“VERY ENTERTAINING, A TRUE AND AUTHENTIC COUNTRY BLUES ARTIST, AND A STUDENT OF AMERICANA” – CAMILLE ELLINGTON
“BLUES/ROCKIN COUNTRY, NO MATTER WHAT BOX U PUT IT IN, JOHNNY RILEY WILL KICK IT OPEN AND ROCK YOU” – SEAN ERICSON
JOHNNY RILEY (vocals, lead guitar, harp, and various other instruments) is from Groveton, Texas. Johnny’s mother was from Clarksdale, Mississippi and his father was a Holiness preacher from Texas. Johnny Riley’s music is influenced by both his Mississippi and Texas roots, as well as gospel music, and can be described as Mississippi blues with a Texas twang and some “outlaw” influences. Johnny Riley has an unforgettable soulful voice which he can use like a field holler if need be. During his show he plays lead guitar and adds a large dose of harmonica to the mix.
Performing BLUES, COUNTRY, OUTLAW BLUES, ROCK, and CONTEMPORARY BLUES Johnny Riley performs high energy shows from a catalog of highly acclaimed original music and from a list of over 200 cover songs. Performing Solo, Duo, or with a full Band. Johnny is comfortable and at home performing an entertaining show for his fans in any size of audience or venue giving them the show they want. Johnny has played all over the South West US in countless tours.
Johnny Riley brings together roadhouse blues with the style and intensity of a blues rock star. With one foot firmly placed in the past he moves forward with his own unique style. His music will transport you to a rundown juke joint in the middle of nowhere while giving you the impression that this is something new. The music is sure to satisfy the taste of the blues rockers as well as the purists.
Influences: B. B. King, Howlin Wolf, George Jones, Credence Clearwater Revival, and ZZ Top.
“Live At the Bluesberry Café” by Johnny Riley
Aug 10, 2020
There’s no understating how important a part guitars have played in the development of blues music, and in the new record Live At the Bluesberry Café, singer and songwriter Johnny Riley reminds us of how vital that part remains in the genre to this day. Though best described as an instrumentally multidimensional offering, Live At the Bluesberry Café boasts plenty of six-string love in “Life of Sorrow,” “Ain’t That a Shame (But That’s the Blues)” and “Me, The Blues, and Jack” worth writing home about this summer, and as bold a feature as this is, it’s far from the only attraction that makes this record a hit.
Johnny Riley unfurls poetry seamlessly in “Holler Pt. 1” and its counterpart “Holler Pt. 2,” as well as “Rollin’ and Tumblin’,” “Erase the Pages” and “Change,” and his confidence is always an element of consistency everywhere in this tracklist. Despite the moody narratives here (after all, this is a Texas blues album), his attitude remains pretty bright in songs like “There’s a Man Goin’ Round” and “She Don’t Call Me Baby Anymore,” and given the circumstances, I think he translates as being particularly swaggering in this live – but ultimately isolated – recording setup.
Instrumentally, Live At the Bluesberry Café is probably one of the most well-rounded blues LPs I’ve listened to in the last few years, but I don’t think it’s dependent on its big gun-grooves in making us feel embraced by the tone of the lyrics and melodies. Riley’s demeanor is what inevitably puts every song here a cut above the rest, and although I would have liked a little more electric content (simply because his style of play seems tailor-made for a heavier rock sound than he utilizes here), there isn’t a single thing I’d change about this material. In essence, the fluidity alone makes this required listening for blues enthusiasts.
The disciplined lack of virtuosity in both the string parts and the vocals in “Death Comes Creeping,” “There’s a Man Goin’ Round” and “Southern Born (Remix)” shows remarkable maturity in Johnny Riley, and it’s something I really think some of his peers could stand to learn from. He has every opportunity to showboat in Live At the Bluesberry Café, and yet he’s staying conservative in order to showcase all of the different intricacies in the music he and his band are constructing in real time for us.
Whether you’re a hardcore blues addict or a casual fan of the genre, this is exactly the kind of record that this summer needed to conclude on an upbeat note. Johnny Riley doesn’t try to be anything other than the Texas bluesman he was born to be in Live At the Bluesberry Café, and while he isn’t reinventing the wheel with this all-new release, he’s giving a lot of longtime blues buffs a new reason to check out the genre’s up and coming underground this season. I’m looking forward to hearing what comes from his camp next, but for now, this is a great introduction to his sound and aesthetic.“
Mark Druery
INDIESHARK MUSIC MAGAZINE
“In a passionate howl, Johnny Riley’s voice ushers us into Live At the Bluesberry Café in “Holler Pt. 1” whilst painting a portrait in pure Texas blue that will only grow darker (and yet, somehow, more vibrant) as “Ain’t That a Shame (But That’s the Blues)” kicks the record’s first instrumentation into gear. An acoustic guitar fills the air with dry heat while the bassline behind it crushes us with a smoggy low-end tonality, but it isn’t until we get through this introduction and into the next song, “She Don’t Call Me Baby Anymore,” that we start to understand the depth of Riley’s multifaceted skillset. He’s a crooner at heart, but with these strangling strings around him, he’s a man desperate to drag us asunder with him.
Watermelon Slim stops by for “Life of Sorrow,” and his presence absolutely adds to the tenacious tone of the record. “Rollin’ and Tumblin’” keeps the aggressive harp harmonies a-comin’ like they’re going out of style, and though the rhythm here isn’t quite as controlled as it is in “There’s a Man Goin’ Round,” the mashup of different tempos is part of the reason why the disc has the kind of appeal that it does – even after numerous listens. Riley has a lot of love for the blues in his soul, and here, he isn’t restricting that love in any way. His efforts yield one heck of a listenable LP, and moreover, instant classics like the dark, misery-celebrating “Erase the Pages.”
When Johnny Riley is going off on a groove, like in “Johnny’s Boogie,” he seems just as at ease with the setting as he does in the much more temperamental “Me, The Blues, and Jack” or bonus number “Southern Born (Remix),” which definitely tells me a lot about his potential in and outside of the studio. “Change” and its lusty melody comes off smooth and easy like a long tall glass of whiskey, and while I would have stuck “Death Comes Creeping” closer to the start of the tracklist than the conclusion (as it is in this instance), it definitely brings us full circle from a lyrical perspective. Live At the Bluesberry Café doesn’t unfold like a standard live record, but in these strange times, it actually reflects the social narrative of 2020 in the most ironic of ways imaginable.
“Holler Pt. 2” finishes up what “Holler Pt. 1” started at the beginning of the album so many minutes earlier, and as the bellow of Johnny Riley disappears into the cloud of invisible haze from which it once came roaring out, there’s a feeling that we’ve only heard the tip of the iceberg in terms of what this singer, songwriter and genuine man of the blues has to share with the world. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I first picked up Live At the Bluesberry Café, but having given it more than a close examination this past week, I think it’s an undebatable classic – and the best look Texas blues has had in quite some time.”
Mindy McCall
IndiePulse Music
“Johnny Riley covers all the bases. Performing blues, country, outlaw blues, rock and contemporary blues. He performs high energy shows from a catalog of highly acclaimed original music. Although his roots are near the crossroads where Robert Johnson allegedly cut a deal with the devil, Johnny Riley did not make a deal of that sort to acquire his soulful delivery of the blues. He venerates the blues masters of the past but is eagerly making his own statement. Inspired by the music they created he adds his own style with the intensity and directness of a seasoned blues artist. He tells stories with his solos, channeling the spirits of all the past masters while the music he makes is his own.”
“I don’t know what – if anything – Johnny Riley may have done for a living besides being a musician. Quite honestly, from what I’m hearing, I couldn’t imagine him ever doing anything else. With a voice like this, Johnny Riley was born to sing the blues.”
“Johnny Riley is a Southern US jukebox, melding roots music as well as capable of playing single genre country, blues, gospel, or bluegrass. With his Father from Texas, and his Mother, Clarksdale born and bred, his roots are deep. Johnny is a guitarist/singer and neither talent is playing catch up. Johnny Riley’s music is well written, strident and he isn’t pussy footing. The deal is real from this Texan straight shooter”.
-Billy Hutchinson, Blues Matters Magazine
“Upon hearing the fantastic voice of Johnny Riley it is the clear, this singer is born for the blues. What a crushing impression the voice makes.”
Rudolf van der Ree – The Netherlands Radio Zuidplas
“Johnny Riley is the Real Deal”.
Dixon Shanks, CEO Ranch Records.
“VERY ENTERTAINING” “A true and authentic Country Blues Artist” ” A student of Americana”
Camille Elington, Lufkin Daily News.
“Blues/Rockin Country –No matter what box u put it in –JOHNNY RILEY will Kick it open and ROCK YOU.”
San Erikssone Kicks 105