Johnson's Crossroad has taken their love of old time mountain music, bluegrass, and the Texas singer/songwriters of the 1970s to create a sound that they have coined "bent acoustic country". The band's original material is steeped in the traditional country themes of lost love, lost fortune, lost time, and overcoming hardships. Vintage style mics are used for their live performances to create intimacy between both the band members and their audience.
Keith Minguez—Mandolin, Harmonies.
“The deader, the better” that’s the country and old time music that drives this New Jersey native. A successful, working glass blower, Keith’s Life is dedicated to music and art. Keith has made a career of bringing practical and passion together and marrying his enviable talent with equally enviable drive and ethic.
Justin Eisenman-Bass Fiddle, Harmonies
If you knew that this Wisconsin native was an excelsior flatpicker on the guitar and the mandolin, not to mention a writer of original bluegrass music, then you may begin to appreciate the subtlety and restraint he’s bringing to the songs back there on the stand up.
Moses Atwood-Dobro, Harmonies
If you don’t know, you better ask somebody. Stick around for a whole Johnson’s Crossroad set, stay for their break and if you’re lucky, Moses will play solo. This Mainer’s career stands out in it’s own right. Presence, proficiency, performance, Power.
Paul Johnson-Rhythm, Vocals, Songs
“West Virginia movin’ slow” there is so much stimulation in our life today that one can easily miss a national treasure when he’s right in front of you. Paul Johnson is a powerhouse songwriter. Lyrics tough and tender, a visceral growl to his voice that calls up and reminds us of the broken majesty inside us all.
And they’re all friends. And if you think that’s irrelevant, then you haven’t seen a live show. You haven’t gotten a whiff of the chemistry between these four formidable individuals when they are doing their thing onstage.
Maybe it’s the Blue Ridge Mountains down in Asheville, North Carolina where they all met and now reside. Maybe it’s timing. They’re not wasting a moment of it, though. If they’re not on tour as you read this then they will be in a few weeks, and that’s a bankable fact.
Videos
Johnson's Crossroad @ The Cellar - Hard Strung
Johnson's Crossroad at The Cellar, Blacksburg VA 9/3/2008 - Hard Strung
Johnson's Crossroad @ Uncle Charlie's Smokehouse
Johnson's Crossroad at Uncle Charlie's Smokehouse, Crozet VA, 2009 - Paul E Johnson, Keith Minguez, Moses Atwood, Justin Eisenman, and Corey Lee McQuade - Louisiana by Moses Atwood
Paul E Johnson & Corey Lee McQuade - 'Tween You and I
Paul E Johnson and Corey Lee McQuade 6/1/2009 - 'Tween You and I written by Paul E Johnson
Click for more videos on YouTube
The Music Column: Johnson's Crossroad brings 'bent acoustic country'
Published: Wednesday, November 5, 2008 at 4:30 p.m.
Accidental artistic discoveries are often the most rewarding kind, and one of the most accidental, and most rewarding, musical discoveries I've made recently has been a band called Johnson's Crossroad. When I heard they were going to be back in town for a show on Saturday at the Fat Pelican in Carolina Beach, I knew my plans for the weekend had been made.
The first time I saw Johnson's Crossroad was a couple of months ago at well-worn Carolina Beach bar The Fat Pelican. I wasn't there to listen to music. In fact, the people I was with initially avoided the area the band was playing, but that didn't last long. As soon as we heard Paul Johnson's voice and Keith Minguez's mandolin, we moved to the back of the cozy bar, whose random furnishings remind me a family rec room.
Johnson's Crossroad, which actually has four members but was performing as a duo this particular evening, is based out of Asheville. Johnson, who writes most of the band's songs, hails from West Virginia. Big, burly and bearded, he looks like a mountain and sings like a man, or, if you prefer, vice versa. Johnson's got one of those voices that's like a revelation. Simultaneously gruff, scratchy and sensitive, it contains echoes of Tom Waits or maybe a more countrified Howlin' Wolf. The band describes its music as "bent acoustic country," but the name Johnson's Crossroads conjures up visions of country blues, with its echoes of blues legend Robert Johnson and his song "Cross Road Blues."
Johnson's Crossroad sounds nothing like Robert Johnson, but the band's heart is in a similar place. Their songs tell stories of lost love ("Left Behind") and crazy characters ("To the Bitter End") but always manage, for the most part, to bring a smile to your face rather than a tear to your eye. Even a relatively bleak tune like the haunting "Tween You and I" contains humorous lines like, "The more you tell me/ The less I understand."
The band is anchored by Johnson's raspy, earthy rumble, and Minguez's masterful mandolin dances around behind it, flitting lightly around Johnson's musical heft.
Johnson also has a keen eye for lyrical detail, like on the boozer ballad "To the Bitter End" on which he says a daytime bar regular "smells like nightmares and Ripple." But Johnson reveals sympathy for this old joker when he sings, "He knows a lot about baseball/ Says Pete Rose should be in the Hall of Fame/ He knows everyone should be forgiven."
I haven't heard Johnson's Crossroad with its full complement of players, which includes Justin Powell on bass and fiddle and Chris O'Neil guitar and harmonica, but they sound great on MySpace. Not sure whether they'll be in full band or duo mode this weekend, but I certainly intend to find out.(Star News, Wilmington, NC)
"This is the sound of today's Appalachian music."-(Mountain Xpress, Asheville)
"Fittingly, the bearded and burly guitarist and singer Paul Johnson looked like a mountain man. He sang the band's keening ballads about whiskey and love and lonely itinerants in his distinctively deep and gruff voice. The group's authentic brand of Americana glided on the gossamer wings of Keith Minguez's agile mandolin."-(Philadelphia Inquirer)
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Just stopping in to give you all a huge thanks for a awesome show! Sorry it is so late, computers have issues too. HAHA So I am hoping that you all find your way back to us soon! We can always use a good night of soulful bluegrass! ~Be Well & Much Love
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Hello, it's me, Ruby Jane.To those who don't know me, I am a 14 year old fiddler, songwriter. I have some songs posted that are fresh out of the studio. Let me know if you like the new songs..be one of the first to hear, even before they are released!Thanks! new videos too! Ruby Jane
Hello my friend. I would like to invite you to check out my new poem called "I Am a Storm". Just click the picture below and the storm will take you to my blog. Thank you, -byron
Lissy Rosemont and Jeff Mosier Banjo Duet at the Garage for Phish afterparty this coming Tuesday 6/9 followed bu Blueground Undergrass and Colonel Bruce Hampton- come on out!
cheers, Junior League Band on iTunes, Amazon, Pandora and more!
Johnson's Crossroad! Thanks for being a friend. Please take the time to check out the Studio's bands on our playlist. Use the links to check out the band's pages. Do what you you can for your local scene. You are the people that make the music scene happen! Tell me what you think!
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