Jimmy Johnson (blues musician)
James "Jimmy" Earl Thompson (* 25. November 1928 in Holly Springs , Mississippi ) is an American Blues - guitarist and singer.
Life
Johnson was born in Holly Springs, Mississippi. He comes from a musical family and several of his brothers have made musical careers themselves, including soul musician Syl Johnson and bassist Mack Thompson , who played for Magic Sam . At a young age he played the piano and sang in gospel groups . He moved his family to Chicago in the 1950s , where he worked as a welder and only played guitar in his spare time. In 1959 he began making music professionally with Slim Willis and changed his last name to Johnson, which his brother Syl had already done. As a guitarist he was influenced by Buddy Guy and Otis Rush . He played with Freddy King , Albert King , Magic Sam, Otis Rush, and Eddy Clearwater , among others.
In the 1960s his style changed and he developed a style that used more elements of the R&B style . During this time he worked with Otis Clay , Denise LaSalle and Garland Green . He had his own band by the early 1960s and released his first single in the mid-1960s. In 1974 he returned to blues music, playing with Jimmy Dawkins and touring Japan with Otis Rush in 1975 .
His first solo albums came out on MCM Blues Records in 1978 and on Delmark Records in 1979 when he was fifty. At the first Blues Music Awards in Memphis (November 1980) he was one of the winners. His career went well until December 2, 1988 when his touring van crashed in Indiana , killing his keyboardist, St. James Bryant , and bassist, Larry Exum . Johnson himself was injured and took a long break from the music business. He returned to Verve Records in 1994 to record . In 2002 he made recordings with his brother Syl. In 2009 he went on a European tour with stops in Great Britain and at the Copenhagen Blues Festival in Denmark .
In 2014 he was one of the musicians on the album Beyond Any Form , a recording of traditional Persian music.
Discography
- Jimmy Johnson & Luther Johnson ( MCM Records , 1977)
- Tobacco Road (MCM, 1978)
- Johnson's Whacks ( Delmark Records , 1979)
- North / South (Delmark, 1982)
- Bar Room Preacher ( Alligator Records , 1983)
- I'm a Jockey ( Verve Records , 1994)
- Every Road Ends Somewhere ( Ruf Records , 1999)
- Jimmy Johnson Featuring John Watkins ( Black & Blue Records , 2000)
- Pepper's Hangout (Delmark, 2000)
- Ma Bea's Rock ( Storyville Records , 2001)
- Heap See (Black & Blue, 2002)
- Two Johnsons Are Better Than One , with Syl Johnson (2002)
- Brothers Live ( Brambus Records , 2004)
- Every Day of Your Life ( Delmark Records , 2019)
literature
- Carlo Bohländer , Karl Heinz Holler, Christian Pfarr: Reclam's Jazz Guide . 5th, revised and supplemented edition. Reclam, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-15-010464-5 .
Web links
- Jimmy Johnson Interview NAMM Oral History Library (2017)
- Musicians database of radioswissjazz.de
- Jimmy Johnson Blues homepage
Individual evidence
- ^ Songwriter / Composer: Thompson James Earl. BMI Repertoire.BMI.com
- ^ Bill Dahl: Jimmy Johnson: Biography . Allmusic .com.
- ^ A b Tony Russell: The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. Carlton Books, Dubai 1997. ISBN 1-85868-255-X
- ^ Neither Angel Nor Devil Am I. Cultural Heritage News Agency, August 12, 2014, archived from the original on July 12, 2015 ; Retrieved October 19, 2014 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Johnson, Jimmy |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Thompson, James Earl |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American blues guitarist and singer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 25, 1928 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Holly Springs , Mississippi , United States |