Johnny Woods

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

Woods was born in a small Mississippi town called Looxahoma, just west of Mississippi Highway 35.^[2] His harmonica playing first gained notoriety in the 1960s as a duet partner with fellow blues revival discovery guitarist/singer Mississippi Fred McDowell. They recorded together first for George Mitchell in 1967, for Chris Strachwitz's Arhoolie Records (King of the Country Blues V2), Swingmaster (Blues of Johnny Woods)^[3] and in 1972 for Tom Pomposello and Fred Seibert on Oblivion Records (Mississippi Harmonica).^[4]

Stylistically, Woods' music sprang from the same North Mississippi Fife and drum blues band tradition as McDowell's. However, personal problems kept him rooted in the Delta, primarily working as a farm hand and sharecropper.

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

Johnny Woods died in Olive Branch, Mississippi in 1990.

References

External links

• Arhoolie Records Website
• Adit-Image Website
• Encyclopedia of the Blues
• Oblivion Records' Johnny Woods Archive
• Illustrated Johnny Woods discography
• Very brief history of "Mississippi Harmonica"