Jay Jesse Johnson
Jay Jesse Johnson (born February 4, 1956) is an American blues-rock guitarist with more than 40 years in the music industry and has recorded on 25 albums including 6 solo albums.
Career[edit]
Jay Jesse Johnson grew up in Liberty, Indiana and started playing guitar at the age of 10. He was soon performing in venues around the Midwest before moving to the East Coast. Influenced by the music of the British Invasion, Jimi Hendrix and Cream, Johnson's guitar style began to grab people's attention.
Johnson played in the New England band Sass and in 1979 joined Connecticut based rock band, Cryer. While doing shows in and around New York City, they opened for Black Sabbath, Aerosmith, Judas Priest, Johnny Winter, Jefferson Starship and many other touring acts. In 1983 Johnson met musician, Jeff Cannata, and recorded guitar tracks for the album, Arc Angel (Portrait Records). Johnson appeared on MTV with the band’s single, “Tragedy” and went on to work with Cannata for 6 more albums.
Johnson collaborated with Rock & Roll Hall of Fame drummer, Neal Smith, (Alice Cooper) and formed Deadringer, which included Dennis Dunaway, Joe Bouchard and Charlie Huhn. In 1989 they released “Electrocution of the Heart” (Grudge records).
In 2004 Johnson recorded his 1st solo album “Strange Imagination”. It was followed by “I’ve Got An Axe To Grind” released in 2007 and “Play That Damn Guitar” in 2009, which was featured in Classic Rock Magazine’s CD, Blues Breakers (The Hottest In New Blues Rock).
Moving to the greater Cincinnati area, in 2012, he released his 4thsolo album with executive producer Mike Varney and was signed to Shrapnel Records for the release of “Run with The Wolf.” It was featured on The Blues Magazine’s compilation CD, “Cream of Contemporary Blues.”
While working with Shrapnel Records, Johnson recorded with the Blindside Blues Band on the album "Generator" and later joined them for a series of shows in Europe.
In Sept. 2015, Johnson released Set the Blues on Fire (Grooveyard Records). The song "Ghosts in Texas" was featured in the UK's, The Blues Magazine’s CD, “In Safe Hands” (The Next Generation of Blues Superstars) along with Robert Cray, Canned Heat and Joe Bonamassa. That same year, Johnson's version of "Rollin' and Tumblin' was featured on the compilation album, “Shrapnel Records Presents The Best of Modern Blues” along with Pat Travers, Leslie West, Neal Schon and other guitar greats.
In 2017, Johnson released his 6th album “Down the Hard Road” and continues to record and perform throughout the midwest and U.S.
Discography[edit]
- 1983 Arc Angel (Portrait/CBS)
- 1988 Cannata-Images of Forever (Carrere-CBS)
- 1989 Deadringer-Electrocution of the Heart (Grudge-BMG)
- 1993 Cannata-Watching The World (Oxford Circus)
- 2002 Arc Angel/Cannata-Tamorok (Oxford Circus)
- 2004 Jay Jesse Johnson-Strange Imagination (Git Real Records)
- 2006 Cannata-Mysterium Magnum (Oxford Circus)
- 2007 Jay Jesse Johnson-Ive Got An Axe To Grind (Git Real Records)
- 2009 Jay Jesse Johnson-Play That Damn Guitar (Grooveyard Records)
- 2010 Mountain of Power (Grooveyard Records)
- 2010 Blues Breakers-The Best New Blues Rockcompilation (Classic Rock Magazine)
- 2011 Blindside Blues Band-The Blues Is Evil (Grooveyard Records)
- 2012 Blindside Blues Band-Generator (Blues Bureau International/Shrapnel Records)
- 2012 The Sound of Guitar Rock/Best of Vol 1 (Grooveyard Records)
- 2012 Jay Jesse Johnson-Run With The Wolf (Blues Bureau International/Shrapnel Records)
- 2013 The Cats Whiskers-Cream Of Contemporary Blues Compilation (The Blues Magazine)
- 2015 Jay Jesse Johnson-Set the Blues on Fire (Grooveyard Records)
- 2015 Mountain of Power-Volume Three (Grooveyard Records)
- 2015 In Safe Hands-Next Generation Of Blues Superstars Compilation (The Blues Magazine)
- 2015 In the Name of Rock and Roll-Mike Onesko’s Guitar Army (Grooveyard Records)
- 2015 Shrapnel Records-The Best Of Modern Blues (Shrapnel Records)
- 2016 The Sound Of Guitar rock Vol. 3 (Grooveyard Records)
- 2017 Jay Jesse Johnson Down-The Hard Road (Git Real Records)
- 2019 Blindside Blues Band-Live at Satyr Blues-Poland (JIB Machine Records)
- 2020 Neal Smith-Pop 85-95 (Kachina Records)
References[edit]
- Jay Jesse Johnson Discography All Music
- Down The Hard Road-Album Review Blues Blast magazine
- Vintage Guitar magazine, archive, January 2018, Vol. 32, No.03 pg. 111
- Play That Damn Guitar LA's ThePlace.com
- Jay Jesse Johnson Biography Last.FM
- I Love Blues Guitar-Jay Jesse Johnson/Beer Bottle Blues
- Jay Jesse Johnson discography at Discogs
External links[edit]
- Jay Jesse Johnson Official Website http://jayjessejohnson.com
- Shrapnel Records http://www.shrapnelrecords.com/artist/jay-jesse-johnson
- Grooveyard Records https://www.grooveyardrecords.com/jayjessejohnsonsetthebluesonfire.html
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