Tommy Johnson
Encyclopedia
Tommy Johnson was an influential American
delta blues
musician
, who recorded in the late 1920s, and was known for his eerie falsetto
voice and intricate guitar playing.
, and moved around 1910 to Crystal Springs
where he lived for most of his life.
He learned to play the guitar and, by 1914, was supplementing his income by playing at local parties with his brothers Major and LeDell. In 1916 he married and moved to Webb Jennings' Plantation near Drew, Mississippi
, close to the Dockery Plantation
. There he met other musicians including Charlie Patton
and Willie Brown
.
. In 1928 he made his first recordings with McCoy for Victor Records. The recordings included "Canned Heat Blues", in which he sang of drinking methanol from the cooking fuel Sterno
. The song features the refrain "canned heat, mama, sure, Lord, killing me." The blues group Canned Heat
took their name from this song. Johnson's "Big Road Blues" inspired Canned Heat's song, "On the Road Again
". A significantly different version of the song appears as "Canned Heat" on the Big Road Blues album by K. C. Douglas
.
He recorded two further sessions, in August 1928, and for Paramount Records
in December 1929. He did not record again, mistakenly believing that he had signed away his right to record. This resulted in a legal settlement with The Mississippi Sheiks
who had used Johnson's "Big Road Blues" melody in their successful "Stop and Listen". Johnson was party to the copyright settlement, but was too drunk at the time to understand what he had signed to.
Johnson's recordings established him as the premier Delta blues
vocalist of his day, with a powerful voice that could go from a growl to a falsetto. He was also an accomplished guitarist. His style influenced later blues singers such as Robert Nighthawk and Howlin' Wolf
, whose song "I Asked for Water (She Brought Me Gasoline)" was based on Johnson's "Cool Water Blues". He was a talented composer, blending fragments of folk poetry and personalized lyrics
into set guitar accompaniments to craft striking blues compositions such as "Maggie Campbell".
To enhance his fame, Johnson cultivated a sinister persona. According to his brother LeDell, he claimed to have sold his soul
to the devil in exchange for his mastery of the guitar. This story was later also associated with Robert Johnson, to whom he was unrelated. Tommy Johnson also played tricks with his guitar, playing it between his legs and behind his head, and throwing it in the air while playing.
Johnson remained a popular performer in the Jackson area
through the 1930s and 1940s, sometimes performing with Ishman Bracey
. He was highly influential on other performers, partly because he was willing to teach his style and his repertoire. Tommy Johnson's influence on local traditions is discussed by David Evans in Tommy Johnson and 'Big Road Blues. Tradition & Creativity in the Folk Blues.
after playing at a party in 1956. He is buried in the Warm Springs Methodist Church Cemetery outside of Crystal Springs, Mississippi. In 2001 a headstone was commissioned through the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund
, a Mississippi non-profit corporation, by the family of Tommy Johnson and paid for by musician Bonnie Raitt
. The large, granite memorial engraved with Johnson's portrait has not been placed on Johnson's grave, however, due to a bitter, ongoing dispute between Tommy Johnson's family, led by his niece, Vera Johnson Collins, the owners of farm property encircling the cemetery, and the Copiah County Board of Supervisors. The headstone has remained on public display in the Crystal Springs, Mississippi Public Library since being unveiled on October 20, 2001. An annual Tommy Johnson Blues Festival is now held in Crystal Springs, on every third weekend in October. The inaugural edition was held in Jackson
and Crystal Springs in 2006.
there is a character named Tommy Johnson (played by Chris Thomas King
) who sold his soul to the devil to play guitar. He plays accompaniment for the Soggy Bottom Boys (a band consisting of the film's three main protagonists plus Johnson) on "Man of Constant Sorrow". The character of Tommy Johnson in O Brother, Where Art Thou? is reminiscent of the real Tommy Johnson, who used to talk about how "he sold his soul to the devil" at a crossroads in return for making up songs and playing the guitar. The character plays a number of songs by blues musician Skip James
.
In 2006, an episode of the tv show, Supernatural entitled "Cross Road Blues", featured a character named Robert Johnson, played by La Monde Byrd who sold his soul to the devil in order to master the guitar and was attacked by wild black dogs, called the hounds of hell by a cross roads demon collecting on the deal.
1929, Grafton
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
delta blues
Delta blues
The Delta blues is one of the earliest styles of blues music. It originated in the Mississippi Delta, a region of the United States that stretches from Memphis, Tennessee in the north to Vicksburg, Mississippi in the south, Helena, Arkansas in the west to the Yazoo River on the east. The...
musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, who recorded in the late 1920s, and was known for his eerie falsetto
Falsetto
Falsetto is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous edges of the vocal folds, in whole or in part...
voice and intricate guitar playing.
Early life
Johnson was born near Terry, MississippiTerry, Mississippi
Terry is a town in Hinds County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 664 at the 2000 census. It is located near Interstate 55, about 15 miles southwest of Jackson, Mississippi and located in Supervisors District Five of Hinds County...
, and moved around 1910 to Crystal Springs
Crystal Springs, Mississippi
Crystal Springs is a city in Copiah County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 5,873 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Jackson Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Crystal Springs is located at ....
where he lived for most of his life.
He learned to play the guitar and, by 1914, was supplementing his income by playing at local parties with his brothers Major and LeDell. In 1916 he married and moved to Webb Jennings' Plantation near Drew, Mississippi
Drew, Mississippi
Drew is a city in Sunflower County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 2,434 at the 2000 census. Drew, a rural community, is in the vicinity of several plantations and the Mississippi State Penitentiary, a Mississippi Department of Corrections prison for men.-Geography:Drew is located at...
, close to the Dockery Plantation
Dockery Plantation
Dockery Plantation was a cotton plantation and sawmill on the Sunflower River between Ruleville and Cleveland, Mississippi. It is widely regarded as the place where Delta blues music was born. Blues musicians residents at Dockery included Charlie Patton, Robert Johnson and Howlin' Wolf...
. There he met other musicians including Charlie Patton
Charlie Patton
Charlie Patton , better known as Charley Patton, was an American Delta blues musician. He is considered by many to be the "Father of the Delta Blues", and is credited with creating an enduring body of American music and personally inspiring just about every Delta blues man...
and Willie Brown
Willie Brown (musician)
Willie Brown was an American delta blues guitarist and singer.- Life and career :Born Willie Lee Brown in Clarksdale, Mississippi, Brown played with such notables as Charley Patton, and Robert Johnson. He was not known to be a self-promoting frontman, preferring to "second" other musicians...
.
Career
By 1920 he had become an alcoholic and itinerant musician, based in Crystal Springs but travelling widely around the South, sometimes accompanied by Papa Charlie McCoyPapa Charlie McCoy
Charles "Papa Charlie" McCoy was an African American delta blues musician and songwriter.-Career:Born in Jackson, Mississippi, McCoy was best known by the nickname 'Papa Charlie'. He became one of the major blues accompanists of his time...
. In 1928 he made his first recordings with McCoy for Victor Records. The recordings included "Canned Heat Blues", in which he sang of drinking methanol from the cooking fuel Sterno
Sterno
Sterno is a fuel made from denatured and jellied alcohol. It is designed to be burned directly from its can. Its primary uses are in the food service industry for buffet heating and in the home for fondue and as a chafing fuel for heating chafing dishes...
. The song features the refrain "canned heat, mama, sure, Lord, killing me." The blues group Canned Heat
Canned Heat
Canned Heat is a blues-rock/boogie rock band that formed in Los Angeles, California in 1965. The group has been noted for its own interpretations of blues material as well as for efforts to promote the interest in this type of music and its original artists...
took their name from this song. Johnson's "Big Road Blues" inspired Canned Heat's song, "On the Road Again
On the Road Again (Canned Heat song)
"On the Road Again," a song recorded by the American blues rock group Canned Heat, was released as a single in April 1968, and appeared on their 1968 album Boogie with Canned Heat as well as the 1969 compilation The Canned Heat Cookbook...
". A significantly different version of the song appears as "Canned Heat" on the Big Road Blues album by K. C. Douglas
K. C. Douglas
K. C. Douglas was an American blues singer and guitarist.-Career:Born in Sharon, Mississippi, Douglas was a rural blues stylist in the San Francisco/Oakland area of California. Douglas was influenced by Tommy Johnson, whose "Canned Heat Blues" he adapted on his album, Big Road Blues...
.
He recorded two further sessions, in August 1928, and for Paramount Records
Paramount Records
Paramount Records was an American record label, best known for its recordings of African-American jazz and blues in the 1920s and early 1930s, including such artists as Ma Rainey and Blind Lemon Jefferson.-Early years:...
in December 1929. He did not record again, mistakenly believing that he had signed away his right to record. This resulted in a legal settlement with The Mississippi Sheiks
Mississippi Sheiks
The Mississippi Sheiks were a popular and influential guitar and fiddle group of the 1930s. They were notable mostly for playing country blues, but were adept at many styles of United States popular music of the time, and their records were bought by both black and white audiences.In 2004, they...
who had used Johnson's "Big Road Blues" melody in their successful "Stop and Listen". Johnson was party to the copyright settlement, but was too drunk at the time to understand what he had signed to.
Johnson's recordings established him as the premier Delta blues
Delta blues
The Delta blues is one of the earliest styles of blues music. It originated in the Mississippi Delta, a region of the United States that stretches from Memphis, Tennessee in the north to Vicksburg, Mississippi in the south, Helena, Arkansas in the west to the Yazoo River on the east. The...
vocalist of his day, with a powerful voice that could go from a growl to a falsetto. He was also an accomplished guitarist. His style influenced later blues singers such as Robert Nighthawk and Howlin' Wolf
Howlin' Wolf
Chester Arthur Burnett , known as Howlin' Wolf, was an influential American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player....
, whose song "I Asked for Water (She Brought Me Gasoline)" was based on Johnson's "Cool Water Blues". He was a talented composer, blending fragments of folk poetry and personalized lyrics
Lyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
into set guitar accompaniments to craft striking blues compositions such as "Maggie Campbell".
To enhance his fame, Johnson cultivated a sinister persona. According to his brother LeDell, he claimed to have sold his soul
Deal with the Devil
Deal With The Devil is the fifth studio album by the American heavy metal band Lizzy Borden released in 2000 .A return to form, featuring a cover by Todd McFarlane.2 covers were recorded...
to the devil in exchange for his mastery of the guitar. This story was later also associated with Robert Johnson, to whom he was unrelated. Tommy Johnson also played tricks with his guitar, playing it between his legs and behind his head, and throwing it in the air while playing.
Johnson remained a popular performer in the Jackson area
Jackson metropolitan area
The Jackson Metropolitan Statistical Area is a metropolitan area in the central region of the U.S. state of Mississippi that covers five counties: Copiah, Hinds, Madison, Rankin, and Simpson. As of the 2000 census, the MSA had a population of 497,197...
through the 1930s and 1940s, sometimes performing with Ishman Bracey
Ishman Bracey
Ishman Bracey was an American blues singer and guitarist from Mississippi, considered one of the most important early delta blues performers. With Tommy Johnson, he was the center of a small Jackson, Mississippi group of blues musicians in the 1920s...
. He was highly influential on other performers, partly because he was willing to teach his style and his repertoire. Tommy Johnson's influence on local traditions is discussed by David Evans in Tommy Johnson and 'Big Road Blues. Tradition & Creativity in the Folk Blues.
Death
He died of a heart attackMyocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
after playing at a party in 1956. He is buried in the Warm Springs Methodist Church Cemetery outside of Crystal Springs, Mississippi. In 2001 a headstone was commissioned through the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund
Mt. Zion Memorial Fund
The Mt. Zion Memorial Fund is a Mississippi non-profit corporation formed in 1989 and named after the 101 year old Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Morgan City, Mississippi...
, a Mississippi non-profit corporation, by the family of Tommy Johnson and paid for by musician Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Lynn Raitt is an American blues singer-songwriter and a renowned slide guitar player. During the 1970s, Raitt released a series of acclaimed roots-influenced albums which incorporated elements of blues, rock, folk and country, but she is perhaps best known for her more commercially...
. The large, granite memorial engraved with Johnson's portrait has not been placed on Johnson's grave, however, due to a bitter, ongoing dispute between Tommy Johnson's family, led by his niece, Vera Johnson Collins, the owners of farm property encircling the cemetery, and the Copiah County Board of Supervisors. The headstone has remained on public display in the Crystal Springs, Mississippi Public Library since being unveiled on October 20, 2001. An annual Tommy Johnson Blues Festival is now held in Crystal Springs, on every third weekend in October. The inaugural edition was held in Jackson
Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson is the capital and the most populous city of the US state of Mississippi. It is one of two county seats of Hinds County ,. The population of the city declined from 184,256 at the 2000 census to 173,514 at the 2010 census...
and Crystal Springs in 2006.
In fiction
In the 2000 movie O Brother, Where Art Thou?O Brother, Where Art Thou?
O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a 2000 comedy film directed by Joel and Ethan Coen and starring George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, John Goodman, Holly Hunter, and Charles Durning. Set in 1937 rural Mississippi during the Great Depression, the film's story is a modern satire loosely...
there is a character named Tommy Johnson (played by Chris Thomas King
Chris Thomas King
Chris Thomas King is an American New Orleans, Louisiana-based blues musician and actor.-History:King was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States. He is the son of blues musician Tabby Thomas. He has won awards including "Album of the Year" for both Grammy Award and Country Music Awards. King...
) who sold his soul to the devil to play guitar. He plays accompaniment for the Soggy Bottom Boys (a band consisting of the film's three main protagonists plus Johnson) on "Man of Constant Sorrow". The character of Tommy Johnson in O Brother, Where Art Thou? is reminiscent of the real Tommy Johnson, who used to talk about how "he sold his soul to the devil" at a crossroads in return for making up songs and playing the guitar. The character plays a number of songs by blues musician Skip James
Skip James
Nehemiah Curtis "Skip" James was an American Delta blues singer, guitarist, pianist and songwriter, born in Bentonia, Mississippi, died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
.
In 2006, an episode of the tv show, Supernatural entitled "Cross Road Blues", featured a character named Robert Johnson, played by La Monde Byrd who sold his soul to the devil in order to master the guitar and was attacked by wild black dogs, called the hounds of hell by a cross roads demon collecting on the deal.
Discography
1928, Memphis- "Cool Drink Of Water Blues"
- "Big Road Blues"
- "Bye-Bye Blues"
- "Maggie Campbell Blues"
- "Canned Heat Blues"
- "Big Fat Mama Blues"
- "Lonesome Home Blues"
1929, Grafton
- "Button Up Shoes"
- "I Want Someone To Love Me"
- "I Wonder To Myself"
- "Slidin' Delta"
- "Black Mare Blues"
- "Morning Prayer Blues"
- "Boogaloosa Woman"
- "Alcohol And Jake Blues"
- "Ridin' Horse"
External links
- Tommy Johnson Blues Foundation site
- Illustrated Tommy Johnson discography
- Site for "Crossroads: The Life and Afterlife of Blues Legend Robert Johnson" with links and material related to Tommy Johnson
- Canned Heat Blues Lyrics
- MP3 Audio file of "Canned Heat Blues" on The Internet Archive
- Tommy Johnson on Paramount Records