Topic: Larry Johnson

[Bunker Hill]

Hope I haven't sent you readers to sleep with this length diatribe!
Parlor Picker aka Michael Prince[/quote]
Not me you haven't, pure nostalgia. Once upon a century ago I used to correspond with a Michael Prince who, I think, was going to write a book about John Hurt. Are you he?

[book]

Parlor Picker......are you   Michael???  I sent you my latest cd to an address you gave me, but it was returned.  If you are he, how can I get the cd to you??  Best Wishes from the road, Roy BB

[Parlor Picker]

Picking up on this thread again, which seems to be veering away from Larry a bit, I was remembering seeing Roy Book Binder support the great Texas bluesman, Tom Shaw at the 100 Club in London.  As Roy pointed out to me, unlike some of the old, decrepit, black bluesmen of an earlier generation, Tom could actually still play and sing.  Check out his Blue Goose album, "Blind Lemon's Buddy".  When I told Roy I had some photos of Rev. Gary Davis I had taken at his Shaw Theatre concert, he suggested I send them to Robert Tilling in Jersey, who was preparing a book on Rev. Davis.  I did so, and this resulted in a friendship which goes on to this day.  Bob Tilling and I have corresponded by letter and e-mail, spoken on the phone a number of times, but never actually met face-to-face.  Bob's excellent book "Twelve Gates to the City" eventually came out many years later.

Roy very astutely talks about Roger Hubbard's having "the magic" and how right he is!"  In my opinion, few of the younger generations of downhome blues (my preferred term, taken from Jeff Todd Titon's book, as many British people think that "country blues" is somehow related to naff country and western) have anything even approaching the magic.  They insist on playing Robert Johnson songs with a hard metronomic beat, totally missing the subtlety and sensitivity of the music.  Many are, I suspect, rock musicians who have rediscovered the roots they never had.  What they play is tantamount to acoustic heavy metal.  As Rick Sellens (Rick218), luthier of this parish, and I commented on a recent performance by a prominent US player - Robert Johnson meets Aerosmith in a headlong collision.  The audiences love it though - they don't understand the sensibilities of downhome blues.  Roger surely does have "the magic" by the barrow-load, but cannot give up his day job to become a full-time musician.  Tragic!  When he starts to play, he generates incredible movement in the music - there's an intangible kind of "beat behind the beat" going on simultaneously.  Maybe some enterprising North American promoter can book him a tour of the States?

Michael

[book]

Re The Magic........You are so right......The US is a lot more difficult to conquer than many overseas markets.  Many of my colleagues
have a difficult time setting up a proper tour here.  Though we have gigs 'in common',   we all have our own venues, where we will draw a good crowd and make good $$$,  but often when we recommend a friend, it doesn't happen for them.  Most of our gigs are 'the folk clubs' and folk music societies which might do 2 concerts a month.  Lots of Folksingers over here for sure. 
  When I book a cross country tour, it requires hours (days-weeks-months) of work to get 'all the ducks in a row'.  I wish I could set up a tour for a pal, but it doesn't work that way.  Often I get requests to do so......all of us do share our contacts and of course, the internet has opened many doors and saved lots of time.
   To make a living in this game requires lots of luck and hard work.   Back in the old days, in many ways it was easier.   The  folks that were recorded, became "bonafide"..............If a label signed someone it gave you a certain credibility.  There were no "vanity recordings' as we used to call them..
  Getting back to LARRY JOHNSON,  By the time he recorded for BLUE GOOSE, he had already made a few records on legitimate labels.  Nick Perls really got Larry's best work out of him, and with his clout, he helped create the excitement in the Blues World.  The rest is history.  Larry should have become a bigger star in the field.  We all make our own luck, and it didn't work out as well as it could have for Larry.  Too bad for all of us........"Book"

[Johnm]

Hi all,
I know a number of you are Larry Johnson fans, as am I, and I thought I'd talk a little bit about one of his first releases, "Larry & Hank--The Blues/A New Generation", Prestige 7472, that was recorded on November 25, 1965, and released in 1966.  I recently came into possession of a version of this LP burned to disc by a friend (thanks, Joe), and have been listening to it and enjoying it quite a lot, especially since I missed it altogether in its LP incarnation.  The Hank who joined Larry on this album was Hank Adkins, born in Alabama in 1941, who I don't believe ever recorded with Larry again.  If you'd like to see Larry's discography, go to Stefan Wirz's website and click on Larry's name at the bottom of any page.

According to the liner notes on the album, Hank learned most of his guitar from Larry, and Larry definitely was the dominant musical personality on the record, handling the lead guitar chores by the sound of it, the singing, and writing every song in the 12-song program.  At the time this record was made, Larry was known, apart from his friends and close acquaintances, primarily as a harmonica player, having been featured on the instrument on a Big Joe Williams record.  The program shows a lot of variety, with regard to the duo's rhythmic feels, phrasing and the types of tunes Larry wrote.  He expressed himself naturally, both in his music and his lyrics here, and puts to rest the notion that modern players are necessarily unable to express themselves in the language of the Blues in ways that compare favorably with the blues recordings of the past.  These songs and performances need apologize for nothing--they're strong!
The key of A in standard tuning was definitely Larry's key of choice for this recording, perhaps because it suited his vocal range the best.  There is some terrific variety though:  an 8-bar raggy tune in G, "The Captain Don't 'Low That Here", a sensational one-chorder in E, "Two Gun Green", with a very strong vocal, a nice 8-bar blues, "Whiskey Store Blues", and a really fine, almost one-chorder in E, "If You Don't Want Me Baby", that bears a strong musical resemblance to "Catfish".  The concluding number in the program, which Larry does by himself, is an especially strong lyric number, entitled "Take These Blues Off My Mind".
Everywhere you look in this music, nifty original and individual touches show up in the lyrics, singing and playing.  I suspect the duo didn't excite more comment at the time the album came out because of the sort of hierarchy of interest and coverage the music press created around blues players at that time.  Certainly the "rediscovered" players excited the most interest among the press and new fans of the music--the whole concept of rediscovery was very romantic and irresistible.  A sort of second tier of interest was extended to blues players who were discovered and recorded for the first time in the LP era--people like Mance Lipscomb, John Jackson, Shirley Griffith, Smoky Babe and Pete Franklin.  A lot of interest was shown towards the more popular young white revivalist musicians of that period, too, like Dave Van Ronk, John Hammond, Eric von Schmidt, Tom Rush and Geof Muldaur.  I believe it was Larry's and Hank's misfortune, at least in the commercial sense, to be too old to be wunderkinden (though still young men) and too young to have the kind of cachet that rediscovered bluesmen like John Hurt, Son House and Skip James had, as well as not having the "identifiability" that the young white players had for the mostly young white audience buying acoustic blues records at that time.
Larry Johnson is an original voice in the blues, both as a musician and as a songwriter, and he is not truly a revivalist.  To put Larry's age in perspective, he is older than Robert Belfour, who is viewed as an elder statesman at this point.  He was born in Georgia in 1938 and grew up hearing this music.  I don't know if he is still singing and playing, but if he is, and he wants what he does to be heard, I hope he will be given the opportunity to put his music in front of people.
All best,
Johnm              

[Mr.OMuck]

Great piece John! Right on all fronts and that's a very insightful analysis of why his career didn't get the traction it merited. Very smart.

[uncle bud]

So does anyone know what Larry Johnson is in fact up to these days? Did someone mention he was living in Germany, or was I just imagining that?

My admiration for his music grows the more I hear it. I think he's a really nice singer too, great melodic instinct and bluesy inflection, with something of a sly humour in his delivery.

[Mister Steve]

Bingo, Johnm!  Larry Johnson (as well as folks like the departed Snooks Eaglin) is a kind of case study unfortunately and not the well-known CB artist he deserves to be.  Your reference to the "second tier" is priceless...and may I add, this sense they were "authentic" CB artists but maybe not enough "revival points" after the final calculations.  Mance Lipscomb: no 78's, "Texas" (vs. Mississippi), able-bodied, still known as gigging,  playing/singing towards the "popular" C&W redneck side...like maybe potentially on a jukebox in a bar where people might not like some revivalists...  I said this in another post myself, a hierachy did indeed exist "back in the day" and still exists? or is it rightfully eroding?

I came to the conclusion last year that revivals by their nature have an ambiguous at best relationship with the "popular" (and the past they celebrate) but most frequently a disdain for the popular.  A current example of this: the "uke movement."  Another example: the banjo parlor.

Larry Johnson: worth more than just simply "a listen."  I think Nick Perl's comment about the approach to the music being "academic" was actually euphemistic (and imprecise).  Better to have said "programmatic."  Like Nick Perls, why not approach the music like music... great singers, great players and great tunes!

[jopoke]

Where is Larry?  The new WC quest...find Larry Johnson and make an Artistry DVD.


Joe

[jostber]

Where is Larry?  The new WC quest...find Larry Johnson and make an Artistry DVD.


Joe

Is this the same Larry? http://www.bluearmadillo.com/artistpage.php?artist=12

[jopoke]

Yes, he is "The"  Larry Johnson.

[jostber]

Anyone seen him playing live lately?

[Chris A]

Nick Perls was a character, but not necessarily a natural one. By that I mean that he worked on it. He knew a great deal about the music, but he also had theories that didn't always jibe with reality. I first met him around 1971, shortly after Columbia issued the first of the five Bessie Smith LPs. He called me with a complaint: I should not have removed the surface noise.

I already knew Larry Johnson at that time and had become a fan. When I asked him why he and Hank only made that one album, he told me that Hank had drug problems--many performers did back then, in the '60s. Nick got a little bit too friendly one night and Larry beat him up--or, at least came close to doing so. Anyway, it did not do their artist/manager relationship any good. I don't know whatever became of it, but I recall Hank O'Neal (Chiaroscuro Records) being involved in making a film featuring Larry. Some of the financing came from John Hammond, Jr. who, as I recall, performed with Larry at a session that took place at Sherman Fairchild's James Bond-like Manhattan townhouse. Sherman, who during WWII invented a much-acclaimed bombsight, was a big jazz fan, with a special fondness for the piano. One large room in his townhouse had a built-in recording studio and two interlocking white grand pianos. The control room appeared as if by magic at the push of a coffee table button. It was very hi-tech and futuristic for that time. I will ask Hank O'Neal what became of the Larry Johnson project, and get back here with my findings.

[Rivers]

Sherman, who during WWII invented a much-acclaimed bombsight, was a big jazz fan, with a special fondness for the piano. One large room in his townhouse had a built-in recording studio and two interlocking white grand pianos. The control room appeared as if by magic at the push of a coffee table button.

That's it, that's the look I've been searching for...

Consider that one snagged for the quote generator! 

[RobBob]

You can imagine my surprise at finding Larry's Blue Goose LP in the base exchange while in the AF some 40 years ago.  Whew it blew me away.  Haven't heard a thing from in years but would gladly buy more country blues like Fast and Funky, even with the warp in the vinyl it still gets played from time to time.