Johnnie Johnson passed away on April 13th 2005 at the age of 80. Johnnie was considered by many to be one of the best blues and boogie-woogie piano players in the world. He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2001 and he played and recorded with such musical greats as Eric Clapton, The Rolling Stones, Bonnie Raitt, The Grateful Dead, Bruce Hornsby, Robert Cray, The Kentucky Headhunters, Aerosmith, John Sebastian, Johnny Rivers, Styx, and many more. Together Johnnie and Chuck Berry wrote and recorded all of those great classics like “Maybelline”, “School Days”, “Roll Over Beethoven”, “Sweet Little 16”, “Rock & Roll Music”, and of course “Johnnie B. Goode”. Listen to all of those songs and you’ll hear Johnnie’s unmistakable groove and pounding right hand triplets. Johnnie and Chuck Berry helped to invent Rock & Roll and shape the way it would be played for generations to come.

Johnnie was a dear friend of mine and of the band and a friend to everyone that met him. He was just a humble and unassuming gentle man that loved his family, loved his St. Louis sports teams and loved to play his music. He was one of the elder statesman of the blues and founding fathers of rock and roll. It was always a treat for all of us in Butch Wax to have Johnnie play with us. Johnnie gave us one last surprise when he showed up on April 8th 2005 to join Butch Wax & The Hollywoods at the St. Louis Cardinals Baseball Home Opener! It was the 5th year in a row that Johnnie played with us for the Home Opener. It was a gorgeous day in St. Louis and thousands of fans dressed in Cardinal Red were there and all revved up. We were into our 2nd or 3rd song and I looked to the right of the stage and there was Johnnie smiling at me and swaying to the music, letting me know he was there like so many times before. I’ll never forget that day! I motioned for the guys to continue playing and ran down from the stage and gave Johnnie a big long hug and told him how good it was to see him and how much I loved him. I asked him if he wanted to sit in and play and he said “You know I do”! We brought him up as we always did with the song “If You Want A Good Woman” from one of his earlier albums. I would always tell the fans about him with a lot of hoopla and then finish my introduction by saying “Please welcome Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Johnnie Johnson!” and then Bob would kick that intro off on guitar, note for note just like the record! Johnnie would come up on stage grinning and slide in behind my piano as I moved to the side and the band would lock into Johnnie’s unmistakable groove. He sat in and did 5 or 6 songs that day at The Opener and then went and sat down off to the side of the stage. A little later he motioned to me that he wanted to come back up and play some more. We finished the show with Johnnie playing “Stagger Lee” and “Kansas City”, a couple of his favorites. Just 5 days later I would get a phone call telling me that Johnnie Johnson had passed away.

Johnnie played with Butch Wax & The Hollywoods on all of our sports songs including “Gotta Go To Work”, “Pennant Fever”, “Let’s Go Blues”, and “New Orleans”. He also played on 10 songs on various Butch Wax CDs we released. Through the years Johnnie joined Butch Wax & The Hollywoods onstage 73 times plus several recording sessions we did together! It was such a thrill to get to play music with him and just be around Johnnie. He really enjoyed playing with us at the Rams and Cardinal Games and made most all of them the last 4 or 5 years of his life. In 2003 we all worked with Johnnie and Johnny Rivers, Bonnie Raitt, Bruce Hornsby, Mama’s Pride, and John Sebastian on a 14 song Johnnie Johnson CD. The CD called “I’m Just Johnnie” is some of Johnnie’s last recorded work and hopefully will be released one day. Johnnie is playing some killer piano on these recordings.

Another passion of Johnnie’s was fishing and he used to love to come out to my house and we’d fish together in my lake. Those are times that were always special and that I cherish. I would go into St. Louis and pick him up and we’d drive back to the house. On the way out to the country we had our little routine. We’d go by Kelly’s Bait Shop in St. Charles and get worms and supplies and then later during the drive, we would stop at the 76 Truck Stop in Foristell. We would stock up on food and goodies to take with us and then we would continue west and finally arrive at the house. Johnnie would say to me as we pulled in to my drive and he spotted the lake, “This is our little piece of Heaven”. We’d fish all day and then I’d drive him back home. It was like getting to spend a day with your grandfather and we had so much fun. Sometimes we would just sit and listen to the birds and soak in the sounds of nature as we fished side by side. Other times Johnnie would talk and tell me wonderful stories about his life and things he remembered about his early days in music. He used to like to call his wife Frances from his cell phone if we were catching fish and tell her to “Get the skillet and grease hot, we’ve got a mess of fish”. Of course there were a few times when we got skunked and didn’t catch anything. Frances never let us forget those times. Johnnie said to me one warm day as we were down at the lake and the birds were singing and the fish were biting, “This is almost as good as playing the blues in the key of G”. What a great line – everyone knows Johnnie could tear it up in the key of G and there’s nobody better! Listen to Johnnie on “Almost Grown” and “Wee Wee Hours” from the movie Hail Hail Rock & Roll. Both songs are in G and Johnnie just explodes on them both. Eric Clapton gives him that solo on “Wee Wee Hours” and stands back and smiles with delight as Johnnie adds his signature piano licks and the crowd erupts. That was Johnnie at his best!

Johnnie enjoyed those fishing trips to my house so much that he even talked about it when he was honored at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland in 2000. They were filming his concert there and a moderator was asking him questions in between songs. Johnnie went on to talk about playing with Butch Wax & The Hollywoods back in St. Louis and also talked about our fishing trips to my place in the country. I was there in the audience and it was so heartwarming to hear him say those things. We shared some great stories and great times during those fishing outings and we caught some nice fish too. Johnnie was a great fisherman and I used to call him a “master caster”. He had an unusual delivery when he cast his line. He would twirl his nigh crawler and sinker a couple times (almost like a cowboy with a lasso) and then would sail it out into the water underhanded and land it with precision, right where he was aiming! I used to tell him he needed to do an instructional video of it. What great memories.

Johnnie Johnson was a real special person, one of a kind for sure and we are all blessed to have known him. He touched a lot of lives and his music and spirit will live on in all of us.

Written by Gene Ackmann
Feb 2016

“I’M JUST JOHNNIE”
(Written by Gene Ackmann & Johnnie Johnson 2002)
(Piano Intro)
My baby don’t like it when I come home late,
She tells me I’m in trouble and she don’t hesitate
She makes me walk the dog, cut the grass and cook too,
Just because I’m a little late, what’s a fella gonna do
I’m doin what I like, I’m doin what I should,
I’m Just Johnnie and I’m tryin to be good!
Down on the boat every day by noon,
Slot machines are singin, that’s my kind of tune
Got all kinds of quarters, good luck’s on my side,
Just hit 3 double diamonds and I didn’t even try
I’m doin what I like, I’m doin what I should,
I’m Just Johnnie and I’m tryin to be good!
(Piano Solos)
Fishin on Fridays, play the blues every night
Catch a Cards game on Saturday, I hope they get it right,
Go to church early Sunday, then a Rams game at Noon
Play some of my music and I’m kickin back by 2
I’m doin what I like, I’m doin what I should,
I’m Just Johnnie and I’m tryin to be good!
I’m doin what I like, I’m doin what I should,
I’m Just Johnnie and I’m tryin to be good!