In June, 1991, I again found myself at the world’s largest free blues festival, The Chicago Blues Festival.  Grant Park was once again alive with its various stages at locations throughout the park, ranging from the sun-splashed Crossroads Stage with its Lake Michigan backdrop, the large evening venue of the Petrillo Band Shell, and the Front Porch Stage with its tree-lined grass expanse that surrounded it. 

I was particularly excited to learn that revered Chicago blues slide guitarist Johnny Littlejohn would be performing on the Front Porch Stage, so as I always do at the event, I planned my blues enjoyment out to the minute, and close to Littlejohn’s set, I made my way to the Front Porch Stage area, claimed a prime location to the right of the stage, and eagerly awaited his appearance.

The Front Porch Stage was to be the site of many astounding blues acts that weekend, including Littlejohn, Magic Slim & The Teardrops, Little Smokey Smothers, Champion Jack Dupree, John Hammond, Jimmy Walker, Big Smokey Smothers, Louis Myers, John Primer, R.L. Burnside, Jack Owens, Bud Spires, Sid Wingfeld, Henry Butler, Homesick James, Erwin Helfer, Art Hodes, Taj Mahal, and Honeyboy Edwards, among others. The Front Porch Stage was truly a special festival location in 1991.               

It was a sunny day at the festival, and I remember it being a bit breezy.  It was a perfect day to bask in the blues of a true Chicago slide guitar blues giant, one, however, whose notoriety outside of Chicago was not of the scale it should’ve been.  Littlejohn made his way to the stage to the excited applause of the assembled blues-loving crowd.  I distinctly recall him wearing a striped orangish-yellow polo shirt and dark slacks, and when he slung his red Gibson SG guitar around his shoulder and began playing his brand of slide guitar blues, the collective audience knew that it was in for a treat and a lesson of ensemble Chicago blues performed by someone who understood the nuances of it.  When the metal slide that was affixed to his left pinky finger began to work its way up and down his guitar’s strings, it was pure blues bliss.

By this time, Littlejohn was 60 years of age, and he chose to perform sitting down, befitting a man who had reached the status of a Chicago blues master.  His hair had more than a little grey in it, and he wore it in a natural style in contrast to his earlier years when he adorned himself with a confident pompadour.  As he sat playing and singing, his left leg steadily kept an assured rhythm to his blues as it moved up and down. 

Littlejohn’s band that day included acclaimed blues drummer Sam Lay, and I believe, if my memory serves me correctly, that bassist Aaron Burton was the other half of the rhythm section.  Littlejohn surrounded himself with a harmonica player and piano man, as well, but all these years later, I can’t recall their names.  In short, history was unfolding before us all.  This was to be Chicago blues of the highest order.  And, in the end, it certainly was.

Littlejohn came into the world as John Funchess, having been born in 1931 in Lake, Mississippi.  As is the case with many blues artists, Littlejohn first heard the blues via a family friend, a man by the name of Henry Martin.  Through Martin, Littlejohn learned the basics of the guitar, and began his performing career playing the usual rural social events such as fish fries, picnics, and the like.  At roughly the age of 15, Littlejohn decided to leave his Delta region home and he spent varying amounts of time in Jackson, Mississippi, Arkansas, Rochester, New York, eventually landing in 1951 in Michigan in 1951, where he performed in various taverns and bars in both the Detroit and Ann Arbor areas.  After a very short while, Littlejohn again was on the move, relocating to the northwestern part of Indiana, settling in Gary in 1951.  Here, Littlejohn played the usual blues joints.  (As an aside, through his developed network in Gary, Littlejohn met Joe Jackson, the father of the young men who would take the musical world by storm as The Jackson 5, with his band said to having served as the Jackson 5’s rehearsal band from time to time in the later part of the 1960s.)

Littlejohn yet again moved on, this time the 30 miles west to Chicago, Illinois, as he had been playing, whenever possible, in the city from his home base in Gary.

Littlejohn was a regular fixture on Chicago’s club scene.  His strong country blues vocals and Delta-inspired slide guitar skills made him popular with folks who knew those attributes well from having left the U.S. South and settling in Chicago.  During this period, Littlejohn’s group included none other than Jimmy Rogers of Muddy Waters Band fame. 

From 1966-1968, Littlejohn released numerous singles on the Margaret Records, Terrell Records, Weis Records, T-D-S Records, and Joliet Records labels, all smaller enterprises, though those blues tunes released were songs that would come to identify Littlejohn forever.  Those songs include “Kitty O”, “Johnny’s Jive”, “What In The World You Gonna Do”, his iconic “Bloody Tears”, and his other most notable cut “29 Ways.”

Littlejohn continued to ply his blues trade on the Chicago club scene, and finally in 1969 Arhoolie Records released his first full-length album entitled “Johnny Littlejohn’s Chicago Blues Stars”, a collection of nine cuts that included Alvin Nichols on bass, Booker Sidgrave on drums, Monroe Jones, Jr. on rhythm guitar, and Robert Pulliam and Willie Young on tenor saxophone.  The album contained blues songs that would remain components of Litteljohn’s performances for the rest of his life, including “What In The World You Goin’To Do”, “Catfish Blues”, “Kiddeo”, “Dream”, and “Shake Your Money Maker.”  As seen, certain of these blues songs were repetitions of tunes he earlier cut as singles.  

Soon after the Arhoolie release, Littlejohn recorded four blues cuts for Chicago powerhouse Chess Records, but they were not released at the time.  A 1973 album was put out on the Bluesway label entitled “Funky From Chicago”, but it didn’t provide much in the way of forward career momentum.  So it went that Littlejohn continued to play his strong version of the blues in Chicago’s innumerable blues joints.

In 1977, an album entitled “Dream” was released on the MCM Records imprint, and it captured a live show with both Aaron Burton and Larry Burton on the set, and this outing displayed Littlejohn’s powerful and confident Elmore James-inspired blues slide guitar style, a sound that never went out of favor, and one that elicits strong emotional responses from listeners.

There was now traction for Littlejohn, and singles for Love Records, Ace Records, Full Scope Records, and 4 Brothers Records were released between 1970-1982.  Additionally, full-length albums were released 1982, 1985, 1989 (with Willie Kent and Taildragger), and 1992 by Yupiteru Records, Rooster Blues Records, Wolf Records, and JSP Records, respectively.   (A posthumous 2005 album was provided by JSP Records where Littlejohn was featured with J.B. Hutto, himself a Chicago blues slide guitar giant). 

Littlejohn also appeared by name on 1984 and 1991 compilations on the JSP Records and Charly Records, Ltd, labels, respectively, and on a Rarities Records label outing, as well, though the year of that compilation’s release cannot be accurately determined. 

All told, Littlejohn has appeared on over 70 compilations where he is not a featured artist.

So, it is very obvious that Littlejohn’s recorded output is testament to his substantial blues talents.  But why didn’t he achieve the acclaim others did?  It’s not like, again, that he didn’t record, and he did perform consistently in Chicago, and toured both domestically and overseas. 

Perhaps it was due to his health, as by the time on his mid-to-late 1980s output, when things were turning the corner positively for him, he was beginning to experience ill health that somewhat held him back.  Certainly, his confident, assured vocals and stinging slide guitar were both masterful, and his compositions were first rate.  For whatever reasons, Littlejohn never gained the toehold necessary to catapult him to the next tier of blues appreciation. And like so many performers in the blues, he remained highly-skilled, but stuck in a perpetual holding pattern. 

While critics and his fans alike knew of and greatly appreciated his broad blues skills, he was mired to club and touring work, where he was bestowed high praise, but not the spoils that his abilities should’ve provided. 

Littlejohn passed away in 1994 from renal failure.

Today I watched a clip on YouTube of Johnny Littlejohn, and I was reminded of his obvious blues skill set, and how formidable of a slide guitarist and demonstrative a singer he was.  The blues genre is beset with legions of artists whose talents should’ve brought them more in the way of acclaim and riches.  Johnny Littlejohn was surely one from that ill-fated crowd.  I am glad I got to witness his blues variety in-person.  Though it was 31 years ago, I can still vividly remember it, such Littlejohn’s impact upon me.