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Born on the Bayou: Smokey Johnson

1/17/2008
Jim Welte - mp3.com

In the history of New Orleans' music--and there is no American city richer in musical pedigree--there are countless musicians, session players, and songwriters who have served as the backbone for the Big Easy's unparalleled output of jazz, funk, blues, soul, and R&B music.

Joseph "Smokey" Johnson is one of the best examples.

You've likely never heard of Johnson. But unless you've never listened to the music of Fats Domino, the legendary "Blueberry Hill" singer for whom he served as drummer for decades, or to countless Motown classics, you have heard him.

Johnson is regarded as the '60s king of rhythm men in America's most rhythmic city, and in 2004, Tuff City Records put out a career retrospective on Johnson called It's Ain't My Fault.

He doesn't play anymore, as a stroke hobbled him in 1993. And like hundreds of thousands of his fellow New Orleans residents, Johnson didn't want to leave home in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in September 2005, but had no choice.

But unlike the nearly 250,000 residents who have not returned to the Big Easy post-Katrina, the 71-year-old Johnson has returned to the utterly devastated eastern swath of the city. Johnson lives in Musicians' Village, a neighborhood created by New Orleans natives Branford Marsalis and Harry Connick Jr., along with Habitat for Humanity, to provide affordable housing for those displaced by Katrina.

Johnson spoke to MP3.com about returning to his hometown after living with his daughter in Baton Rouge, the beacon of hope Musicians' Village provides in a city still facing utter devastation more than two years after Katrina, and influencing the next generation.