Jumpin' Johnny Sansone
NewMusicforOldFolks says …
Jumpin' Johnny Sansone isn't well known outside of New Orleans unless, like me, you read a lot of liner notes on other people's albums. Anyone looking for a swampy harmonica or accordion their first choice is usually Sansone. When Tab Benoit was putting together the Voice of the Wetlands All-Stars, he turned to Jumpin' Johnny for just those contributions. After Hurricane Katrina devastated the Crescent City, Sansone wrote "Poorman's Paradise," which is, in my opinion, the best of many great post-Katrina odes to New Orleans and its people.
Artist's Info
Website: johnnysansone.com
See him live: Tour dates
Record company: Shout! Factory
See also: Voice of Wetlands All-Stars
Genre: Blues
If you like this, look into: Anders Osborne, Tab Benoit, Cyril Neville
Bio (From the artists' website)
Johnny Sansone started out early playing music. His father, a saxophonist who’d been in Dave Brubeck’s band during World War II, introduced him to the saxophone at age 8. Johnny picked up the guitar and harmonica by the time he was 10, and had a life changing experience at 12 when he saw a Howlin’ Wolf show in Florida. That was the moment the young Sansone knew he was destined to play the blues as his lifetime vocation. He sat in with Honeyboy Edwards at 13. During the 1970s Sansone studied with blues harmonica legends James Cotton and Jr. Wells. In the 1980s he toured with Ronnie Earl, John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Rodgers and Robert Lockwood Jr. (more)
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Recordings
Most Recent
LADY ON THE LEVEE (2015): Johhny Sansone continues to pen his unique brand of Louisiana story songs on his newest album Lady On the Levee, produced by Anders Osborne, featuring guitarist John Fohl as well as Jefferey Bridges on bass, Rob Lee on drums, Joe Cabral on baritone saxophone and Ivan Neville on keyboards. The album rocks with the powerful boogie of “OZ Radio,” a tribute to New Orleans roots music radio station WWOZ. Sansone’s howling, rip-through-the-plaster voice and deep grooved harmonica riffs are the main attractions, but hard core fans will appreciate the wit and wisdom of his character songs, Louisiana stories like the title track, “Gertrude’s Property Line” and “One Of Us,” (“he ain’t no tourist attraction/he’s one of us”). This is Sansone’s most personal album yet. You can hear him struggling with some deep emotions on songs like “I’m Still Here” “Lightning Bug Rhodes” and “Tomato Wine.”.
Others
Where Y'at (1986)
Mr. Goodthing (1989)
Crescent City Moon (1996)
Watermelon Patch (1989)
Poorman's Paradise (2007)
Live at Jazzfest (2011)
The Lord is Waiting and the Devil is Too (2011)
Once It Gets Started (2013)
