Johnny Mars Barrelhouse Blues Orchestra
http://www.island.net/~blues/jmars.html
http://www.smltd.net/johnny_mars.htm
Songwriter/harmonica player/vocalist Johnny Mars was born in 1942 in Laurens, South Carolina the son of sharecroppers. At the age of nine Johnny was given his first harmonica. His family moved all over the South Eastern States: North Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Washington. He met many good harmonica players cultivating his love for the blues harp.
When Johnny's mother died in 1958, the older family members remained in Florida, but Johnny and his younger brother Joe went to live in New Paltz, New York with their married sister Mary. In high school he formed his first band. After graduation he gigged around New York and recorded with his band "The Burning Bush" for Mercury Records.
Johnny played on bills with the likes of Magic Sam and a then unknown Jimi Hendrix. Meeting Hendrix changed Johnny's whole approach to his instrument and fueled a life long quest to find his own "sound."
In the mid 1960's Johnny moved to San Francisco, where he ate, slept, walked and talked harmonica. He met Dan Kennedy and the two formed "The Johnny Mars Band" playing clubs, festivals and performing for rock impresario Bill Graham.
Success was limited on the West Coast and in the early 1970's his friend Rick Estrin (Little Charlie and the Night Cats) and others told Johnny of the high regard that American blues men were held across the Atlantic. In 1972 he made his first visit to England and almost immediately was signed and began his recording career. Since 1978 he has lived in West London, recorded frequently and fronted his own band. He teamed up with Ray Fenwick, who has worked with Spencer Davis and Ian Gillan. Ray produced a couple of albums for Johnny including the critically acclaimed "Life on Mars".
In 1991 Johnny played as featured soloist on an album for the popular group Bananarama. Their singles "The Preacher Man, Megalomaniac, Long Train Running" rose on the charts and Johnny subsequently made TV appearances across Europe and performed in their video.
Today, Johnny has become quite popular throughout Europe headlining blues shows and festivals. Audiences are particularly receptive in Ireland and Scotland. Italy, Greece, Germany and Spain are regular stops on Johnny's schedule and in 1992 he played in Barcelona during the Olympic Games. The Scandinavian press first tagged him with the title, The Jimi Hendrix of the Harmonica, a tribute to his innovative musicianship and dynamic stage presentation.
Johnny's instructional video "Play Rock & Blues Harp" is now available world wide. It is aimed at beginners, but even intermediate players can benefit from his reed repairing tips. He tours Europe conducting seminars and workshops for Hohner Harmonicas, and has recently been signed as an American Hohner indorsee. "Ash Ain't Nothing But Trash" is an anti-smoking, public service video he wrote and sang for the BBC. He also tours with Big Fat Mama his Italian band promoting their live album "JOHNNY MARS AND BIG FAT MAMA - Can You Hear Me?"
In 1992, Johnny was invited to perform at the San Fransicso Blues Festival where he was reunited with guitarist Dan Kennedy. After an inspirational performance, the two made plans to launch Johnny's American career. Over the next year, Dan began laying the foundation by publishing the "Johnny Mars Bluesletter".
During the summer of 1993, Johnny returned to the Bay Area for several weeks to perform and record tracks for his first American album with Dan producing. Just on the strength of a couple of San Jose performances, Johnny was nominated for two South Bay Blues Awards and was voted first runner-up to Charley Musselwhite as Best Harmonica.
As an instrumentalist, Johnny is far beyond unique. Never satisfied to merely emulate his heroes, he sets a new standard and means to take the harmonica into the 21st Century. Johnny is always experimenting, innovating, searching for something new, electronic and acoustic. He knows where he came from and where he is going. Refusing to be limited by the concerns of others, he chooses to lead the way searching out the as yet undiscovered.
As a songwriter, Johnny explores not only his own feelings but also takes a look around and observes the world in which we all live. His message is positive, universal and mindful of contemporary issues, yet celebrates the goodness around us.
As a performing artist, Johnny's charismatic stage persona makes an occasion of every exciting performance. He just plain won't be satisfied until he has the audience shouting back to the stage at him and singing along. He truly is an Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile.
. . .and you've never heard harmonica played like this!
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