JOHNSON STOMPERS PUT THE DELTA INTO AUSSIE BUSH BLUES

`Bout time i thought that i chucked something really rare and
really australian into the Lost Treasures mix, well..., as far as
finding a copy of it on record goes. It might have been pressed
as a demo at some stage, but to my knowledge it only ever was
officially released on cassette, but i`m prepared to be contradic-
ted there if someone knows otherwise. The band happens to be
a very authentic and energetic blues stomp band who were orig-
inally from Townsville in north Queensland. They are called the
JOHNSON STOMPERS. They formed in the very early 1990`s
and developed a very strong and loyal following in many of the
local clubs and pubs around Townsville, in about 1994 they did
branch out a little and extended their live circuit to include the
city of Cairns and a few other places in north Queensland where
they had never played. In the same year, they made the shift to
the big smoke of Brisbane and developed a strong cult following
in the clubs around Brisbane like they had up north, which con-
tinued until 1998 when for personal reasons the band members
decided to call it a day. The very rare album which i actually got
off an old colleague who i worked with at Wimmers Soft Drinks,
a burnt CD in fact of what come off their `rare as rocking horse
shit` cassette, is called `Bush Telegraph`, and it ain`t common
on CD if it exists out there somewhere, i know a couple of hard-
core blues fans who know of the cassette`s existance but they
too have never seen Bush Telegraph on CD. They were such a
livewire act judging by the songs on the album, obviously heav-
ily inspired by the Delta blues of Robert Johnson and the lesser
known Big Joe Williams, the album has a strong bluesgrass feel
to it as well, thanks to the crafty mandolin picking of the bands
most talented multi-instrumentalist, Mathew Moline, who also
contributed some convincingly ballsy blues harp as well as some
of the vocals. The other band members were Nigel Oliver on the
guitar, Michael Tully on the guitar as well as bass and vocals and
Uthal Plantener on percussion and washboard. A few of the songs
could be passed off as disposable country blues which hundreds of
american blues bands have recorded anyway, but considering this
is an aussie band who were handicapped from the start by not be-
ing in the physical surrounds of the Missisippi Delta to derive their
inspiration, i think on an australian scale this album is up there with
the best of them, including Phil Manning. The stand out songs would
have to include `High Water`, `Hot Tamales`, `Write Me` and the
three instumental gems `Q.R Blues`, `Preachin` Blues` and `Bush
Telegraph` the song. The scoop for all blues fans is that the Johnson
Stompers reformed without much fanfare in 2010, they played a gig
at the 320 Bar at Spring Hill in Brisbane City i know about a year ago,
because a mate of mine went and saw them. Seeing a blues band live
is nearly always better than hearing them on disc, and by all reports
it was a triumphant return to performing for the quartet. I believe
they are still re-formed and playing the odd gig around Queensland,
you probaly will have more of a chance seeing them live than getting a
hold of a cassette copy of Bush Telegraph. Dont let me put you off, i`m
not saying it`s impossible, but finding hens teeth might still be easier.