Johnny Young
Chicago, IL | Established. Jan 01, 2005 | INDIE
Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
Chicago based guitarist Johnny Young offers a cassette of fine old school fingerstyle guitar via the Voyager Golden Records label from Portland, OR. So far this seems to be the only release of this label, so chances are you've never heard of either of them. And this is not the Chicago blues legend Johnny Young, just sayin'.
The 20 minutes of this release are an entertaining trip through early Fahey/Ochs/Taussig/Takoma standards. I am tempted to say, there is nothing surprising here. There is an uplifting Rag, Magnolia and Bayberry Family Blues, rivers, trails and valleys. No lengthy improv parts, no trying to be super psychedelic, dark or avantgarde, just joyful fingerstyle guitar with the obligatory lap steel slide parts thrown in.
Young executes this all very well and it's maybe the familiarity that makes this mini album so enjoyable. I've been listening to this quite often. - dyingforbadmusic
Johnny Young works and lives in Chicago, but when you play his tape II you get the idea that he wants to be somewhere else. It’s not because he plays acoustic guitar; it’s a practical instrument if you want to make music in an apartment building, and the things sound great in rooms with hardwood floors. And it’s not because his playing suggests a more than passing acquaintance with players of the Takoma School; Fahey named his label for a place he had left, not a place he wanted to be, and as much as the guy wrote and talked about his past, he didn’t want to go back there. But check the titles “Boonesborough Trail,” “King Of Rapid River,” and “Going To Pleasant Valley.” That’s half a record devoted to places situated far away. Young plays to transport himself elsewhere, and you too if you’re inclined to keep up. But don’t dally or you might miss out; it’s obvious from the fleetness of his picking that he’s ready to be on his way. --Bill Meyer - DUSTED
Much like fellow Chicagoans Ryley Walker and Moon Bros., Johnny Young uses his guitar create a a serene space that’s shielded from the chaos of the bustling metropolis around him. His American fingerstyle is timeless; something that could jangle from moonshine porches in Kentucky, frolic from Ferlinghetti’s Big Sur cabin, or greet tired hikers in any number of small towns along the Pacific Crest Trail. Some songs conjure images of the railroads being built, or of floating on a barge down the Bayou. Others unfold as pastoral meditations that are as limitless as they are jubilant.
That range of experiences is all packed into Young’s brilliant six-song cassette Johnny Young – II, which was released by Portland’s Voyager Golden Records this last August. We had a chance to check in with Young and bandmate Hanna Brock on the road, as they make their way south to Texas, west to California, and then north to Washington. Damn, that sounds like a nice trip. - Midwest Action
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
Photos
Bio
Johnny Young works and lives in Chicago, but when you play his tape II you get the idea that he wants to be somewhere else. It’s not because he plays acoustic guitar; it’s a practical instrument if you want to make music in an apartment building, and the things sound great in rooms with hardwood floors. And it’s not because his playing suggests a more than passing acquaintance with players of the Takoma School; Fahey named his label for a place he had left, not a place he wanted to be, and as much as the guy wrote and talked about his past, he didn’t want to go back there. But check the titles “Boonesborough Trail,” “King Of Rapid River,” and “Going To Pleasant Valley.” That’s half a record devoted to places situated far away. Young plays to transport himself elsewhere, and you too if you’re inclined to keep up. But don’t dally or you might miss out; it’s obvious from the fleetness of his picking that he’s ready to be on his way. --Bill Meyer
Band Members
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