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Johnny Woods

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Role
  
Singer

Name
  
Johnny Woods


Years active
  
1959–90

Instruments
  
Vocals, harmonica

Genres
  
Delta blues

Johnny Woods dlp2gfjvaz867cloudfrontnetproductphotos431621

Born
  
November 1, 1917Looxahoma, Mississippi, United States (
1917-11-01
)

Associated acts
  
Died
  
February 1, 1990, Olive Branch, Mississippi, United States

Albums
  
Going Down South, Mama Says I'm Crazy

Record labels
  
Similar People
  
Mississippi Fred McDowell, R L Burnside, Chris Strachwitz

Occupation(s)
  
Musician, songwriter

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Johnny Woods (November 19, 1917 – February 1, 1990) was an American blues singer and harmonica player in the north Mississippi hill country blues style.

Contents

Woods was born in Looxahoma, Mississippi, a small town just west of Mississippi Highway 35. His harmonica playing first gained attention in the 1960s, when he was a duet partner with the guitarist and singer Mississippi Fred McDowell. They recorded together for the music historian George Mitchell in 1967, for Chris Strachwitz's Arhoolie Records (King of the Country Blues Vol. 2), for Swingmaster (Blues of Johnny Woods) and for Tom Pomposello and Fred Seibert of Oblivion Records (Mississippi Harmonica) in 1972.

Stylistically, Woods's music sprang from the same north Mississippi fife-and-drum blues tradition as McDowell's. However, personal problems kept him rooted in the Delta, primarily working as a farmhand and sharecropper.

After McDowell's death in July 1973, Woods faded into obscurity until George Mitchell paired him again with another Mitchell discovery from the Mississippi Delta, R. L. Burnside, himself a McDowell disciple. They recorded the Swingmaster album and video Going Down South.

Woods died in Olive Branch, Mississippi, in 1990.

R l burnside johnny woods telephone blues


References

Johnny Woods Wikipedia


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