Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson - Talkin' About Soul (2001) CD-Rip

Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson's third album for Telarc is the sonic equivalent of the sun coming out from behind the clouds, from the opening notes of the upbeat, cheerful title track to the energetic, swing-y "I'm Gone." Even songs like "Why Are People Like That" and "Suffer So Hard with the Blues" can't bring this album down; they'll elicit more empathy than depression. This is a soul-injected, high-quality collection of Chicago-style blues in the best West Side tradition, and it's every bit as good as you'd expect from someone who's played with such luminaries as Muddy Waters and Magic Sam. Whether he's covering Sam Cooke's "Somebody Have Mercy" or heading more for traditional blues with "Ramblin' Blues," there's no question that Johnson is one of the best there is at melding musical traditions to create something distinctive, keeping things exciting all the way.


Of the three blues guitarists answering to the name of Luther Johnson, this West Side-styled veteran is probably the best known. Adding to the general confusion surrounding the triumvirate, like Luther "Snake Boy" Johnson, Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson spent a lengthy stint in the top-seeded band of Muddy Waters (1972-1979). Gospel and blues intersected in young Luther Johnson's life while he was still in Mississippi. But after he moved to Chicago in the mid-'50s, blues was his main passion, working with Ray Scott and Tall Milton Shelton before taking over the latter's combo in 1962. Magic Sam was a major stylistic inspiration to Johnson during the mid-'60s (Johnson spent a couple of years in Sam's band). The West Side approach remained integral to Johnson's sound, even after he moved to the Boston area during the early '80s. Johnson's 1976 debut album, Luther's Blues, was cut during a European tour with Muddy Waters. By 1980, he was on his own, recording with the Nighthawks as well as four tracks on Alligator's second series of Living Chicago Blues anthologies. With his own band, the Magic Rockers, and the Roomful of Blues horn section, Johnson released Doin' the Sugar Too on Rooster Blues in 1984. In the early '90s, Johnson was signed to Ron Levy's Bullseye Blues logo; his three albums for the firm were sizzling, soul-tinged blues with a strong West Side flavor often slicing through. He subsequently recorded a series of albums for the Telarc label, including Slammin’ on the West Side (1996), Got to Find a Way (1998), and Talkin’ About Soul (2001).