Todd Rundgren's Johnson
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| Todd Rundgren's Johnson | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | April 12, 2011 | |||
| Genre | Blues | |||
| Length | 40:08 | |||
| Label | MPCA | |||
| Producer | Todd Rundgren | |||
| Todd Rundgren chronology | ||||
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| Alternative Cover | ||||
 2022 Cleopatra Records Reissue Artwork | ||||
Todd Rundgren's Johnson is the twentieth studio album by American musician Todd Rundgren, released on April 12, 2011 by MPCA Records. The album is a tribute to blues musician Robert Johnson, and released on Johnson's 100th birthday.[1] Rundgren started out playing guitar professionally in a blues garage band called Woody's Truck Stop,[2] around 1966, where he was heavily inspired by and performed blues songs by Paul Butterfield Blues Band, the Blues Project, and music by original Chess blues artists and British blues-rock groups like the Yardbirds.
This album is a testimony to that music, its direct predecessors, and influence, as Rundgren says, "When I first got out of high school, my first gig was in a blues band. I was fascinated with the music and all through high school started exploring recordings by a lot of the originals. Ironically enough, Robert Johnson wasn’t one of the people that I was familiar with. He was from an era of acoustic blues and I was very much into electric blues. But he did have a huge influence on a lot of the people that were influencing me — most particularly Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and that whole crop of English blues guitar players."[3]
Most of the tracks feature Rundgren playing everything but the bass, which he delegated to long-time associate Kasim Sulton.
The album's title is a double entendre, johnson being a euphemism for penis. Rundgren discusses the album in detail with Ultimate Classic Rock.[4]
Rundgren also released a live version, Todd Rundgren's Johnson Live, on December 3, 2013.
