An Interview with Luther GTR. Jr. Johnson
by Diana Shonk

 Luther Guitar Jr. Johnson has been reviewed many times in this newsletter. We have responded to the call for action on his behalf, to offer support to this great man, who has given so much of himself to us. We have his best interest in our hearts. Here he speaks candidly with me, about his life and his upcoming life saving surgery.

Luther is New England’s own living legend. His West Side Chicago Blues guitar style and his thick powerful voice are unmistakable as he drives his band from one song right into the next with very little time to hear the roaring applause. His shows are always sold out and the people line up during breaks in the music to buy his CDs and get his autograph. Many a wide eyed fan has thanked him enthusiastically and shook his hand, the hand of a man who knows the Blues and played with Muddy Waters. He is a monumental figure in Blues today.

A career that has spanned almost 40 years, Luther has “12 or 13 records” to his credit on major Blues labels. His rendition of “Walking the Dog,” a live performance from the 1982 Montreux Festival’s Blues Night, was included on the Atlantic Records collection Blues Explosion, an album that won a Grammy Award in 1984. In 1999, Luther’s second Telarc release, Got To Find A Way , was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Traditional Blues Album. He was also nominated for a Grammy for “Best Traditional Recording,” with The Legendary Muddy Waters Tribute Band. YOU’RE GONNA MISS ME (WHEN I’M GONE), on Telarc Records. The Legendary Band is a touring ensemble of musicians who had played with Muddy when he was alive, combinations of Luther, Calvin “Fuzz” Jones, Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, Bob Margolin and Jerry Portnoy with the exception of one appearance that also included BB King.

Born in April of 1939, Luther grew up in the country in Itta Benna, Mississippi. Luther traveled north to Memphis, TN at the age of fifteen to see Muddy Waters performing on Beale Street. In 1954 his family moved to Chicago, IL for better jobs and it was there that Luther honed his skills as a performer, singing, dancing and playing bass and guitar in the clubs on the south side of Chicago. “Back then there were clubs like the Happy Home, Scotty’s Rock & Roll Inn, The Watertona and the Checkerboard (the only one that is still open today).” Luther remembers. Magic Sam immediately signed him upon hearing the teenage Luther sing at a club on Chicago’s West Side in the early ’60s. Later, Luther dated Magic Sam’s sister.
     
As a young man, developing his “chops” on guitar he paid close attention to the Blues guitar stylings of “Lighting Hopkins and Elmore James.” His inspiration also comes from a number of Blues music’s legends, including Muddy Waters, Ray Charles, B.B. King, Freddy King and Magic Sam (and he pays homage to each on his newest Telarc CD TALKIN’ ‘BOUT SOUL .)
     
By the late ’70s he recorded an album for a French label Black and Blue called LUTHER’S BLUES. Having spent some time playing with The Nighthawks he was also featured on three of their records. And during this time he recorded four original tracks on Alligator Records’ Living Chicago Blues, Volume 6 anthology.
     
Luther’s international reputation grew as a guitarist and vocalist in the Muddy Waters band. He was with the band until Muddy’s death in 1984. Luther developed his own signature style characterized by a strong rhythmic backbeat, searing guitar solos, powerful vocals and hard driving blues performances.
    
In the early ‘80s, Luther appeared in the original Blues Brothers movie, playing guitar on the famous Maxwell St. with John Lee Hooker. “They wanted the Muddy Waters Band, but Muddy was in the hospital, so we played with John Lee Hooker.” Luther explained.While living in the Boston area Luther recorded a number of CDs with Bullseye Blues, a division of Rounder Records, and travelled extensively thrilling audiences at huge festivals and at clubs all over the world.
     
Luther’s girlfriend, at that time, Suzie and mother of their daughter, Markita, is originally from NH and she wanted to move back up here. She came to work for The Blues Audience newsletter, helping to build the publication with her contacts in the industry. Luther, who claims he is “a country boy” at heart, settled into life, on his own, in Antrim. Luther wanted “to be around to watch Markita grow up.” And it was a plus for all involved, that the Rynborn Blues Club is so close by.
     
Many of his friends, musicians of great reknown, have come to The Rynborn at one time or another. Jimmy Rogers and Jimmy Johnson (no relation), Eddie Shaw, Bobby Radcliff, Big Jack Johnson (no relation), Carey Bell and Pinetop Perkins to name a few. He feels right at home after 12 years in this area. “Luther is dynamite. He’s got the biggest heart you ever saw” his friend Lottie extolled, “everybody loves Luther.” As a result he has been befriended by people in all walks of life in the Antrim/Peterborough area.