Johnny Edward Jenkins (March 5, 1939 – June 26, 2006) was an American left-handed blues
guitarist
A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselve ...
, who helped launch the career of
Otis Redding
Otis Ray Redding Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blue ...
. His flamboyant style of guitar playing also influenced Jimi Hendrix.
Career
In the 1960s Jenkins was the leader of the Pinetoppers, who employed a young
Otis Redding
Otis Ray Redding Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blue ...
as singer. As Jenkins did not have a driver's license, Redding also served as his personal driver. During a recording session in 1962 organized by the band's manager,
Phil Walden
Phil Walden (January 11, 1940 – April 23, 2006) was a co-founder of the Macon, Georgia-based Capricorn Records, along with former Atlantic Records executive Frank Fenter.
Biography
Walden received his undergraduate degree in economics from ...
, Jenkins left forty minutes of studio time unused. Redding used this time to record a ballad, " These Arms of Mine", on which Jenkins played guitar. Scott Freeman, in his biography of Redding, ''Otis!: The Otis Redding Story'', gives several accounts of that chaotic day at
Stax Records
Stax Records is an American record company, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the label changed its name to Stax Records in 1961. It also shared its operations with sister label Volt Records.
Stax was ...
. In 1964, Jenkins released an instrumental single, "Spunky" (Volt V-122).
With Phil Walden concentrating on Redding's flourishing career, Jenkins was sidelined, and it was not until after Redding's death in 1967 that Walden again concentrated on Jenkins's career. In 1970, Jenkins released the album '' Ton-Ton Macoute!''. The opening track, a cover of Dr. John's "I Walk on Guilded Splinters", has been
sampled
Sample or samples may refer to:
Base meaning
* Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set
* Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal
* Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of so ...
by numerous
musician
A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who w ...
s, including
Beck
Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his experimental and lo-fi style, and became known for creating musical colla ...
(''
Loser
Loser or Losers may refer to:
*A person who experiences failure
*The unsuccessful social class in winner and loser culture
Film and television
* ''Loser'', a 1996 film directed by Kirk Harris
* ''Loser'' (film), a 2000 movie starring Jason B ...
''), and
Oasis
In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environmentGo Let It Out''). Several tracks on ''Ton-Ton Macoute!'' featured
Duane Allman
Howard Duane Allman (November 20, 1946 – October 29, 1971) was an American rock guitarist, session musician, and the founder and original leader of the The Allman Brothers Band, Allman Brothers Band, for which he was inducted into the Roc ...
on guitar and
dobro
Dobro is an American brand of resonator guitars, currently owned by Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar.
The Dobro was origin ...
.
With Walden again becoming involved in other projects, Jenkins became disillusioned with the
music industry
The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, trai ...
and did nothing of note until 1996. By then Walden had persuaded him to make a comeback, and he released the album ''Blessed Blues'', recorded with
Chuck Leavell
Charles Alfred Leavell (born April 28, 1952) is an American musician. A member of the Allman Brothers Band throughout their commercial zenith in the 1970s, he subsequently became a founding member of the band Sea Level. He has served as the pri ...
. Two further albums followed: ''Handle with Care'' and ''All in Good Time''.
Death
Jenkins died from a stroke in June 2006 in the same town where he was born: Macon, Georgia. He was 67.
Induction
Jenkins was inducted into the
Georgia Music Hall of Fame
The Georgia Music Hall of Fame was a hall of fame to recognize music performers and music industry professionals from or connected to the state of Georgia. It began with efforts of the state's lieutenant governor Zell Miller to attract the musi ...
in 2012.
Discography
;Solo
* '' Ton-Ton Macoute!'' (1970)
* ''Blessed Blues'' (1996)
* ''Handle With Care'' (2001)
* ''All in Good Time'' (2005)
With
Otis Redding
Otis Ray Redding Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blue ...
Amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...