Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson born 11 April 1932

Luther “Guitar Jr.” Johnson (April 11, 1939 – December 25, 2022) was an American blues singer and guitarist. He is not to be confused with Luther "Georgia Boy" Johnson, Luther "Houserocker" Johnson, or Lonnie "Guitar Junior" Brooks. 

Born in Itta Bena, Mississippi, Luther Johnson Jr. grew up surrounded by music, both gospel and blues, but it was the latter that really fascinated him when he moved to Chicago in the mid-1950s. He soon made a name for himself on the local scene, and joined the orchestras of drummer Ray Scott and Tall Milton Shelton. When Milton retired from music in 1962 to become a preacher, Luther switched to lead guitar and took over the group. The people on Independence Boulevard named him Guitar Junior. 

He then crossed paths with Magic Sam, who became his main influence and with whom he played. Even if he did not record at the time, he was, alongside Buddy Guy, Otis Rush and Magic Sam, one of those who popularized the West Side Sound in Chicago clubs that would make a strong impression, a few years later, on some British teenagers. He released his first personal single in 1972 for the Big Beat label. 

His career accelerated dramatically when he caught the attention of the big boss of the Chicago blues. He joined Muddy Waters' band in December 1973, a few months after Bob Margolin was recruited. The arrival of Jerry Portnoy shortly thereafter finalized the composition of Muddy's second major orchestra – after the one that included Little Walter, Otis Spann and Jimmy Rogers – which lasted in this configuration until June 1980.

Luther made his recording debut with the orchestra on Muddy Waters' album "Unk In Funk", recorded a few weeks after his arrival, but was absent from the following records, his place being taken by Johnny Winter on the first Blue Sky records. He had to wait until 1981 and the last album of Muddy's career, "King Bee", to appear again at his side in the studio. On stage, however, the situation is different, and Johnson occupies a major place in the band's sound, and he performs several songs as a soloist and singer during the concerts, often at the opening of the second set, where he is responsible for welcoming the return to the stage the star of the evening. 

                         Here's Luther's Blues from above LP

                                    

While he appears on the official 1979 "Muddy "Mississippi" Waters Live, there are many records of sometimes questionable legality documenting his playing at the time and his place within the overall sound of a band that Waters himself considered to be the best it had had since the 1950s. With his colleagues, Luther appeared in the 1980 film of the Blues Brothers, accompanying John Lee Hooker on an explosive Boom Boom. He also participated with them on the Nighthawks' album "Jack & Kings", whom he would meet regularly thereafter. 

His presence in Muddy Waters' orchestra brought him increased visibility, which allowed him to record under his own name from the mid-1970s for the French labels MCM and Black & Blue. Later he started his own band, the Magic Rockers. However, it was with J.B. Hutto's musicians, the New Hawks, that he appeared, alongside Hutto, Koko Taylor, Sugar Blue, Stevie Ray Vaughan and John Hammond at the Montreux Festival in 1982. In the meantime, he released his first album with the Magic Rockers on Rooster Blues Records under the title "Doin' The Sugar Too". Now based in Boston, he toured regularly – he was part of the 1982 tour, alongside J.B. Hutto and Robert Lockwood Jr. – but had to wait until 1990 to release a new album under his own name, "I Want To Groove With You", on Bullseye Blues, followed by "It's Good To Me" in 1992 and "Country Sugar Papa" in 1994 then by a reissue of "Doin' The Sugar Too". 

He then signed with Telarc, where he released three CDs until 2001 including "Got To Find A Way" which earned him another Grammy nomination. In the meantime, in the mid-1990s, he reunited with his former colleagues for a Muddy Waters Tribute Band that toured regularly and recorded an anecdotal album in 1996 for Telarc. He also toured regularly under his own name. He settled in Antrim, New Hampshire, in the 1990s, and recorded a live album which was released in 1999, "Live At The Rynborn". 

In the 2000s, he focused on stage performances, mainly around his base in Boston, although he moved to Florida in 2017. Absent from the studios for two decades, he created a surprise when "Won't Be Back No More" appeared in 2020, followed in 2021 by "Once In A Blue Moon", recorded at the Hideaway Cafe in St Petersburg, but the critical reception was mixed, to say the least. Now in his eighties, he was still performing regularly, sharing the stage with Curtis Salgado for a short tour in early 2022 before health problems forced him to interrupt his activities. He died on  22 December that year. 

(Edited from Soul Bag & Alligator Records)