Johnny Rawls & Band

Johnny Rawls –

"A Shot of Mississippi Soul" Johnny Rawls is a soul blues legend. To be more precise, the term “Soulblues” was invented to describe his music. Over the course of his more than 50-year career, he has grown to become an internationally recognized artist, music producer and songwriter who thrills and fascinates audiences around the world on his extensive concert tours.

Whether Blues Music Awards, Blues Blast Awards, Living Blues Awards or W.C. Handy Awards: They have all honored Johnny Rawls with numerous nominations and awards, including for Soul Blues Album of the Year and as Soul Blues Artist of the Year. Living Blues magazine dedicated a cover story to him in 2002, calling him the »Soul Blues Renaissance Man« on the cover.

In addition, the Renaissance soul blues man was honored in two places along the Mississippi Blues Trail: once in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, at the Hi-Hat Club there, and once again in Rocklin, Maine – as a symbol of the blues paths from the Mississippi to Maine.

Johnny Rawls was born in 1951 in Columbia, Mississippi and grew up in Purvis (near Hattiesburg) and Gulfport. His interest in music was already evident in his earliest youth. In fifth grade he began as a clarinetist in the school band, and in the following years he learned saxophone, trumpet and a number of other musical instruments. But one Christmas morning, when he heard his grandfather playing the guitar, his interest in this instrument was aroused, and as a 13-year-old he began to become seriously involved in guitar playing.

Johnny’s high school teacher played in a band that regularly worked as a backing band for traveling soul artists, and one day he asked Johnny if he wouldn’t join the band as a saxophonist. This marked the beginning of Johnny’s professional career: at the age of 15, he accompanied artists such as ZZ Hill, Little Johnny Taylor, Joe Tex or the Sweet Inspirations on their tours through the southwestern United States. In the mid-1970s he became the bandleader of soul singer O.V. Wright and toured with O.V. until his death in 1980.

Wright’s band remained together under Johnny’s direction and continued to perform as the “Ace of Spades Band” for 13 years. After that, Johnny joined Little Johnny Taylor as bandleader.

In 1985, Johnny Rawls first toured under his own name and also made his first solo recordings. His debut album was released in 1996 under the title Here We Go on JSP. Meanwhile, the highly prolific songwriter has released over 15 albums – and hundreds of his songs have been recorded by other artists to this day. In the late 1990s, he worked as an arranger and producer for JSP. His own albums have appeared on JSP on Catfood Records, Third Street Cigar Records, and on his 2002 label Deep South Soul.

Johnny Rawls has been widely recognized by the Blues Music Awards (and its predecessor, the W.C.). Handy Awards) for his artistic activity. A total of ten of his albums received a nomination as Soul Blues Album of the Year – an award he won again with »Ace of Spades« in 2010 and »I’m Still Around« in 2019. As a Soul Blues Male Artist, he was even nominated eleven times, plus another nomination for the Song of the Year. The website Roots Music Report voted Johnny’s 2017 album Waiting for the Train among the 50 best blues albums of the year.

In addition, he received numerous other nominations / awards from renowned trade magazines such as Blues Blast or Living Blues.

With the 2018 album “I’m Still Around” Johnny Rawls returns to his roots in the Mississippi soul blues. All the songs were written and produced by himself and deal with his favorite themes: love in all its forms – infatuation, romance, physical love, separation pain – and lust for life. Johnny is extremely proud that this 2019 album received the award as Soul Blues Album of the Year from the BMAs.

With around 200 appearances a year – both across the US and internationally – Johnny Rawls can rightly call himself a “Road Warrior”. His journeys in the service of the soul blues took him to almost all major festivals, including the Chicago Blues Festival and the Waterfront Blues Festival. But whether it’s a small club or a big festival stage, Johnny Rawls thrills viewers all over the world with a show full of intensity and energy.

• Johnny Rawls - Vocals / Guitar
• Fabian Fritz - keyboards
• Kenan Özdemir - guitar
• Erkan Özdemir - bass
• Levent Özdemir - drums