Patricio Johnson | Patricio & Thee Wellsprings
Nashville, Tennessee, United States | Established. Jan 01, 1991 | SELF
Music
Press
Patricio took his time when on stage. He made sure that he tuned up just right in order to be all right with his music and the audience about to digest it. He started his set with the title track to his latest record called You Gotta Be Quick Around Here, and it was baby bear soup on tone and tempo = just right. With a little help from his friend, once a heckler but always a showman on his own stage … Scot, Patricio gave us songs that rang like true poetry and authentic as a reading from a diary set to music. It was personal, truthful, open, raw, and awesome. Everything about Patricio on this night was perfect.
On stage, he gave off the look of a Spanish version of Johnny Cash in his spare time circa 1974. In song, he sounded like a wonderful mix of Rick Danko from The Band and Procol Harum (singer of A Whiter Shade of Pale). And every second in between those images, Patricio was simply Patricio. Meaning, he was/is brilliant. - East Side Storytellin’
Patricio Johnson is the talented singer-songwriter who has been writing songs for decades. Born in Madrid, Spain, he is now based in Nashville after spending 30 years in San Francisco, and has definitely mastered a cross between folk music and blues music with his songwriting style. His new song “You Gotta Be Quick Around Here” features story telling lyrics that are delivered in a rambling style similar to Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues.” The song is upbeat and the lyrics demand to be devoured. His 40-year strong passion for music and songwriting shines through on the vocal delivery and musical performance of the track. Aside from the quirky lyrical content, the song contains a wonderfully played cross-harp (harmonica) that is easy to fall in love with. Patricio Johnson is a talented harp player as well and this track proves that! Patricio Johnson is for fans of Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Johnny Cash, the Grateful Dead and The Band. - rockthepigeon.com
Discography
- Penelope Houston and Pat Johnson - Crazy Baby (CD, Album, Ltd) Return To Sender RTS12 1994
- Mooner (CD, Album) Strange Ways Records WAY 102 1995
- Invisible Juan (CD, Album) Strange Ways Records WAY 158 1997
- Penelope Houston with Pat Johnson - The Pale Green Girl (CD) DBK Works DBK110 2004
- Pat Johnson With Special Guest Charlie Pickett (2) - September 3, 2005 Globe Coffee Lounge St. Petersburg, Fla. (DVD-V, Album) Lurch Records LR006904D 2005
- October Moon (CD, Album) DBK Works dbk114 2005
- You Gotta Be Quick Around Here (CD, Album) Produtron Rex P-Rex001
- Famous Butterflies (CD, Comp, Ltd) Flare Records, USA FRUSA 8 2004
- The Door Into Summer Various - Here No Evil - A Tribute To The Monkees (CD, Comp) Long Play Records LP23 1992
- The Clouds In The Sky Various - Way 100 (2xCD, Comp) Strange Ways Records WAY 100 1995
- 69 - Annee Erotique Various - ...Komm Schnell (CD, Comp) Peace 95 P 95003SEX 1995
- Tiffany Power Various - New Voices Vol. 15 (CD, Comp) Rolling Stone none 1997
- Riviera Various - San Francisco - A Music City Compilation 1998 (2xCD, Comp) Trocadero Records, Triggerfish Music TR 20092 1998
- The Clouds In The Sky Various - Musikexpress 25 - Strange Ways Records (CD, Comp, Promo) Musikexpress, Strange Ways Records musikexpress 25 1999
- That's The Bag I'm In Various - You Hit Me With A Flower (Redux) (CD, Comp) Ptolemaic Terrascope PT 36 2007
Photos
Bio
From All Music Guide:
A guitarist, singer, and songwriter who has moved back and
forth between the acoustic and electric sides of roots rock, Patricio
(aka Pat) Johnson first made a name for himself working with Penelope
Houston, the former lead vocalist with San Francisco punk pioneers the
Avengers. In the 1980s, Houston moved away from punk formalism into
acoustic music, and Johnson played guitar on her 1988 solo debut,
Birdboys, beginning a musical relationship that continues to this day.
Johnson was also an early member of Neil Hagerty's noise-assault combo
Royal Trux, leaving the group after playing on a pair of early singles,
and Johnson also popped up on the first two albums by the Coal Porters,
an early alt-country group led by former Long Ryders leader Sid Griffin.
Johnson stepped up as a frontman with the band Wellsprings of Hope, who
released their sole full-length, Phonograph, in 1991. After Wellsprings
split up following appearances on a number of compilations, Johnson
debuted as a solo act with the 1995 album Mooner, recorded during a
sojourn in Germany. A rougher and noisier set, Invisible Juan, followed
in 1997, and between 1999 and 2001, Johnson cut back on his work in
music. He returned with a vengeance in 2002 with a new band, the rootsy
but garage-influenced Maydays, while playing out frequently with
Houston, the rough-hewn country-rock outfit the Rusty Nails, and a
handful of other San Francisco-based bands. Following a collection of
rare and live recordings, Famous Butterflies, in 2005, Johnson
re-released Mooner in the US as October Moon, and formed a new band, Pat
Johnson & the New Sheiks. He rejoined forces with Houston for the
latter's tragically overlooked 2012 set On Market Street which featured
the iconic Johnson original Come Back To The Fountain. Upon relocating
to Nashville in 2015 Johnson returned his attentions to his solo
material, as evidenced on the 2019 release You Gotta Be Quick Around
Here.
-All Music Guide (with addenda)
Patricio Johnson has a new album called You Gotta Be Quick Around
Here that is available from his website patriciojohnson.com as well as
streaming on all platforms.
Band Members
Links
