Justin Vernon is the voice and artistic creator of Bon Iver. The band and concept is his vision and he alone accepted the best new artist Grammy a couple of weeks ago, but Bon Iver is a band and Justin Vernon is a person. Jethro Tull is also not a person, but that is a different post. I had the opportunity to photograph Bon Iver at the Fox Theater in September of 2009, and it was an incredible show. I was not familiar with the band at the time and their album For Emma, Forever Ago turned an obscure singer songwriter from Eau Claire, Wisconsin with an incredible falsetto into a national phenomenon. Since the Grammy win I have heard many people refer to Justin Vernon as Bon Iver and Bon Iver as a he and it just is not so. This is a band and a pretty good one at that. I met them briefly before the Fox Theater show and had two minutes to take a mediocre backstage group shot, they never turn out very well, but it is a fine memory of a great show and a moment in time before this very talented group blew up.
Scott Chernis 