Foot Hill Stomp,

a New Collection of Recordings from
Richard Johnston


Richard produced this cd himself and was able to keep it pure and simple. No bullshit ideas from bullshit P.R. guys to foul things up. He does it his way and that's a good way it seems. Recording was done at Webb Studios in Memphis, Tennessee with Brad Webb at the controls. Mastering was completed by Mr. Mark Yoshida of Audiographic Masterworks , also in Memphis. The feel and the rhythms and the "sound" come through just as they did when I saw him perform down at the Bamboo Room in Lake Worth, Florida. It's good to hear real recorded music again. Thanks fellas, good job!

Driving rhythms, bass and snare drum beaters, guitar licks that you can't describe as "licks", they're more like SLICKS..... "Miss Maebelle", sonofabitch, this song makes me nuts to hear it. This is the Real Thing, and long overdue as there ain't much "real" in the way of music these days.. Miss Maebelle don't let up on you. It keeps your heart poundin' away. I ain't one who goes in for dancin' much but this sound that he's got goin' makes me want to go get shnockered and make a complete ass of myself ....Makes you wanta lift yer leg and bring your foot down hard ,then do the other leg...Clap yer hands loud and holler, shake your head, beat it on the wall... It's Juke Joint Saturday Night music and will drive you wild if you ain't laid out somewhere at room temperature with your toe tagged . Even then, that toe would start tappin' if they piped FootHill Stomp into the morgue. Miss Maebelle leads you into the world of a crazed white boy who set out to learn the real ways of blues music and learn he did. Visualize Richard as the Hill Country Elvis on Sterno.

The songs on here have mostly been written by the masters of this style namely, Junior Kimbrough, Rainey Burnette, R.L. Burnside, Reverend Robert Wilkins, Jessie Mae Hemphill , and Do-Boy Diamond and arranged by Richard into an impressive collection of gems that will raise the hairs on your neck and get your feet pattin the floor at the lowest volume. At higher volumes you may fall out a window while flailing around the room so be real careful.

Richard did several numbers on here solo. I say solo but he's running Lowebows, resos, snares, bassdiddly, and bass drum (sometimes a washboard) all at once so technically I reckon you could call it "solo" but he's a band by himself on these. You can't tell it's one guy unless you've seen him play somewhere, even then ya can't believe what yer eyes and ears are tellin ya. There are some other cuts where he's got some help from these fine folks:
Robert "Nighthawk" Tooms (harmonica)
Mark Simpson (guitar)
Tony Ray Adams (kick and snare,
cuica, and three tone whistle)
Cedric Burnside (drums)

O....and there's also Mz Jessie Mae Hemphill, whose high , pretty voice is heard making calls of encouragement in the background at the end of the Robert Wilkin's classic, "That's no way to get along". She's also heard on the last song of this record which she and Richard co=wrote and perform together called "Chicken and Gravy". Thank you Mz. Hemphill for passin' it on. You sound just as sweet as sugar, or honey or a sweet tater pie!

If any of you out there had thoughts that blues music has gone dead again and there ain't nothin' new under the sun that's worth a shit, think again . There's a crop of people out there that are still doin' innovating things to the Blues, while keeping the essential flavor and drive that attracted us to this music and lifestyle in the first place. Do yourself a favor, get hold of this cd and you won't be worried about any foolish ideas that the Blues is goin' down again. What a ridiculous notion......


Go to Richard Johnston's site(clik here to go) for soundclips and ordering info.
...also if anyone has photos of a cuica or a three tone whistle, send 'em in to me. I want to know what these things look like!

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