Daryl Johnson (musician)

Daryl Johnson (born in New Orleans, Louisiana) is an American bass player, singer, songwriter, composer and producer. Johnson is well known for playing with The Neville Brothers and Bob Dylan, and for producing Daniel Lanois' solo albums.

Daryl Johnson
BornNew Orleans, Louisiana, United States
GenresFunk, blues, folk, alternative rock, rock
Occupation(s)Musician, bassist, singer, composer, songwriter, producer
Instrument(s)Bass, recorder, vocals, drums, percussion

Musical career

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Johnson worked as a session musician for many notable artists including Isaac Bolden and Jean Knight. At the beginning of his career, he was often featured on funk albums, later moving to more rock, blues and folk music.

Producer Daniel Lanois (U2, Bob Dylan, Brian Eno, Peter Gabriel, Neil Young) has played an important role in his musical career. Lanois helped him get notoriety,[1] mainly due to some of his own collaborations, such as with Brian Eno, Emmylou Harris and Bob Dylan.[2]

Since 2010, he has been a member of the supergroup Black Dub,[3] whose other band members are Daniel Lanois (vocals and guitar), drummer Brian Blade (Joni Mitchell, Wayne Shorter, Joshua Redman), with whom Johnson worked with in the past, and singer Trixie Whitley.[4] The group's self-titled first studio album was released in 2010, filled with music that grows from the rich soil of gospel, blues and pop. Johnson was also a member of Spyboy, Emmylou Harris´s backing band that she formed for a tour to perform songs from her 1995 career-redefining album, Wrecking Ball. Besides Daryl Johnson on bass, the power trio was composed of country singer-songwriter Buddy Miller on guitar and Brady Blade on drums.[5]

Johnson also worked with Trixie Whitley on her solo project The Engine, on which he played several instruments, and which he also co-produced. He had previously worked with Trixie Whitley's father, Chris Whitley, on his 1991 release, Living With The Law.[6]

Besides his many credits as a performer, Johnson has also collected a variety of writing and arrangement credits. He has worked as a songwriter on seven albums of The Neville Brothers, as well as on albums of Emmylou Harris, Black Dub, Daniel Lanois, Ian Moore, and others.[7]

Discography

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Filmography

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  • Tonight Show - 1993 [8]
  • "Here Is What Is" - 2007 documentary (premiered at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival) [9]

References

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  1. ^ "Daniel Lanois Heads to the Hall of Fame… |". Rockcellarmagazine.com. 2012-03-22. Archived from the original on 2015-09-26. Retrieved 2015-06-17.
  2. ^ "Darryl Johnson | Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2015-06-17.
  3. ^ "Daniel Lanois - Mining The Soul With Black Dub". Jambands.com. 2010-11-11. Retrieved 2015-06-17.
  4. ^ "The official Daniel Lanois website". Daniellanois.com. 2014-06-20. Retrieved 2015-06-17.
  5. ^ "Emmylou Harris and Spyboy". Emmylou.net. 1998-08-16. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-06-17.
  6. ^ Thom Jurek. "Black Dub - Black Dub | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 2015-06-17.
  7. ^ "Daryl Johnson Discography at Discogs: Writing-Arrangement - Credits". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2015-06-17.
  8. ^ "Daniel Lanois, Brian Blade, Daryl Johnson on Tonight Show - 1993". YouTube.com. 2011-03-19. Retrieved 2015-06-17.
  9. ^ "Daniel Lanois - Here Is What Is - Goldtop Edition (CD)". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2015-06-17.