Clarksdale-based
James “Super Chikan” Johnson is a nephew of the late
Big Jack Johnson, and one of the last of a generation of authentic Delta bluesmen. He is also a noted folk artist (check out his ornately-decorated guitar in the pictures) whose work is in demand and sells for large amounts of money (some pieces can be purchased at Roger Stolle’s
Cat Head store in Clarksdale). Appropriately enough for someone named “Super Chikan”, his youthful and exuberant band is called the Fighting Cocks, and they tore up the Horseshoe Blues Stage Saturday afternoon at the Beale Street Music Festival in Memphis, as the temperatures dropped and the rain came down in buckets outside the tent. If you didn’t get to see him in Memphis, he frequently turns up at
Ground Zero in Clarksdale, as he is one of Morgan Freeman’s favorite blues artists.
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