Imagine a time when single string solos were new! Imagine how avant-garde and radical it must have seemed. If you listen to old blues you can hear the transition to single string solos and how it changed the blues. Lonnie Johnson was one of the first to do single string solos and pioneer this new sound (B.B King credits Lonnie Johnson for modernizing the blues”. Perhaps it was a cross pollination of Lonnie Johnson’s trumpeting and guitar skills that introduced this new sound. Check out the similarity of the two instruments in this audio only youtube video.
Johnson’s smooth tone and accuracy is obvious on the guitar and in his voice. The George Gershwin of the blues you may say. Johnson actually did record Gershwin’s Summertime on the 1960 album Losing Game
Here are some previews of Lonnie Johnson mp3s available on Amazon.com.
Lonnie Johnson had a smooth tone on guitar and in his voice, no rough edges, no yelping sort of the tradition carried forward by Eric Bibb and Keb Mo’ in my opinion.
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