ALFRED " SNUFF " JOHNSON
Alfred Johnson nació en los terrenos rurales que sus padres tenían arrendados , en Cedar Creek - Texas - a los 15 años empezó a trabajar en un rancho , tocar la guitarra y por supuesto se adjudicó el apodo con que es conocido con todos los méritos Tocó en las Iglesias , las cenas habituales del territorio formando parte en determinadas ocasiones de una banda con violines . Se instaló en Austin en 1945 después de la guerra mientras continuó dando performances en partys de la zona de manera un tanto informal . A mitad de los años 70's los productores blancos se fijaron en él que a su vez lo conviertieron en profesional .
May The Circle Be Unbroken__ Alfred "Snuff" Johnson from Catfish, Carp & Diamonds 35 Years of Texas Blues (rec. c. 1965-1999 at various locations in Texas by Tary Owens)
JOHNSON, ALFRED [SNUFF] (1913–2000). One of the last performers of the original Texas country blues style, guitarist Alfred Johnson plied his distinctive approach to the blues over the course of seven decades. Born on August 10, 1913, in Cedar Creek, Texas, Johnson worked alongside his parents, Frank and Pearl Lee Johnson, as a sharecropper. He grew up in a large family, and his first exposure to music came from his father, a fiddler, and an uncle, Will Johnson, a guitarist. He began performing around the age of twelve about the same time his fondness for smokeless tobacco earned him his nickname. He drew his repertoire from blues, country, religious music, and cowboy songs, often creating his own variations on traditional tunes. As a teenager he worked as a cowboy and enjoyed attending area country balls to hear players that included Mance Lipscomb. Johnson was greatly influenced by the Texas songster and resembled him musically, not only in his breadth of material but also in his rhythmic guitar style, characterized by a pronounced bass line picked with the thumb.
He served in the United States Army during World War II, and after his discharge in 1945 he settled in Austin where he worked in construction, at service stations, and finally as a piano mover. Although he played informally during the 1950s and 1960s, he did not record until the 1980s. These tracks were released in 1994 as Will the Circle Be Unbroken, and he began to perform in earnest at such venues as Antone’s and the Continental Club in Austin. His 1999 recording, Black Cowboy Blues and Church Songs, captured a selection of material from this period. Alfred Johnson died on January 17, 2000, in Austin after a long illness. During his life he had married three times and had thirteen children.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Austin American-Statesman, January 23, 2000. Alan Govenar, “Snuff Johnson: Black Cowboy Blues,” Living Blues, No.116 (July–August 1994). Colin Larkin, ed., Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Volume 4 (New York: Grove’s Dictionaries Inc., 1998). David Nelson, “Alfred ‘Snuff’ Johnson” Living Blues, 150 (March–April 2000). SW Blues Magazine CD Review 06/1999–Alfred “Snuff” Johnson
Texas country bluesman Alfred "Snuff" Johnson has played guitar since the 1920s, but didn't perform "professionally" for another 60 years, and wasn't recorded until 1994. Johnson was born in Cedar Creek, TX to parents Frank and Pearl Lee Johnson, who were sharecroppers. His father often played the fiddle with his uncle, Will Johnson, a guitarist. Both had an effect on the young Johnson, who watched and listened intently. Eventually, he was allowed to pick up his uncle's guitar. It was also about this time -- around the age of 12 -- that he began using snuff and earned his nickname. His uncle threw country balls regularly, which featured slow dancing, folk blues, and country tunes. The music heard at these in fluenced Snuff's repertoire, as did seeing Mance Lipscomb perform a few times. Snuff's relaxed style includes a steady thumb-strummed bassline that reflects Lipscomb's influence. Johnson began playing his "black cowboy blues at house parties and balls, but also played guitar in church. He settled in Austin after being discharged from the army in 1945 and remained there, working in construction, at a service station and, finally, as a piano mover. He played out (although not for pay) during the '50s and '60s, and in the mid-'70s, met an auto mechanic who happened to be working on a Gibson guitar. Snuff picked it up and played it a bit, starting a friendship with the man.
The mechanic was a music fan, Charles Devitalis, who went on to serve as informal advisor to Snuff, who couldn't read or write. After retiring in 1976, Snuff focused on his family (he has 13 children from three marriages) and the church. His material includesre-compositionss of old blues standards such as "Good Morning Blues" and "post-gospel, camp meeting era" religious songs, including hymns like "Going Back to Jesus" and "Old Time Religion." Johnson's performed first professional shows in the late '80s, when he was invited to perform at Austin's Continental Club, and Antone's. He turned down an Austin producer's recording offer in the early '90s, and shortly after was invited by Alan Govenar to play at the Dallas Museum of Art. The following year, Govenar brought Snuff back to Dallas to record, resulting in the 1994 Documentary Arts release, Black Cowboy Blues and Church Songs.
ALFRED " SNUFF " JOHNSON , left, with AMMIE DEAVER
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