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King Johnson: Alternative Alternative
BY MATT THOMPSON
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It's true that in music "fusion" can sometimes be a dirty word. The mere mention brings to mind the incredibly indulgent wankings of jazz-fusion guitarists or the sometimes wrong-headed meldings of Music Genre A to Music Genre B. Still, fusion isn't always a bad thing. Check out bands like the Meters, the Allman Brothers Band or Little Feat; these bands mixed country, rock, blues and jazz into a slow-rolling ball of wax that never failed to be musically stunning. Maybe it's a Southern thing, who knows, but it's that sort of aesthetic that drives Atlanta's King Johnson. "It's not necessarily a Southern thing, but when it does happen down here, you wind up with a real special thing," says guitarist/vocalist Oliver Wood. "It goes on everywhere, and there are neat things going on everywhere, but you know when it's from the South."
Wood knows a little bit about musical fusion in other areas, both geographically and stylistically, as his brother Chris plays bass with the legendary jazz-funk improv trio Medeski, Martin & Wood. King Johnson, while being as improv-based and experimentally minded as MM&W, tends to be a bit more grounded in roots music like jazz and blues. Wood calls the band's sound, which draws from the Meters, James Brown, Los Lobos and particularly Little Feat, "funky roots music with horns." The newest album, the self-released Luck So Strange, has been favorably compared to Lowell George-era Feat with it's slow, loping rhythms, tasty guitar work and good-time vibe. "It's a real good representation of what we sound like right now," Wood explains. "For the first time, we've captured the band's sound before it evolved again." King Johnson has gone through a couple of evolutions since it first formed in 1995. Until then, Wood had spent time in Atlanta guitar-slinger Tinsley Ellis' band and was prominently featured on Ellis' acclaimed Storm Warning album. Wood hooked up with Chris Long, a bass playing singer-songwriter who'd penned tunes for Ellis, Francine Reed and Delbert McClinton. The duo recruited drummer Greg Baba and King Johnson - named for the blues guitar "Johnson and King" greats like B.B. King, Robert Johnson and the like - was born in 1994. At the time, the band played more in a straight blues rock vein and released the debut Cats & Dogs. A self-titled follow-up surfaced in 1998. Also that year, the band picked up Adam Mewherter (trombone, tuba, keyboards) and Marcus James (saxophone, clarinet, keyboards). Not only do the two hornmen allow King Johnson to open up and stretch its improvisational legs a bit, but they also set the band apart from the rest of the blues-based pack. Wood says that while blues is at the root of what King Johnson does, it isn't a blues band exclusively and the band has shared the stage with such luminaries as the Funky Meters, Johnny Winter, Derek Trucks and Blueground Undergrass. "In our band, you've got guys who've played a lot of jazz and they're great listeners," Wood explains. "Our horn players add a different texture, a different layer to the music. They play so well together, it's almost like they're one person and they add another voice to the music." The band has built up quite a reputation in the Southeast thanks to exciting shows and dedication to the music. Wood said the band shopped around a few labels but decided to release Luck So Strange by itself. The album will be available in stores the first of the year, but for now it's only at gigs and on the band's web page, kingjohnson.com. The recent continued popularity of blues, and especially blues clubs, has helped out King Johnson a great deal, even though Wood admits they've run across more than one person who takes umbrage at the band's exploratory tendencies. However, he says more and more he's seeing young people getting into roots-based music. Why? Hell, what else is there to listen to on the radio? Fusion isn't dead nor should it be; it's just all the same jam. "We're kinda stuck in between the blues thing and the jam thing, but I see a lot of younger people getting into more older music," Wood points out. "These are kids who will listen to the Allmans, but they'll also check out who the Allmans listened to coming up. It's stuff that's not on the radio, and it's more earthy, I don't know quite how to explain it. Maybe it's the alternative to alternative music." WHO: King Johnson CD Release Party WHERE: Chip's, (770) 307-2840 WHEN: Saturday, November 26 at 4 p.m. HOW MUCH: Free! |