Johnny Rawls with Austin Walkin’ Cane

Johnny Rawls is a soul blues legend. In fact, the term “soul blues” was invented to describe his music. With a career spanning more than 50 years, he’s done it all. He’s an internationally recognized recording artist, music producer and songwriter who tours extensively throughout North America and overseas.

The Blues Music Awards, Blues Blast Awards, Living Blues Awards, and the W. C. Handy Awards have all acknowledged Johnny with multiple awards and nominations, including Soul Blues Album of the Year and Soul Blues Artist of the Year. Living Blues Magazine described him as a “soul-blues renaissance man” when he was featured on the cover in 2002. Johnny is honored to be mentioned on two markers along the Mississippi Blues Trail – one in Hattiesburg, MS marking the Hi-Hat Club, and another in Rocklin ME marking the migration of blues from Mississippi to Maine.

Born in Columbia, Mississippi in 1951, Johnny grew up in Purvis (near Hattiesburg) and Gulfport. Johnny’s interest in music began in early childhood. He started out playing clarinet in the school band when he was in 5th grade. Over the next couple of years, he graduated to saxophone, trumpet and other instruments. Johnny became interested in guitar when he heard his grandfather playing one Christmas morning and by age 13 was playing guitar seriously. Johnny’s high school band teacher had a professional band that backed touring soul artists and asked Johnny to join his band as a saxophone player. This began Johnny’s professional career, and at age 15, he was backing artists including ZZ Hill, Little Johnny Taylor, Joe Tex, James Carr, Otis Clay, and The Sweet Inspirations on their tours in the Southeast. In the mid-1970s, Johnny became the band director for soul singer O.V. Wright, and toured with O.V. until his death in 1980. Wright’s band, under Johnny’s leadership, continued to perform as the Ace of Spades band for several years. Then, Johnny became the band director for Little Johnny Taylor.

In 1985, Johnny began touring as a solo artist and made his first solo recording. A prolific songwriter, hundreds of Johnny’s songs have been recorded. He has released 30 albums since his debut solo album, Here We Go, in 1996 on JSP Records. In the late 1990’s Johnny worked as an arranger and record producer for JSP. Johnny has released albums under various labels, including JSP, Catfood Records, Third Street Cigar Records, and his own label Deep South Soul, which he created in 2002.

The Blues Music Awards (and its predecessor, the W.C. Handy Awards) frequently recognize Johnny’s work. To date, eleven of Johnny’s albums have been nominated for Soul Blues Album of the Year, with I’m Still Around winning in 2019 and Ace of Spades winning in 2010. Johnny has been nominated for Soul Blues Male Artist eleven times, and received one nomination for Song of the Year. Roots Music Report declared Johnny’s 2017 release, Waiting for the Train, one of the top 50 blues albums of the year. Johnny also has multiple nominations/awards from Blues Blast Magazine and Living Blues Magazine.

With his 2018 release, I’m Still Around, Johnny returned to his roots in Mississippi Soul Blues. All the songs on this album were written and arranged by Johnny, and reflect his favorite subjects – falling in and out of love, making love, and enjoying and being thankful for life. Johnny is extremely proud to have won the Soul Blues Album of the year at the 2019 BMAs for this release.

A true “road warrior,” Johnny tours extensively throughout the US, and internationally, playing approximately 200 dates every year. He’s performed at major blues festivals, including the Chicago Blues Festival and the Waterfront Blues Festival multiple times. Whether he’s playing in a small intimate club or at a large blues festival, Johnny always delivers a high-energy show to the delight of audiences everywhere.

Damn Fine Blues! Original & classic delta blues featuring slide guitar and soulful vocals. A blues gumbo repertoire that can conjure up the ghosts of highway 61 & the delta blues experience. Austin Walkin’ Cane is a blues singer, songwriter and slide guitarist that performs acoustic solo, duo & electric band sets. Austin Walkin’ Cane has toured Australia, Nepal, Colombia, France, Germany, England, Wales, and the US, from New Orleans, Louisiana to Juneau, Alaska with only a guitar & suitcase in hand.

Austin walked for ten years with a cane due to an arterial venous malformation at birth. While performing on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, a homeless man called out “Hey Walkin’ Cane got some spare change for a brother?!” Austin took the jibe as his nickname. In 1996, after years of battling the inevitable, his left leg was amputated below the knee. A year after the surgery, he returned to the music scene stronger & without need of a cane.

AWC’s 2008 CD, Murder of a Blues Singer, was inspired by an after hour diner conversation with blues legend Robert Jr. Lockwood. “The stories were flowing like the grease off our plates”, subsequently the album is saturated in classic delta blues, as were the tales of Lockwood’s stepfather, Robert Johnson. Mr. Lockwood had agreed to perform on the record, but fate had changed that path. The Walkin’ Cane Band captured the perfect “live in the studio” feeling that Austin & co-writer Chris Allen had envisioned for these songs. The band is a well-oiled machine. Special guests on Murder of a Blues Singer include Colin Dussault, Eroc Sosinski and one of Cleveland’s finest gospel groups, the Prayer Warriors. Murder of a Blues Singer was re-released on Germany’s Hoboville Records in 2023.

In 2011, an acoustic CD, A World Of Blues, was released. The Allen/Charanghat original songs were recorded live at the Brothers Lounge as a testament to Walkin’ Cane living on the road. The album uses excerpts of Austin’s world travels in addition to the show recorded in the heart of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame city.

During the summer of 2014, One Heart Walkin‘ was recorded in two days at the historic G.A.R. Hall in Peninsula, OH. Built in 1850, the former schoolhouse & Civil War Veteran’s hangout, set the perfect mood for this album. Listening to Cane’s most recent album is like being a passenger on the old Illinois Central Railroad. These “Damn Fine Blues,” take the listener from the south side of Chicago, through the deep south of the Mississippi Delta. You’ll stop in Memphis, Clarksdale & Bentonia, and ride to the end of the line of New Orleans, Louisiana.

All of the songs on One Heart Walkin‘ were co-written with songwriter and grade school friend, Chris Allen. The album of Allen/Charanghat originals came to life with the help of legendary producer & bassist Don Dixon, harmonica extraordinaire Dave Morrison, Allen on acoustic guitar, Freddie Perez-Stable on drums & members of the Revolution Brass Band, bringing in the sound of New Orleans.

Austin Walkin’ Cane is proud to be sponsored by National Reso-Phonic Guitars, Ernie Ball Strings & Dr. Z Amplifiers.