John Bassette (December 28, 1941 – November 9, 2006) was a folk singer/songwriter, poet and cable television personality in the Greater Cleveland, Ohio, United States, area.
Bassette first attracted national notice at the 1967 Newport Folk Festival, where critic Bradford F. Swan singled out his performance of his composition "Brown Boy" as "an immensely moving song, beautifully sung" and "the high point of the evening".
"[2] Returning to Cleveland, Bassette produced three full-length albums, two mini-albums, and a self-illustrated book of stories, songs, essays and poetry entitled Losing Face in America.
He also appeared as a regular guest on the seminal folk-music segment, Coffeebreak Concerts, on the major Cleveland Rock radio station WMMS.
It featured many well-known Cleveland-area and other folk musicians and friends of Bassette, including Tom Paxton, Michael Stanley, Jim Ballard, Alex Bevan, Charlie Wiener, Jon Mosey, Pat Dailey, Don Dixon and Marti Jones, Jim Gill, Chuck Keith, Bill Lestock, Aaron Ballard, Benjamin Payne, Stick People, and Mo' Mojo Mama[4]