Chicago guitarist Jimmy Johnson waited until age 50 before issuing his first full domestic album. He then moved quickly to claim a place among the Windy City’s leading blues figures, distinguished by a twisting, unpredictable guitar approach and a soaring, soul-dripping vocal style that set him apart.
Born into a musical family—his younger brother Syl Johnson already established as a soul star and sibling Mack Thompson serving as Magic Sam’s first-call bassist—Jimmy Thompson arrived in Chicago with his relatives in 1950. Guitar remained a sideline for years while he worked as a welder and Syl worked the local blues scene. In 1959 Jimmy Thompson began performing with harpist Slim Willis on the West Side. He later adopted the surname Johnson to match Syl.
During the 1960s the stronger earnings available in R&B drew Jimmy Johnson toward that side of the music. He directed polished house bands on the South and West Sides behind Otis Clay, Denise LaSalle, and Garland Green and cut occasional instrumental 45s. Johnson returned to blues in 1974 as Jimmy Dawkins’ rhythm guitarist. The following year he toured Japan with Otis Rush, a trip that yielded the album So Many Roads -- Live in Concert.
Four standout tracks on Alligator’s inaugural Living Chicago Blues anthologies in 1978 and the 1979 Delmark release of Johnson’s Whacks, his first full domestic album, launched a rapid ascent. North/South, issued on Delmark in 1982, and the 1983 Alligator album Bar Room Preacher secured his position among Chicago’s top blues artists. On December 2, 1988, Johnson was driving the band’s van when it left the road in downstate Indiana, killing bassist Larry Exum and keyboardist St. James Bryant.
Injured in the crash, Johnson understandably set aside career ambitions for a period. He resumed recording in the mid-1990s with the 1994 Verve album I’m a Jockey, which showcased his blues-soul synthesis. Every Road Ends, recorded in France and released on Ruf in 1999, followed. A collaboration with Syl Johnson titled Two Johnsons Are Better Than One appeared in summer 2002. Brothers Live, captured at Switzerland’s Basel Blues Festival in 2002 by Jimmy Johnson and the Chicago Dave Blues Band featuring saxophonist Sam Burckhardt, was issued in 2004. Jimmy Johnson died on January 31, 2022, at the age of 93.
