Jimmy Johnson
Chicago guitarist Jimmy Johnson didn't release his first full domestic album until he was 50 years old. He determinedly made up for lost time, establishing himself as one of the Windy City's premier blues artists with a twisting, unpredictable guitar style and a soaring, soul-dripping vocal delivery that stood out from the pack.
Born into a musical family (younger brother Syl Johnson's credentials as a soul star were all in order, while sibling Mack Thompson was Magic Sam's first-call bassist), Jimmy Thompson moved to Chicago with his family in 1950. But his guitar playing remained a hobby for years -- he toiled as a welder while Syl blazed a trail on the local blues circuit. Finally, in 1959, Jimmy Thompson started gigging with harpist Slim Willis around the West Side. Somewhere down the line, he changed his surname to Johnson (thus keeping pace with Syl).
Since there was more cash to be realized playing R&B during the 1960s, Jimmy Johnson concentrated on that end of the stylistic spectrum for a while. He led polished house bands on the South Side and West Side behind Otis Clay, Denise LaSalle, and Garland Green, also cutting an occasional instrumental 45. Johnson found his way back to the blues in 1974 as Jimmy Dawkins' rhythm guitarist. He toured Japan behind Otis Rush in 1975 (the journey that produced Rush's album So Many Roads -- Live in Concert).
With the 1978 release of four stunning sides on Alligator's first batch of Living Chicago Blues anthologies and the issue of Johnson's Whacks, his first full domestic set on Delmark the next year, Jimmy Johnson's star began ascending rapidly. North/South, the guitarist's 1982 Delmark follow-up, and the 1983 release of Bar Room Preacher by Alligator continued to propel him into the first rank of Chicago bluesdom. Then tragedy struck: on December 2, 1988, Johnson was driving his band's van when it swerved off the road in downstate Indiana, killing bassist Larry Exum and keyboardist St. James Bryant.
Understandably, Johnson, himself injured in the wreck, wasn't too interested in furthering his career for a time after the tragedy. But he was back in the harness by the mid-'90s, cutting a solid set for Verve in 1994, I'm a Jockey, that spotlighted his blues-soul synthesis most effectively. Every Road Ends, recorded in France and released on Ruf, followed in 1999. A collaboration with his brother Syl appeared in the summer of 2002, the cleverly titled Two Johnsons Are Better Than One. Brothers Live, recorded by Jimmy Johnson and the Chicago Dave Blues Band featuring saxophonist Sam Burckhardt at Switzerland's Basel Blues Festival in 2002, arrived in 2004. Jimmy Johnson died on January 31, 2022, at the age of 93.
© Bill Dahl /TiVo
Similar artists
Discography
19 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
-
Surya Namaskar
Dewa Budjana, Jimmy Johnson, Vinnie Colaiuta
Jazz - Released by Dawaiku Records on 29 Nov 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Every Day of Your Life
Blues - Released by Delmark on 6 Dec 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
I'm a Jockey (feat. Billy Branch & Lucky Peterson)
Jazz - Released by Dreyfus Jazz on 1 Jan 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Late Flower
Steve Topping, Jimmy Johnson, Frank Schaefer, Gary Husband
Jazz - Released by Quartz Music on 1 Jan 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Livin' The Life (Blues Reference)
Blues - Released by Disques Black & Blue on 17 Jan 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ma Bea's Rock
Jimmy Johnson, Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson
Blues - Released by Storyville on 1 Jan 1975
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Chicago Blues Box 2, Vol. 4
Blues - Released by Storyville on 27 Oct 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Johnson's Whacks
Blues - Released by Delmark Records on 10 Jun 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Silence to Static
Electronic - Released by Jimmy Johnson on 1 Jan 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
-
Pepper's Hangout
Blues - Released by Delmark Records on 1 Jan 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
I Didn't Give A Damn If Whites Bought It Vol. 2
Jimmy Johnson, Eddie Clearwater
Blues - Released by Red Lightnin Records on 30 Oct 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
Pick Me Up (On Your Way Down)
Country - Released by Country Fever Records on 1 Oct 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Great Cardinal Nation Song
Blues - Released by Nitewing Productions on 13 Nov 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mysterious Machine
Electronic - Released by Attitude records on 7 Sep 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo