Johnnie Johnson Trio

JOHNNIE JOHNSON TRIO

Johnnie Johnson (July 8, 1924 – April 13, 2005) was an American pianist and blues musician. His work with Chuck Berry led to his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. (More from Wikipedia)

Chuck Berry grew up in a middle-class family in St. Louis and began working as a musician in local nightclubs in the early 1950’s. Influenced by the guitar stylings and showmanship of Texas bluesman T-Bone Walker, he was performing with the Johnnie Johnson Trio by early 1953. As Wikipedia tells it: “[Chuck ]Berry’s calculated showmanship, along with mixing country tunes with R&B tunes, and singing in the style of Nat King Cole to the music of Muddy Waters, brought in a wider audience, particularly affluent white people.”

(June 2013/1)

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“Train Kept A-Rollin’” is a jump blues song that was originally recorded by Tiny Bradshaw in 1951; the 1956 rockabilly recording of “Train Kept A-Rollin’” by the Johnny Burnette Trio is said to be the first rock and roll record to deliberately use distorted guitar. (The trio is also known as the Rock and Roll Trio but are not to be confused with the Johnny Johnson Trio, where Chuck Berry started out). This song even predates Link Wray’s “Rumble” in this regard (that instrumental came out in 1958), though Wray is still the man credited with bringing power chords to rock guitar.

(July 2013)