JOHNSON STOMPERS PUT THE DELTA INTO AUSSIE BUSH BLUES

https://youtu.be/RO5-XWqSiFc?si=YGq9TwAEoa-q0_eg

`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 contradicted there if someone knows otherwise.

The band happens to be a very authentic and energetic blues stomp band who were originally 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 continued 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 hardcore blues fans who know of the cassette`s existence but they

too have never seen Bush Telegraph on CD. 

They were such a livewire act judging by the songs on the album, obviously heavily inspired by the Delta blues of Robert Johnson and the lesser known Big Joe Williams.

The album has a strong bluegrass 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 being in the physical surrounds of the Mississippi 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 instrumental 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 probably 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.