Willie Lee Johnson (March 4, 1923 - February 21, 1995) was an American blues guitarist. He is best known as the principal guitarist in Howlin' Wolf's band from 1948 to 1953.[1] His raucous, distorted guitar playing features on Howlin' Wolf's Memphis recordings of 1951-3, including the 1951 hit "How Many More Years".[2] His early use of distortion marks him out as one of the pioneers of the electric guitar. [3]
Career
Willie Johnson was born in Senatobia, Mississippi, on March 4, 1923.
As the guitarist in the first band led by Howlin' Wolf, Johnson appeared on most of Wolf's recordings between 1951 and 1953, providing the slightly jazzy yet raucous guitar sound that was the signature of all of Wolf's Memphis recordings. Johnson also performed and recorded with other blues artists in the Memphis area, including pianist Willie Love, Willie Nix, Junior Parker, Roscoe Gordon, Bobby "Blue" Bland and others.
When Wolf moved to Chicago in c. 1953, he could not convince Johnson to join him. Johnson stayed on in Memphis for several years, playing on a number of sessions for Sun Records, including a 1955 collaboration with vocalist Sammy Lewis, "I Feel So Worried", released under the name Sammy Lewis with Willie Johnson. By the time Johnson relocated to Chicago, Wolf had already hired guitarist Hubert Sumlin as a permanent replacement. James Cotton later recalled that Wolf replaced Johnson because of his heavy drinking.[4]
Johnson occasionally performed and recorded with Howlin' Wolf after settling in Chicago, and also played briefly in the band of Muddy Waters, as well as a number of other local Chicago blues musicians, including J.T. Brown, in the late '50s and early '60s. He made his living mainly outside of music for the rest of his life, only occasionally sitting in with the bands of his old friends around Chicago.
His final recordings were made for Earwig Records in Chicago in the early 1990s.
Willie Johnson died in Chicago on February 21, 1995.
Namesakes
Willie Johnson the guitarist should not be confused with Willie Johnson the singer (a member of the Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet until joining the Jubilaires in 1948), or with Blind Willie Johnson, an earlier gospel and blues artist.
Notes
- ^ David Dicaire, Blues singers, McFarland, 1999, p. 94.
- ^ Edward M. Komara, Encyclopedia of the Blues, Routledge, 2006, p. 387
- ^ Robert Palmer, "Church of the Sonic Guitar", pp. 13-38 in Anthony DeCurtis, Present Tense, Duke University Press, 1992, p. 24.
- ^ Will Romano, Incurable blues: the troubles & triumph of blues legend Hubert Sumlin, Backbeat Books, 2005, p. 25.
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