Album Notes

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Have Blues Will Travel is a traditional acoustic blues duo featuring harmonica, guitar and vocals.

Johnny Bishop’s roots are in the south. He grew up in Charlottesville, Virginia, home to the University of Virginia. Charlottesville was a small college town that had a hot and active music scene in the late 60’s and early 70’s. Checking out the bar bands and sneaking into ‘Frat’ parties were daily events. Charlottesville was a common stopping point for bands traveling between Atlanta, Washington DC and New York. Seeing the bands that came through town was the best education he could get in the field. They included Muddy Waters, Charlie Musselwhite, Sugar Ray Norcia, Ronnie Earl, Bob Margolin, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Delbert McClinton & The Nighthawks. He lived at the shows, watching, listening, learning and soaking up all he could. He was elementally moved the first time he heard the blues and has never looked back. “I started out playing guitar. I fooled around with a harp given to me by a close friend, but it seemed hard to get a good sound out of it. I picked it up from time to time and finally one day I bent a note and just about fell out! That was the sound I had been hearing but not finding.” Now, over 30 years later, he’s still at it. A six year stint working at Hohner USA in Richmond, Virginia, really was a turning point. “I got to meet, talk to and hang out with my heroes.” From then on, music became his full time passion.

Johnny has been seen blowing harp with Muddy Water’s Legendary Blues Band, Bob Margolin, Tinsley Ellis, The Nighthawks, Little Charlie and the Nightcats and The Fabulous Thunderbirds.

He has opened for Delbert McClinton, Billy Price & The Keystone Rhythm Band, The Skip Castro Band, The Marshall Tucker Band and Kenny Neal.

Currently Johnny lives in West Lebanon, New Hampshire bringing traditional Chicago blues to New England in the duo and in his bands Johnny B and the Goodes and Blue Monday.

Johnny Bishop is a Hohner Harmonica endorsee.