeling his age recently. The 76-year-old singer-songwriter says he's been walking into rooms and forgetting why he's there. He'll open the refrigerator and not recall what he wanted to eat.

"The most frustrating thing about getting old is name loss," Gailmor told me last week when he dropped by the Seven Days office for a chat. "For some reason, that's the first part of the brain to go. It's not so much that I can't remember anything; it's just that my brain is full beyond capacity. I used to try to play it off when someone would approach me, but I'm too old to lie anymore."

Forgetting names is a real problem for Gailmor, who is a beloved public figure to many a Vermonter. A former Polydor Records recording artist and folk musician with more than 45 years of Green Mountain State gigs under his belt, Gailmor is perhaps best known for his long history of teaching the art of songwriting to schoolkids, both on campuses around the state and over the airwaves, through his long-running children's music radio show, "Just Kidding."

"I'm so lucky to have found my passion," Gailmor said. "One of the first lessons I always tell kids is to find out why you're here and then pounce on it. That was the gift that Vermont gave me, and I'm so grateful for that."

Gailmor came to Vermont in 1977. He and his girlfriend at the time drove up Interstate 89 until they got tired, stopped in East Montpelier and decided to stay, leaving New York City behind. Nearly half a century later, Gailmor is preparing to say goodbye to the Green Mountains and move to New Orleans. With the death of his beloved wife, Cathy, in 2022 and his own health struggles — Gailmor is currently being treated for leukemia — he decided it was time to move closer to his son and grandchildren in Louisiana.

"It's excruciating and liberating at the same time," Gailmor admitted. "I've lived in this house for 44 years and never threw a thing away, and neither did my wife. But I also have to exhale and breathe and remind myself that I'm not sure I can do much more in Vermont than I have done."

Before he moved here, Gailmor had made a go of it in the music business with his musical partner Rob Carlson. They signed a major-label deal and released Peaceable Kingdom in 1974. But it didn't take long for Gailmor to realize he was barking up the wrong tree.

"I love that I never have to wonder What if? because I went for it, released albums and toured the country. And you know what? It sucked," Gailmor said with a hearty laugh. "It was all about selling a product, and I was raised by a family that valued the heart and believed in changing the world for the better."

So Gailmor broke up the band and sought to build a life elsewhere. Once in Vermont, he wasted no time establishing himself in the local scene, playing gigs at venues that still resonate in Vermont musicians' memories: the Parking Lot in Barre, M.J. Fridays in Montpelier, Victoria's in Randolph and Gailmor's all-time favorite, Hunt's in Burlington.

The legendary club that sat on the corner of Main and Pine streets and now houses Vermont Comedy Club hosted some of the best local acts of the day. In the 1970s and early '80s, Gailmor played alongside "Big Joe" Burrell, the N-Zones, the Unknown Blues Band and plenty of others in a particularly skilled generation of Vermont musicians.

The moment that stands above all the other Hunt's memories for Gailmor was when he met Cathy, a high school counselor at the time, there one night after he had finished performing. He mentioned during his set that he had begun teaching music to kids at school, which sparked the future couple's conversational meet-cute.

"She asked me if I ever thought about singing for teenagers," Gailmor recalled. "I wanted to say, 'If you're there, I'll be there in a heartbeat,' but I was way too lame and awkward and just said, 'Uh, yes. Yes, I will.'"

As he was beginning the romantic relationship that would define much of his life, Gailmor was similarly building the foundation for his life's work. He had been playing music for kids in area schools and found that his devotion to silliness worked well when interacting with children. Then one day, he had an epiphany.

"I was eating lunch at Founders Memorial in Essex Center, and I heard these kids outside at recess making up songs on the spot, out of thin air," he said. "The songs were about their family, their pets, life in general ... I realized what a natural inclination that is for kids. They don't overthink everything like adults do. They just feel the urge to sing a song, and they do it. That's so beautiful to me."

So Gailmor began not only singing for kids but also helping them write their own songs, a mission he has championed ever since. He plans to continue the endeavor in New Orleans.

"It's been the most fulfilling thing I've ever done, professionally," Gailmor said. "And I still learn songwriting tips from the kids; it's not just me teaching them. Kids are fearless about music, just totally unencumbered by the brain like we all are."

His success with kids led to him working in radio; he launched the first episode of "Just Kidding" in 1979 on WNCS-FM (the station that eventually became 104.7 the Point). The wildly popular kids' music show jumped to the AM dial three years later and began broadcasting on WDEV out of Waterbury. He hosted the show for 23 years, leaving a massive imprint on young Vermont would-be musicians.

"The message of 'Just Kidding' was that we shouldn't lose our childishness," Gailmor said. "The world does its best to complicate everything, and you have to work not to lose those secrets you inherently knew as a kid. And you know, in life, there's nothing that compares to knowing that you've done the right thing. Every time I see a kid write a song, I know I'm doing the right thing."

After Cathy died and Gailmor started to deal with his own illness, he found he had lost any drive to write new music. He was "beaten up," in his own words — in too much pain to create. He started to worry about whether those days were done. But not long ago, while getting treatment at a New Orleans hospital, something sparked his imagination again.

"This nurse came up to me and just said, 'I'm going to grab your vitals,' and the phrase just stuck in my brain," he recalled. Soon after, Gailmor was home with a guitar in his hand, penning a tribute to the Ochsner Medical Center in Jefferson, La., titled "Scan That Band, Grab Them Vitals (Ochsner Song)."

In a video clip for the song, Gailmor plays his son's guitar and sings with his signature warmth and wit. "Long live you and long live me / Long live all of us / Ochsner is the place to be," he croons. It has to be the happiest song ever written about battling leukemia.

"I'll never not love Vermont," Gailmor declared toward the end of our conversation. "But I also have to realize that everything changes. Vermont has changed. I've changed. We're still in love, but it's time for me to go. If I'm missed, I'll be flattered, but it's not so difficult for me because I like to think that what I brought to Vermont will absolutely be carried on by others."

Fare thee well, Jon. The kids of New Orleans are in for a treat.