Paul Booth Johnson: One Man, One Guitar, One Mic...Much Blues

Featured Artist:  School's Open
Location:  School II Wine Bistro, Chanhassen, MN
Time:  7:00pm

Blues musician, Paul Booth Johnson, was given his first guitar, purchased at a Duluth pawn shop by his father, at the age of ten.  "I didn't play it, I destroyed it," he claims, recollecting his earliest days with the instrument.  But thanks to a few lessons at a Duluth music shop and a mix of tolerance and support from his parents, Johnson's talent on the guitar improved greatly.  It led him from the acoustic days of his youth, through an '80s high school heavy metal band, to his membership in the band Paradise.  The group played to a solid following throughout the Midwest during the '90s and is currently working toward a reunion.  Johnson has most recently returned to performing solo acoustic styling.

Johnson has played slide guitar for the past 23 years.  The idea of acoustical performance challenged Johnson.  He set out to discover whether he could captivate a crowd with only a guitar and a microphone.  And captivate he does.  Johnson won the open division semi-finals at this year's Minnesota State Fair with his blues song, "Delta Slide. "  The win allowed him to perform to a crowd from the Fair's Grand Stand where he was spotted by a Mankato State University representative. This sighting resulted in an invitation to play at the student union for a program showcasing Minnesota quality talent. 

Johnson's adoration of the blues is evident in his music.  He is quick to provide a laundry list of influential artists and will discuss their musical contributions with a passion and intensity that makes you want to run out and play them all so you can hang onto that energy. 

Johnson remains passionate yet modest when discussing personal inspirations for his music.  Although Johnson has experienced tragedy, including that of his father's suicide when Johnson was only 21 years old, he says he does "not get all depressed and then go write songs."  Instead, he gets an idea from a song or technique he hears, organizes it in his head, then sits down with his guitar.  He practiced this form of writing music while travelling the highways of the United States during his sixteen year stint as a truck driver.  Alone on the road with a song in his head, he would "write" music for miles until he was able to access his guitar.

Paul Booth Johnson has been enamored with music since childhood, just tall enough to watch his mother's record player boast her favorite '50s tunes.  Today he loves a stage, an audience, and his blues.  And he'll happily debate string theory, ghosts, and UFO's between sets.

www.myspace.com/paulboothjohnsonmusic