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King Johnson to appear in FWB Friday. Gulf Herald staff report. King Johnson, the Atlanta-based band that has been exciting music fans worldwide with its flavorful rhythms and accessible blend of New Orleans funk, earthy jazz, down-dirty blues and soul-shuffling boogie found on its acclaimed, new release, Luck So Strange will take a break from their regular touring, after playing the Cinemas Plus Theatre on Friday, February 15 in Ft. Walton Beach to team up with the legendary Merl Saunders on stage for a series of shows in the Midwest this February and March. States included on the tour are Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan. The series, which will have King Johnson supplying the musical fireworks for Merl's exuberant mix of originals and numbers such as Stevie Wonder's "Boogie On Reggae Woman" and Jimmy Cliff's "Strugglin' Man", follows two recent tours with Merl; the first this past October in the Southeast followed by a string of dates throughout Colorado in January 2002. "It's been an honor for our band to join Merl for these shows," says King Johnson guitarist/vocalist Oliver Wood. "From Miles Davis to Bonnie Raitt to his days touring with Jerry Garcia, Merl's been accompanied by some of the best, so it's a humbling experience for us. But most of all, it's fun. Merl likes to mix it up musically on stage like we do, improvising and drawing upon a range of styles." On the tour with Merl, King Johnson will also share a few songs off its latest release, Luck So Strange, an album that is chock full of songs that speak to the soul of the listener through the soul of roots-based music. Upon its release in the spring of 2001, Luck So Strange quickly drew comparisons to recordings by the likes of Little Feat, Dr. John, Van Morrison and James Brown, to name a few. Driven by lush horns and guitar playing on the wheels of an exceptional rhythm section, the songs on Luck So Strange flow smoothly along a musical continuum, with wistful, folk storytelling on one end and the funk-exuberance of a Mardi Gras parade on the other. Forming in 1995, when Wood met up with bassist/vocalist Chris Long, King Johnson originated as a straight-up blues band named after the legends of the genre with the last name King (B.B., Albert, Freddie) and Johnson (Robert, Blind Willie, Tommy and several Luthers). The band's blues-based sound, however, was soon enhanced when drummer Greg Baba joined Wood and Long, bringing with him a distinctive New Orleans flavor and a vast rhythmic vocabulary. Together the trio recorded an album, Cats and Dogs, and developed a stellar reputation on the blues circuit while receiving worldwide radio play. Continuing their natural evolution away from pure blues, the band added the stellar horn section of Adam Mewherter, on trombone and tuba, and Marcus James, on saxophone and clarinet. With this addition and allowing each member's musical background to influence the band's overall sound, King Johnson has found a sound all its own that shines with integrity and a vital, irrepressible good-time feel. All this and more is captured on Luck So Strange and equally displayed at the band's shows. 2/13/2002 |