Born James Earl Thompson November 25th, 1928, in Holly Springs, Mississippi, Jimmy Johnson is the BLUES ARTIST OF 2021, BEST BLUES GUITAR PLAYER ON 2019 and a member of the BLUES HALL OF FAME. During 2021 Jimmy also received the MUDDY WATERS AWARD from the Jus’s Blues Foundation and the LIFE TIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD from the Lawyers for the Creative Arts, in a ceremony that took place at the Palmer House, Chicago.
Tens of thousands of blues lovers around the world follow his Saturdays 2pm live broadcasts from his home studio. His most recent album, “Live Every Day of Your Life”, recorded at 90, has had a huge impact. His 92nd brithday live broadcast from Delmark Records studio, reached a record breaking 80 thousand viewers. Delmark Records is preparing a new release by this elder of the blues, recorded during the pandemia. The album will come out during the Spring of 2022. Also, Jimmy Johnson is the guest artist in the upcoming Delmarl album by blues rising star Jose Ramirez.
In 2019, 90 YEARS YOUNG JIMMY JOHNSON returned to the recording studio for the rst time in over a decade.
It has been precisely forty years since his Delmark debut Johnson’s Whacks. Delmark celebrates Jimmy’s home- coming by releasing Every Day of Your Life, an album comprised of ve original songs and Jimmy’s unique take on four 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 played professionally in Chicago since1959 and has worked with Freddie 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 on Delmark. (LINER NOTES BY BILL DAHL)
Four decades ago, Jimmy Johnson permanently established himself as a front-rank Chicago bluesman with his unusually imaginative Delmark debut album Johnson’s Whacks. Now he’s come full circle: Jimmy’s back on Delmark with this exciting release, which shows that he remains a vital blues force into his 90s. Johnson’s fluid, slicing guitar licks dart and spark with unpredictable elasticity throughout this set. His voice soars to the heavens time and again, never misplacing its melismatic passion no matter the tempo.
From the funky opening original “Every Day Of Your Life,” constructed around a wise lyrical message, to a churning “Down In The Valley” and exquisitely tailored revivals of the lights-out slow blues “Strange Things Happening” and a hard- driving “I Need You So Bad,” Jimmy is never less than masterful. Few contemporary bluesmen are so devastating when working in a minor key— witness Johnson’s personalized treatment of Fenton Robinson’s classic “Somebody Loan Me A Dime.” “My Ring,” another standout original, takes a swaying and unexpected reggae turn (pushing the stylistic envelope has long been one of Jimmy’s trademarks), and Johnson sits down behind the 88s for a solo reprise of Bobby “Blue” Bland’s uplifting “Lead Me On” to close the album in deeply moving style.
TRACKS 1, 2, 4, 7: Jimmy Johnson – VOCALS & LEAD GUITAR Rico McFarland – GUITAR Roosevelt Purifoy – PIANO, HAMMOND B3 ORGAN J.R. Fuller-BASS Pooky Styx-DRUMS
TRACKS 3, 5, 6, 8: Jimmy Johnson VOCALS & LEAD GUITAR, CURT BLEY, bass, John Kattke KEYBOARDS, Ernie Adams DRUMS.
Typhanie Monique-VOCALS (1). A. Miller and Elbio Barilari – VOCALS (3). John Kattke GUITAR (3)
TRACK 9: Jimmy Johnson – VOCAL & PIANO
All tracks recorded at Delmark Records’ Riverside Studio March 26th, April 22nd, July 10th, 2019.
Album Supervision: Julia A. Miller
Produced by Elbio Barilari
Recorded at Riverside Studio, in Chicago by Steve Wagner, March 26, April 22, & July 10, 2019 Mixed by Elbio Barilari and Steve Wagner
Instrumental Arrangement by “Big Ray” Stewart
Vocal Arrangements on “Every Day of Your Life” & “My Ring” by Elbio Barilari
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