Luther Johnson (April 11, 1939 – December 25, 2022) was an American blues singer and guitarist, who performed under the name Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson. He is not to be confused with

Luther "Georgia Boy" Johnson Luther Johnson (born Lucious Brinson, August 30, 1934 ...

, Luther "Houserocker" Johnson, or Lonnie "Guitar Junior" Brooks.

Career

Born in

Itta Bena, Mississippi Itta Bena is a city in Leflore County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 2,049 at the 2010 census. The town's name is derived from the Choctaw phrase ''iti bina'', meaning "forest camp". Itta Bena is part of the Greenwood, Mississi ...

, Johnson moved to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

with his family in 1955. During the 1960s, he performed with

Magic Sam Magic or Magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces * Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic * Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...

. He performed in

Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 April 30, 1983), known professionally as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer and musician who was an important figure in the post-war blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago ...

' band from 1972 to 1980. In 1980, four of his songs were included in an anthology released by

Alligator Records Alligator Records is an American, Chicago-based independent blues record label founded by Bruce Iglauer in 1971. Iglauer was also one of the founders of the '' Living Blues'' magazine in Chicago in 1970. History Iglauer started the label using ...

. That same year he appeared as a member of the Legendary Blues Band, backing John Lee Hooker in the movie ''

The Blues Brothers The Blues Brothers are an American blues and soul revivalist band founded in 1978 by comedians Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as part of a musical sketch on ''Saturday Night Live''. Belushi and Aykroyd fronted the band, in character, respecti ...

''. Johnson moved to the East Coast and began fronting his own band, the Magic Rockers. His "Walkin' the Dog" was recorded live at the

Montreux Festival The Montreux Jazz Festival (formerly Festival de Jazz Montreux and Festival International de Jazz Montreux) is a music festival in Switzerland, held annually in early July in Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline. It is the second-largest annual ...

's Blues Night. He won a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

in 1985 for

Best Traditional Blues Album The Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album was awarded from 1983 to 2011 and from 2017 onwards. Until 1992 the award was known as Best Traditional Blues Performance and was twice awarded to individual tracks rather than albums. The award w ...

for his part in ''Blues Explosion''. He recorded three albums released by

Telarc Records Telarc International Corporation is an American audiophile independent record label founded in 1977 by two classically trained musicians and former teachers, Jack Renner and Robert Woods. Based in Cleveland, Ohio, the label has had a long associ ...

: ''Slammin’ on the West Side'' (1996), ''Got to Find a Way'' (1998), and ''Talkin' About Soul'' (2001). He also performed on three albums by the Nighthawks. Johnson lived in Antrim, New Hampshire for many years but moved to

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

in 2017. He died on December 25, 2022, at the age of 83 and is survived by his wife, Lottie.Don Wilcock, "Chicago Bluesman Luther “Guitar Junior” Johnson, Dead At 83", ''Nippertown'', December 28, 2022
Retrieved December 29, 2022

Discography

*''Ma Bea's Rock'' (1975) (with Jimmy Johnson) *''Luther's Blues'' (1977) *''I Changed'' (1979) *''Doin’ the Sugar Too'' (1984) *''I Want to Groove With You'' (1990) *''It’s Good to be Me'' (1992) *''Country Sugar Papa'' (1994) * ''Slammin on the West Side'' (1996) *''Got to Find a Way'' (1998) *''Talkin' About Soul'' (2001)

References

External links

Centrestage.net biography
*

Allmusic biography AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

br>Photograph of Luther Johnson
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Luther Guitar Jr. 1939 births 2022 deaths People from Itta Bena, Mississippi American blues guitarists American male guitarists American blues singer-songwriters Chicago blues musicians American blues singers Blues musicians from Mississippi Grammy Award winners Singer-songwriters from Illinois Singer-songwriters from Mississippi Guitarists from Illinois Guitarists from Mississippi 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians Alligator Records artists Black & Blue Records artists American male singer-songwriters