John was born in rural, east central Illinois, about two hours south of Chicago.He has lived in Nashville, TN since 1996 and was the original bass player of Union Station with Alison Krauss. John composed several of her earlier songs, including "Too Late To Cry". "Foolish Heart", Dark Skies" and "Every Time You Say Goodbye" He also has had songs covered by Alan Jackson("Meat And Potato Man", "As Lovely As You"), Dan Tyminski("Carry Me Across The Mountain"), The Infamous Stringdusters("Fork In The Road" [IBMA Song Of The Year, 2007], "I Wonder"),Eva Cassidy("If I Give My Heart") Alecia Nugent("You've Still Got It") and Sam Bush("Ridin' That Bluegrass Train", "Bless His Heart" and "The Wizard of Oz"). "The Wizard Of Oz" (a tribute to Hall Of Fame St. Louis Cardinal shortstop Ozzie Smith)was featured on Bob Dylan's 'Theme Time' XM radio show as part of a segment devoted to baseball. In 2007 Alison recorded and released "Jacob's Dream"(co-written with Julie Lee). He has played upright bass professionally with Alison Krauss, Harley Allen, Chris Jones, Jimmy Bowen, Vassar Clements, Charlie Sizemore, and recently(March 2014) joined the 'Judge Talford Band'.John has released a CD of original material entitled "All The Lonely"(1999) and is currently working on a new album of original material(half by John, half by his wife, Julie) in addition to the 2010 release of their first EP album, 'Julie & John Pennell. The two have formed a duo and have performed a two week tour of Colorado(September, 2010) to help promote the release of their first EP album, performed a 9 city tour last summer through, Ohio, Pennsylvania , Ontario, Illinois and Indiana in 2011, and are currently arranging a tour for August with performances in Illinois, Michjgan and Ontario.