Tribute to Luther 'Guitar Jr.' Johnson
7-20-2024
This is a tribute show to honor our great friend and mentor, Luther “Guitar Junior” Johnson.
When Bluesman Luther “Guitar Junior” Johnson passed away at age 83 on Christmas Day, he left behind a musical legacy as long and wide as the Mississippi River from the Delta to Chicago. Johnson was best known for playing Chicago West Side Soul at the same time as Buddy Guy. “It was different (than Southside Soul), cuz on the West Side we always played up-tempo music to keep people dancing.
In the early 1960s, Johnson gained a following in Chicago’s West Side blues clubs and played for a few years with his mentor, Magic Sam. From 1973 to 1979 he traveled and recorded with Muddy Waters. The band at the time included guitarist Bob Margolin, bass player Calvin “Fuzz” Jones, and Willie “Big Eyes” Smith on drums. By 1980, he was on his own, touring and recording three albums with The Nighthawks as well as four tracks on Alligator’s second series of Living Chicago Blues anthologies. His role in the movie ‘The Blues Brothers’ brought him world wide attention.
In 1983 he won a Grammy for his work on the Atlantic Records compilation album "Blues Explosion."
Johnson toured right up until his death with a band he called The Magic Rockers, named after Magic Sam. He once said that his philosophy of life was: “It ain’t what you put in your bread to make it good. It’s the way you roll your dough.”
This show will include The Nighthawks, The Blues Express, some former members of The Magic Rockers, Frankie Maneiro and Mickey Maguire to bring some of Luther's hit songs and grooves to life at The Bull Run, where he played so often and gave us his great gift of music and entertainment.
https://www.upress.state.ms.us/Books/D/Deep-Inside-the-Blues
Margo Cooper’s book “Deep Inside the Blues,” published by the University Press of Mississippi, will be available at the show. The book, which collects 34 of Margo’s oral histories including Luther’s, contains over 160 photographs of blues artists, many published for the first time. Margo will do a short presentation at intermission about the musicians in the book, the music they made, the clubs in the Boston area, and the clubs, picnics and festivals in Mississippi and Helena, Arkansas that she’s attended - and of course, her photos.
“Cooper’s images remind us that the blues is as much attitude or way of life as art form…She sees herself as an advocate for the music, a celebrant, but not an apologist. Clearly, her photographs are a labor of love.” - Mark Feeney, Boston Globe
This is a tribute show to honor our great friend and mentor, Luther “Guitar Junior” Johnson.
When Bluesman Luther “Guitar Junior” Johnson passed away at age 83 on Christmas Day, he left behind a musical legacy as long and wide as the Mississippi River from the Delta to Chicago. Johnson was best known for playing Chicago West Side Soul at the same time as Buddy Guy. “It was different (than Southside Soul), cuz on the West Side we always played up-tempo music to keep people dancing.
In the early 1960s, Johnson gained a following in Chicago’s West Side blues clubs and played for a few years with his mentor, Magic Sam. From 1973 to 1979 he traveled and recorded with Muddy Waters. The band at the time included guitarist Bob Margolin, bass player Calvin “Fuzz” Jones, and Willie “Big Eyes” Smith on drums. By 1980, he was on his own, touring and recording three albums with The Nighthawks as well as four tracks on Alligator’s second series of Living Chicago Blues anthologies. His role in the movie ‘The Blues Brothers’ brought him world wide attention.
In 1983 he won a Grammy for his work on the Atlantic Records compilation album "Blues Explosion."
Johnson toured right up until his death with a band he called The Magic Rockers, named after Magic Sam. He once said that his philosophy of life was: “It ain’t what you put in your bread to make it good. It’s the way you roll your dough.”
This show will include The Nighthawks, The Blues Express, some former members of The Magic Rockers, Frankie Maneiro and Mickey Maguire to bring some of Luther's hit songs and grooves to life at The Bull Run, where he played so often and gave us his great gift of music and entertainment.
https://www.upress.state.ms.us/Books/D/Deep-Inside-the-Blues
Margo Cooper’s book “Deep Inside the Blues,” published by the University Press of Mississippi, will be available at the show. The book, which collects 34 of Margo’s oral histories including Luther’s, contains over 160 photographs of blues artists, many published for the first time. Margo will do a short presentation at intermission about the musicians in the book, the music they made, the clubs in the Boston area, and the clubs, picnics and festivals in Mississippi and Helena, Arkansas that she’s attended - and of course, her photos.
“Cooper’s images remind us that the blues is as much attitude or way of life as art form…She sees herself as an advocate for the music, a celebrant, but not an apologist. Clearly, her photographs are a labor of love.” - Mark Feeney, Boston Globe