The Jeremiah Johnson Band & The Sliders - 9th & Russell (2010)

Don’t be fooled by the baby boy good looks. With lyrics like “I was born in a tavern on the banks of the Mississippi” and a horn section that hammers the groove, Jeremiah Johnson is the new face of Mississippi River blues. Walk into a gin joint in St. Louis and you’ll likely hear the familiar “blues” sound that made the area famous.

It’s lyrics about the struggles of daily living with the hallmark blues style guitar that rips at your soul and soothes the spirit.Johnson takes that rich heritage but also blends influences that shaped his rugged youth like Eric Clapton, Jimmy Hendrix, BB King, Albert Collins, Albert King, Johnny Winter, Alvin Lee from Ten Years After, Les Paul, Chet Atkins, and Hank Williams Sr. and Jr., to name just a few.

On top of a rich gumbo of solid songwriting, Johnson kicks it up a notch with The Sliders, Jim Rosse (trumpet) and Stuart Williams (sax). In their 25-year tenure together, The Sliders have toured with Little Feat, Johnnie Johnson, Bob Weir of Rat Dog, and have played with too many great players to mention them all.