Uncommon wit runs through the lyrics of this varied set, certainly one of the more intriguing Chicago blues albums of the late '70s. Johnson's high-pitched vocals are particularly soulful on the impassioned "I Need Some Easy Money" and "Ashes in My Ashtray," while "The Twelve Bar Blues" and "Poor Boy's Dream" are upbeat entries that don't sound as comfortable for the guitarist. Johnson gets away with a honky-tonk reprise of Ernest Tubb's country classic "Drivin' Nails in My Coffin," but his rehash of Dave Brubeck's "Take Five" should have stayed on the bandstand.
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.
A professional musician since the late fifties, his catalog includes soul, R&B, and blues music. On this 1999 solo effort, he throws them all into a smoky record that encompasses his life as a musician.
Tobacco Road was recorded limited line up live (without audience!) at "Golden Slipper" in Chicago with one on two guitars (Jimmy Johnson, David Matthews), bass (Ike Anderson) and drums (Dino Neal), October 19, 1977. Johnson with a high, soul infected voice sings and plays guitar in the tradition of three kings. He interpreted "Sweet Little Angel", by b.b.of Albert "Breaking Up Somebody's Home"."Look Over Yonder" comes from Elmore James.The title track of "Tobacco road",a classic,is known in versions by the Blues Magoos, Eric Burdon, Lou Rawls, Edgar winter, etc. The 1997 reissue of Storyville Records features four bonus tracks.
90 years young Jimmy Johnson returns to the recording studio for the first time in over a decade. It has been precisely forty years since his Delmark debut 'Johnson's Whacks'. Delmark celebrates Jimmy's homecoming by releasing 'Every Day of Your Life', an album comprised of four original songs and Jimmy's unique take on five other tunes including a solo performance of Jimmy singing and playing piano on the Bobby 'Blue' Bland hit 'Lead Me On'. Two different stellar Chicago bands back Jimmy throughout this album. Johnson was born in Holly Springs, Mississippi. He has playing professionally in Chicago since 1959 and has worked with Freddy King, Albert King, Magic Sam and Otis Rush among many others. Jimmy has always had an R&B style of blues and he brings it to this new album, his fourth for Delmark.
Unlike his Delmark sets, almost everything on this set (first issued in France on Black & Blue) is a cover (only the observant "Heap See" boasts original lyrics). Still, "Barroom Preacher" stands as the Chicago guitarist's most satisfying and consistent album, as he deals out gorgeous, shimmering versions of "Little by Little, " "Cold, Cold Feeling, " and "You Don't Know What Love Is" tailored to his soaring vocals and twisting guitar riffs (ominous minor keys often play a role in his rearrangements).
It's always sad when, for whatever reason, a worthwhile recording goes unreleased for a long time - and that's exactly what happened with Pepper's Hangout. On March 29, 1977, a 48-year-old Jimmy Johnson entered a Chicago studio and recorded what was meant to be his first studio LP as a leader. The LP had a working title of "Chicago Roots," and Living Blues editor Jim O'Neal was hired to write the liner notes. But regrettably, an album that should have come out in 1977 wasn't released in the U.S. until 2000, when Delmark was finally able to release the session as Pepper's Hangout. Better late than never - this CD finds Johnson in fine form and makes one wish that the singer/guitarist hadn't waited until his late 40s to record some albums…
Unlike his Delmark sets, almost everything on this set (first issued in France on Black & Blue) is a cover (only the observant "Heap See" boasts original lyrics). Still, this album stands as the Chicago guitarist's most satisfying and consistent album, as he deals out gorgeous, shimmering versions of "Little by Little, " "Cold, Cold Feeling, " and "You Don't Know What Love Is" tailored to his soaring vocals and twisting guitar riffs (ominous minor keys often play a role in his rearrangements).
It shouldn't have taken Johnson a full decade to find his way back into a studio, but such are the injustices of the record business. The wait was worth it, though - backed by his touring trio of the timeframe, Johnson mixes blues and soul, originals (a heartfelt "Black & White Wall" and the soaring ballad "My Ring") and covers (his takes on McKinley Mitchell's "End of a Rainbow" and Wilson Pickett's "Engine Number 9" hit home), in decidedly solid contemporary form.
Finally reissued on CD in 1999, nearly 20 years after its initial release, Jimmy Johnson's North/South is worth the wait for fans of electric Chicago blues with soul and rock influences. Probably named in tribute to the Paul Butterfield Blues Band's epic East-West album (Butterfield's guitarist Michael Bloomfield had died just prior to the album's recording), North/South is third-generation Chicago blues, far enough removed from the music's gutbucket origins to seamlessly incorporate influences like Eddie Lusk's soulful clavinet on the opening "Country Preacher," but still connected enough to its roots that songs like "Can't Go No Further" and "A Woman Ain't Supposed to Be Hard" have the passion and soul sometimes missing from the smoother likes of Robert Cray…