Tommy Johnson

Tommy Johnson (1896 – November 1 1956) was a very influential blues musician. He was born in Terry, Mississippi, and lived most of his life in Crystal Springs, Mississippi. He polished his skill playing in Mississippi Delta and was fond of telling how he had sold his soul to the devil in order to have a mastery of blues guitar. This story closely resembles the same legend of Robert Johnson but most likely predates it.

Related Topics:
1896 - November 1 - 1956 - Blues - Terry, Mississippi - Crystal Springs, Mississippi - Mississippi Delta - Robert Johnson

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Tommy Johnson was influenced, as were most Delta bluesmen of the time, by the legendary Charlie Patton. Although the influence is there Johnson's music has a feel and style that is totally his own. He was accompanied by the spectacular, but unheralded, Charlie McCoy and the two guitarist's interplay was so stunning that only their Memphis counterparts, Frank Stokes and Dan Sane, can be mentioned in the same breath. A young Robert Johnson not only took his soul selling to the Devil story from Tommy but also claimed to be his cousin. His bootleg drinking anthem 'Canned Heat Blues' inspired the band of the same name and Canned Heat's masterpiece, "On The Road Again", recalls Johnson's early work with its trance like Delta rhythms and falsetto vocal lines.

Related Topics:
Charlie Patton - Canned Heat

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