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BIO

    Robert Johnson started his travels very early in his life. His father, a Navy man, moved his family to a new place every few years until they settled in a small town in the panhandle of Florida. This is where Johnson's musical roots started to grow. There, he joined his church choir, started singing in school, and picked up the guitar for the first time. He began exploring the blues in his teen years and became the front man and songwriter for the band Blue Union. Playing the blues became a staple in Johnson's music. He was later influenced by the flamenco music of Madrid, Spain, where he lived and studied during his college years. He then traveled to New York for a brief period, and ultimately ended up back in Florida- this time in Orlando, where he finished his studies at the University of Central Florida.
    In the fall of 2004, Johnson recorded his first demo: "San Francisco Can Wait," in Los Angeles with Jason Young (Dirty Champions, Dig This) and then traveled across the country for the next year playing in small clubs, bars, and open mics. Upon returning to Orlando (where he currently resides) Johnson began to work on his next collaborative project with Thaddeus Ressler, a classically trained Cellist from Chicago. This spawned: Robert and The Emotional Scars, and the production of "The Demo," an Ep showcasing the works created from this collaboration.
    Robert and The Emotional Scars spent the first half of 2006 playing in and around Orlando. Some highlights were: The Emergenza Music festival; playing live on the radio for 91.5 WPRK; and having three songs showcased and being interviewed for The Scene on 95.7 The Hog, out of Daytona. The Song "Useless" was published on the Hurricane Healing vol. 4 cd, benefitting hurricane Katrina Victims.
    Not garnering the success he would've hoped for from his first release, Robert decided to go on a recording hiatus. He took a job with his brother's construction company in Destin Florida. To keep hold of his Orlando musical roots, Robert also became the resident musician at the Orlando Brewing Company. He would spend 14 hours weekly driving nine hundred miles to perform each Friday at the Brewery. He spent that time reflecting a great deal on his life and what it was he was looking to achieve with his music. With the downturn in the US economy, especially in housing development, his brother's company started to head into bankruptcy. In December of 2006, A good friend of Robert's, a film student at Boston University, asked him to join a small crew to help shoot her thesis film in Africa. In the Spring of 2007, Robert traveled to Africa for the first time and would have his mind changed forever. He would come back from Africa with a renewed vigor to make music once again. He and his brother would try to make a last ditch effort to save the company, which would fail and later come back to haunt their relationship and Robert's financial security. He resigned from the company shortly thereafter and returned to Orlando to try once again to follow his dream.
    Robert performed solo at various venues around Orlando making close friendships with many talented local musicians (including Ashton Morris, Arms Harbor, Tony Macaluso, The Black Rabbits, Sean Evan, Bob Stormcrow Sanders, Geri X, Brian Sadowski and The Token Gamblers, to name a few). He would invite many of those musicians to perform with him at the Brewery, in turn helping grow the Breweries music scene. In the spring of 2007 after successfully putting on a day festival called: The Day After (later named: The Corazon art and music Festival), Robert wanted to help grow the music culture in Orlando. He felt that his time and effort were better spent helping create a more expansive music landscape. He elicited the help of Jonathan Andrews and Neal Smith and with their combined efforts they fathered two music festivals, one in the fall and one in the Spring. That Fall, with the extra help of Julie Norris founder of Dandelion Communitea and Dana Fasano, the first E.L.L.A music festival was put on in downtown Orlando. E.L.L.A music festival was the brain child of Robert, who felt that woman, specifically in music, were not treated fairly and wanted to give them a place where their talents could flourish. He wanted to give female artists in Florida a yearly destination where they could help elevate their artistic vision and give them a venue to do so. This first festival would go off with little to no support from the local media, but would prove to be a hidden gem to the burgeoning Orlando music supporters. One of the unsuspecting audience members was a free lance writer for a local paper. He would later be appointed a permanent position and ultimately became an avid supporter of the festival, which helped get E.L.L.A 2 on the Front page of the Orlando Weekly.







crazy for you. Jan 7th 2008 - lo fi
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