Lonnie Johnson

       Back to the Biographies

Alonzo "Lonnie" Johnson
(february 8, 1899 - June 16, 1970)

Lonnie Johnson was one of the largest figures in the development of the Saint Louis Blues. He was born into a musical family, and learned multiple instruments, eventually settling on the twelve-string guitar. As a young man, in about 1920, He moved to Saint Louis from his native New Orleans after losing nearly all of his family to disease.

Lonnie Johnson was the Original Guitar Wizard

A 2005 Lonnie Johnson Box Set The Original Guitar Wizard

In Saint Louis, he was signed to a recording contract with Okeh Records. Lonnie has often been considered (and considered himself) a more refined musician than many of his Blues peirs, and played as such, though his initial placement as a Bluesman proved difficult to break free from. Over the course of his long career, he often played a distinctive Jazz-like style. At one point he even played as a Jazzman with Charlie Creath's Jazz-O-Maniacs Band on a Mississippi riverboat with his brother. He soon was recording with Creath at OKeh. Arguably his most prolific works, in fact, were recorded with accompaniment from Jazz giants such as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. Johnson had a deep musical inclination and understanding with his instrument, carefully picking out solos and forging a less gritty style than the vast majority of his Blues peers. His style would be influentially felt as Blues and Jazz both garnered mainstream attention and required a more refined touch. The Saint Louis Blues style was strongly influenced by Johnson, developing a Jazzy, refined sound that would become it's very definition.

Like so many industries, the Great Depression wiped out the recording industry, and after 1932, Lonnie only played sporadically for the duration of the decade. As the depression wore away towards the beginning of the forties, Lonnie enjoyed a musical resurgence. He was signed to several different record labels in the 1940s, recording several popular songs in the Rhythm and Blues and Pop categories, including "He's a Jelly Roll Baker" and his smash Blues ballad "Tomorrow Night", which topped the charts for weeks. In the end of the 1940s, Johnson actually began playing electric guitar on a number of his hits. Again in the fifties, his career waned and Johnson again only played sporadically for a decade.

Liks many Bluesmen, Johnson had a career resurcenge during the 1960s Folk Revival, where he worked primarily acoustically again, touring and recording with some amount of success. In 1969, Lonnie was hit by a car and as a result, he died the next year.



Notable songs by Lonnie Johnson
I'm Not Rough with Louis Armstrong
Hotter Than That with Louis Armstrong
The Mooche with Duke Ellington
Pleasing You
He's a Jelly Roll Baker
Tomorrow Night