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Jimmy Johnson
Chicago
guitarist Jimmy Johnson didn't release his first full domestic album
until he was 50 years old. He's determinedly made up for lost time ever
since, 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 stand out from the pack.
Born into a musical family (younger brother Syl Johnson's credentials
as a soul star are 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 and West sides
behind Otis Clay, Denise LaSalle, and Garland Green, cutting an
occasional instrumental 45 on the side. Johnson found his way back to
the blues in 1974 as Jimmy Dawkins's 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 Johnson 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's back in harness now, cutting a solid set for Verve in 1994, I'm a
Jockey, that spotlights 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.
-Written
by Bill Dahl
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