Biography

Big Jack Johnson signed exclusively with M.C. Records in 1996. He has since been recognized as one of the world's premier blues artists, garnering a total of nine W.C. Handy Award nominations thus far. In 1996, We Got To Stop This Killin' appeared on the Living Blues radio chart for four straight months. In 1997, Big Jack racked up an impressive array of award nominations: two W.C. Handy nominations (Song of the Year for "We Got To Stop This Killin'" and Best Male Contemporary Artist); three Living Blues nods (he won for Song of the Year); and a NAIRD nomination for Blues Record of the Year. That continued in 1998 with Big Jack's W.C. Handy nomination for Best Blues Guitarist.

In 1998, M.C. Records released All The Way Back, which appeared on the Living Blues radio chart for four months and was the 16th most popular blues recording of the year according to the chart. All The Way Back won the Crossroads Magazine Blues Record of the Year Award. It was nominated for an AFIM Award for Electric Blues Record of the Year and Johnson was also nominated for a 1999 W.C. Handy Award for Traditional Male Artist of the Year.

Jack's third M.C. Records album, Roots Stew, was released in 2000 and also went on to spend over four months on the Living Blues radio chart. It snagged him four more Handy nominations: Traditional Male Artist, Traditional Blues Album, Album of the Year, and Blues Song of the Year ("So Long, Frank Frost").

For his latest album, Big Jack goes back even further to his roots with a mostly acoustic outing, which also features fellow M.C. Records artist and 2002 Grammy nominee Kim Wilson on harmonica. Entitled The Memphis Barbecue Sessions, the new album also features legendary blues pianist Pinetop Perkins on two cuts. The Memphis Barbecue Sessions is a tasty mix of Johnson originals and interpretations of some of his blues favorites from Howlin' Wolf, Jimmy Reed, Little Walter and Elmore James.

Big Jack Johnson has appeared on CNN's "World Beat," PBS's "The River of Song" and in National Geographic magazine. He has graced the covers of Living Blues, Real Blues and Blues Speak. He regular performs over 300 shows a year worldwide, a testament to the band's fiery intensity and his crowd-pleasing live shows.