Jr. Johnny’s Home Page
“Bohemian Records” presents Jr. Johnny; endorsed by Hohner Harmonicas.
“A Harp and Guitar Explosion”!!!
“Jr. Johnny has been cited as one of “the world’s finest blues players, yesterday and today.”
HarmonicaLinks.com
Junior Johnny blows into town with his My Radio CD!
New York, NY– January, 2016; My Radio, the fifteenth album from journeyman blues harmonica player, songwriter and vocalist Junior Johnny. The brand new disc includes ten soulful original compositions and some of the best examples yet of Johnny’s virtuoso toned blues harp.
Click the link or the picture below to go to the page for Jr. Johnny’s My Radio CD
Play the entire song Reach The Sky (not a sound bite) from the My Radio CD.
FOR SALE “Briefcase Full o’ Blues”
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 Jr. Johnny Harp Amp |
Imagine your harmonicas embedded in gold crushed velvet. This antique suitcase is set up for 13 diatonic harps as well as One 12 hole chromatic and one 16 hole chromatic harmonica. I use the center hole for my antique Hohner pitch pipe. Storage underneath for your mics, cords, and CD’s. Open this suitcase and WOW!!! The case above has been sold, but contact Johnny to order a similar harmonica case. Email Jr. Johnny at: jruzich@brighthouse.com |
 Jr. Johnny Harp Mics |
Click the link or the picture below to go to the page for Jr. Johnny’s Red Hot CD
Play the entire song Wang Dang Doodle (not a sound bite) from the Red Hot CD.
So how did Jr. Johnny, the New York City bred grandson of polka playing Bohemian gypsies, end up devoting his life to Chicago-style blues? Like his playing, Junior Johnny’s answer is both delightfully tempestuous and effortlessly profound. “When I heard Muddy Waters, I just freaked out!” he exclaims. After honing his craft in several early ’60s teenage garage bands (actually “apartment bands,” the neighbor-annoying NYC equivalent), Johnny was drafted and served as a combat MP in Vietnam. When his tour of duty ended, he moved to San Francisco and was soon making a name for himself with now-legendary blues men like Mike Bloomfield and Jimmy Witherspoon. Subsequently, Junior got his dream gig performing alongside the man who would christen him “Jr. Johnny”: the great John Lee Hooker. “Hooker said he wanted me to have a nickname and just gave me one on the spot,” Junior explains. “It stuck.”
When the twin responsibilities of family and higher education forced him to give up life on the road, Junior Johnny began a series of wildly divergent professions that later gave him grist for his highly descriptive songwriting. “I’ve been everything from a union carpenter to a winemaster, “he says, “but I just wanna be out there playing!” Junior is currently busy promoting his My Radio CD while readying material for his next release, due out January, 2017. As of this date, Junior has written 200 original songs, and his latest albums are linked in below.
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Jr. Johnny Blues Reviews
- !!!!!!WOW!!!!!!! YOUR SOUND TOOK ME BACK TO THE REAL SHIT, MAN!!!
I’m talking Sonny Boy (1 and 2). I’m talking Big Walter and Little Walter. I’m talking Bob Margolin … that good.
I’m sending this to my close personal friend Bruce Iglauer (Alligator Records). Maybe you’ve heard of him…. Listen man, I’m currently booking some BIG festivals in Europe, and I’m asking you…. YOU GOT YOUR PASSPORT READY BABY???!!!!! GET BACK TO ME AS SOON AS POSSIBLE SO I CAN BOOK YOUR TICKETS!
Eddie Penguine, C.E.O. Ice HOT Bookings and Productions, LLC. - “Johnny’s harp steals the show on tracks like the sneaky shuffle of Help Me and the Ronnie Hawkins penned, rousing house rocker My Girl Is Red Hot. The Usual Suspects crank things up a notch. as if engaged in a musical tug of war to keep up with Johnny’s howling harp. The band sinks its teeth into the Hookeresque boogie of I Ain’t Goin’ to Hell, which heats up faster than the Florida sun. Tobacco Road lands a punch in the form of a churning rhythm courtesy of drummer George Wilson and bassist J.T. Burley and grappling guitar work by Stephan Minnich and Rick Fincke. When the band locks into a groove, it’s unshakable.
“Red Hot is roadhouse blues at its chugging, bristly best. Jr. Johnny and the band are a criminally underrated rough rocking outfit that should be tearing up blues festivals and barbecues nationwide.”
Mark Uricheck, Living Blues Magazine. - Jr. Johnny And The Playboys “Extreme”, Bohemian Records
This new album clearly and undoubtedly shows Jr. Johnny has just recorded his best album up to date. This is an honest record that brings us Johnny’s great harmonica playing. He is backed by the Playboys who provide the necessary resources to enhance this kind of blues based on old school traditional Chicago blues, and make them sound warm and really appetizing. The musicians are Mark Korpi on lead and slide guitar, Steve Minnich on rhythm guitar, Bill Singletary on bass, Walter Shufflesworth on drums and Kenny Clarke on the Hammond B-3. With these twelve original tracks we can breathe and feel the real spirit of the blues that could be heard during the sixties in old Chicago clubs like Theresa’s or The Pepper’s Lounge, just to mention a couple of the most prestigious ones of that time, because the magical power of imagination has no limits if you are willing to let it fly. As usual in Johnny’s music, you can breathe that distinctive Lou Reed’s scent. He gets thanks to his great vocals. Which becomes a unique very special stamp of this really great original musician. GREAT!!!
Vicente Zumel
La Hora Del Blues, Barcelona, Spain - The cd you sent me (Extreme) is on constant repeat at home, in my car and in the office!
These are my thoughts:- The great singing and songwriting.
- The musicianship, production and attitude really adds weight to the already great feel.
- The recordings are really “in your face” in the most positive meaning.
- It’s great to hear a cd where the songs, the performances and overall feeling creates “a picture” for the listener.
Your cd is being played in: Holland-Scandinavia-BeNeLux-France-Germany-Italy and the U.K.
I rate this cd. – Five Stars *****
Thank you…Peter Holmstedt
Sparsor, SWEDEN
- Johnny you’re the greatest cromatic harmonica player I ever heard! I like all of your “Extreme” cd. especially “Highway Melodies” and “She”. Your YouTube video “Greenwich Village Nights”; Great job!
Les C., New York City - Jr. Johnny is one of the great true blue-real-deal-old school-but young-hip-and very cool school harmonica players walking the planet. His band is also nitty gritty gut bucket and together, they bring back a time when the world was simpler and we had time to hear music the only way it was meant to be heard, with others in the shared “Experience.” God bless you Johnny for keeping the blues alive with that Jr. Johnny-cash coolness.
Wendy Oxenhorn, Jazz and Blues Foundation of America, New York City - “Over the course of his carrer, vocalist, harmonica player and songwriter Jr. Johnny has performed with such artists as Mike Bloomfield, Jimmy Witherspoon, and John Lee Hooker, the latter of whom gifted him with his stage name. The New York Native’s 15th release My Radio consists of ten original songs. All are credited to Johnny except the lyrics of Love Me Different and Reach the Sky which were written by Jacqueline Silvestri.
Johnny’s gritty, conversational vocals and laid-back playing from his bandmates — guitarists Peter Corrigan and Denny Dwyer, keyboardist Tony Perrino, bassist Stephen Minnich and drumer Joe Rocco — evoke a casual, corner bar atmosphere. His harmonica tone is round and warm, and some of his best licks can be heard on the driving title track, the revved-up Oh, Yes She Does, the wistful One Soul and the moody Reach the Sky.”
Melanie Young, Living Blues Magazine. - “Jr. Johnny is not an ersatz blues player. He’s lived the life, as his smoking kick-ass harp playing and singing indicate”
George Chevalier, Woodstock Times - Jr.Johnny does it again with what he calls his best release to date. Vocally, he captures the mood of each of these originals, while his harmonica soars and pierces the blues then reaches back and cuddles it. For harp lovers all over the world, this should be considered essential listening. Students of the instrument would be well-advised to pay attention to these tracks too.
PayPlay.fm 
Updated old-timey blues. Sounds as if it’s been around for awhile…but fresh at the same time. Love that gravely voice!
Hideeho wrote on January 10, 2009- “Special thanks to Jacqueline Silvestri”
