Willie Johnson

Life and career Willie Lee Johnson was born in Senatobia, Mississippi. As the guitarist in the first band led by Howlin' Wolf,

Johnson occasionally performed and recorded with Howlin' Wolf after settling in Chicago, and also played briefly in the band of Muddy Waters, as well as a number of other local Chicago blues musicians, including J. T. Brown, in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He made his living mainly outside of music for the rest of his life, only occasionally sitting in with the bands of his old friends around Chicago. His final recordings were made for Earwig Music in Chicago in the early 1990s. Johnson died in Chicago on February 26, 1995.

Namesakes Willie Johnson the guitarist should not be confused with Willie Johnson (a member of the Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet until joining the Jubilaires in 1948), or with Blind Willie Johnson, an earlier gospel artist.