This Week on Blues Unlimited - Play That Guitar 'Til It Smokes: A Tribute to Willie Johnson, Part 2 (Hour 2)

Picking up where we left off last time, part two of our extended tribute to Willie Johnson finds us in Memphis sometime around the late summer or early fall of 1953, with Willie and the Wolf making some recordings at an undisclosed location (now thought to be Lester Bihari's Meteor studios). In 1954, the Wolf left for Chicago for good, leaving behind Willie Johnson for the time being. The following year, 1955, he and Sammy Lewis cut a couple of tough sides for Sam Phillips, which appeared on his Sun label. One side featured Sammy on the lead vocal, the other, Willie — it would end up being the only single ever issued under his own name (and it was only for half of the record, at that!) After Wolf's new lead guitar player, Jody Williams, unexpectedly quit on him one day, he drove back down to Memphis and retrieved Willie Johnson, who would rejoin forces with the Wolf on stage and in the studio. By January 1956, the two of them were making records again, cutting one of Wolf's most iconic and recognizable songs of all time, "Smokestack Lightnin'." Their renewed relationship proved to be short lived, however. By 1959, the Wolf had had enough of Willie's antics, not to mention his drinking (it was considered strictly taboo by the Wolf while the band was onstage), and Willie decided to call it quits. He still appeared on the Chicago scene from time to time, but never for very long. Part two traces the remainder of Willie Johnson's career, starting where we left off last time — in Memphis — and on to Chicago, where he would be a driving force on some of Howlin' Wolf's most memorable recordings. Rare sides featuring Willie Johnson backing up other artists are also profiled, as are some "comeback" recordings produced by Michael Frank in 1988. A hugely influential artist in his own right, Willie Johnson will perhaps always be remembered as the Wolf's first great guitar player, but his trademark gritty tone and firebrand fretwork will forever be remembered in the hearts and souls of blues fanatics all over the world. Pictured: Willie Johnson, during his Chicago days with the Howlin' Wolf. Image by: Corrinia Harris Wallace/Living Blues Collection