Johnny Jenkins
March 5, 1939 – June 26, 2006
Johnny Jenkins was a flashy electric blues guitarist who, during the early ’60s lead a Memphis band called the Pinetoppers. In 1962, Jenkins and the band were at the legendary Stax studio working on a new record when his driver – Jenkins didn’t have a driver’s license – was offered a chance to record a track during some leftover studio time. That driver happened to be Otis Redding, and the song he recorded was “These Arms Of Mine,” which would launch his career. Jenkins played on that track and was eventually offered the lead guitar position in Redding’s band, but declined – as the story goes – because he was afraid of flying. Redding, of course died a few years later in a plane crash. In the meantime, Jenkins was building his own following, thanks in part to his flashy guitar playing and on-stage gimmicks that were later replicated by one of his biggest fans, Jimi Hendrix. Although he had released a couple of critically acclaimed albums, Jenkins found only moderate success so he all but retired from the music business in the early ’70s. One of his early albums, Ton-Ton Maoute!, featured young session player Duane Allman and is considered to be a southern blues/rock essential. He made a brief comeback during the mid ’90s and released three more albums. Johnny Jenkins was 67 when he died of a stroke on June 26, 2006.
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