Although Tommy Johnson left behind only a small body of recorded work, he was one of the most influential blues artists in Mississippi. Born in Hinds County, Mississippi, between Terry and Crystal Springs, in January 1896 (according to the 1900 census), Johnson performed with his brothers LeDell, Clarence, and Mager, and with Charlie McCoy other leading bluesmen in the Jackson area. Some formative years spent around Drew in the Delta left a strong impression on Johnson, especially via the music of Charley Patton. Perhaps because he was in Jackson, where talent scout H.C. Speir was signing most of Mississippi’s first generation of blues recording artists, Johnson beat Patton to the studio and etched his reputation and impact permanently into the history books. The six songs from Johnson’s three 1928 singles for Victor (“Cool Drink of Water,” “Big Road Blues,” “Maggie Campbell Blues,” “Bye Bye Blues,” “Big Fat Nana Blues,” and “Canned Heat Blues”) were kept alive by a legion of Johnson followers long after Johnson’s recording career ended prematurely in 1929. How well the records actually sold is a matter for consideration – they are extremely rare among collectors – and according to the testimony of many of Johnson’s proteges, they learned the songs and Johnson’s signature falsetto vocals and hypnotic guitar phrasings not from records but from hearing Johnson in person. Why he never recorded again is another puzzle – reportedly he believed he had “sold out” his rights, but his well-known propensity for consuming intoxicants of any sort — alcohol, “canned heat” (Sterno), or “jake” (Jamaican ginger extract, the subject of his final recording, “Alcohol and Jake Blues”) — undoubtedly took its toll. The fabled scenario of the Mississippi bluesman selling his soul to the devil (universally associated with Robert Johnson) actually came from a story about Tommy told by his older brother LeDell to folklorist David Evans. Johnson still continued to perform on the streets and at house parties and local gatherings around Crystal Springs and Jackson. He died in Jackson on Nov. 1, 1956.
