# Will Johns Interview: Growing Up Around Eric Clapton, George Harrison and the Blues

An episode of [Takin' A Walk - Music History with Buzz Knight](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1594930776), 21 Aug 2026, 33 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/038eec94-1ba4-451d-8945-b08f00e9f877/fe2eecc6-941b-45c9-88a9-b4ac00c4af96/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=c6860488-b2a0-4069-a6f7-b08f00ea536e

What happens when a musical legacy meets personal discovery? Join host Buzz Knight on this episode of Taking a Walk as we delve into the inspiring journey of musician Will Johns, a name that resonates with the rich tapestry of music history. Will, shaped by his illustrious family background, shares captivating stories of growing up among legendary musicians like his father, Andy Johns, and uncle, Glyn Johns, who played pivotal roles in the evolution of rock music. This episode is a journey through music history that you won’t want to miss as part of our Guitar Hero month of August. Will reflects on a transformative period when he stepped away from the music scene to pursue a career in charter fishing, feeling a disconnect from his musical roots. Yet, a fateful phone call from a journalist reignited his passion for music, leading him back to the vibrant Nashville music scene and the blues that have always been his soul's calling. His journey illustrates the resilience and determination that define music and resilience in the face of personal challenges. As the conversation unfolds, Will Johns shares insights into his latest album, detailing the creative process, collaborations, and the emotional themes that inspired his songwriting. His personal anecdotes, including experiences in Guatemala and connections with other artists, add depth to his narrative, making it a true music icon interview. He also reflects on his family legacy, offering a touching perspective on the influence of iconic musicians in shaping his identity. Throughout this episode of Takin' a Walk, listeners will discover the challenges and triumphs of carving out a unique identity in an industry that is deeply intertwined with family history. Will's recent recognition in the Blues Hall of Fameserves as a testament to his dedication and talent, making this episode a standout in the realm of best musician interview podcasts. So, lace up your shoes and join us for a walk through the soulful history of music, where every story resonates with the echoes of legendary artists and inspiring music stories. Will's new album is called "On Top of the World" Look out for Will's new book "Born Into Noise, Raised on Chaos, Saved By The Blues" Don’t miss this chance to hear from Will Johns as he navigates the intricate paths of his musical legacy, sharing insights that will inspire both music lovers and aspiring artists alike. Tune in to Taking a Walk with Buzz Knight for an episode filled with classic rock stories, emotional healing through music, and the enduring spirit of creativity! Support the show: https://takinawalk.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Taking a Walk.
[0:01] Speaker 2: I'm buzz night and welcome to the Taking a Walk Podcast.
[0:05] Speaker 2: Imagine growing up and your uncle Eric teaches you your first
[0:09] Speaker 2: guitar chords straight from Crossroads. I'm not kidding. Your dad
[0:14] Speaker 2: produced led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones. Your auntie Patty
[0:19] Speaker 2: inspired some of the most famous love songs ever written
[0:22] Speaker 2: for both George Harrison and Eric Clapton. That's not a fantasy,
[0:27] Speaker 2: that's Will John's actual life. And now after being inducted
[0:32] Speaker 2: into the Blues Hall of Fame in Chicago, releasing his
[0:36] Speaker 2: sixth album with Steve Ferroni on drums, and moving from
[0:40] Speaker 2: the UK to Florida to take on America, Will Johns
[0:45] Speaker 2: has a story to tell and we are going to
[0:48] Speaker 2: let him tell it next on Taking a Walk, Taking
[0:54] Speaker 2: a Walk, Will As, Will.
[0:57] Speaker 3: As, We welcome you to the show.
[1:00] Speaker 2: So growing up surrounded by musical royalty, Lee the whole,
[1:05] Speaker 2: John's family, Patty Boyd, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, At what
[1:09] Speaker 2: point did it stop feeling like it was your family
[1:13] Speaker 2: and start feeling like you were immersed in history or
[1:18] Speaker 2: vice versa.
[1:20] Speaker 3: Well, that's an interesting question, and thank you for asking that.
[1:24] Speaker 3: I'm not sure if anyone's ever asked that question, And
[1:27] Speaker 3: I don't know if it's if it's right or not,
[1:30] Speaker 3: but what immediately springs to mind was there was a
[1:34] Speaker 3: period of time when when I didn't want to do
[1:40] Speaker 3: music anymore for one reason or another. It hadn't gone
[1:44] Speaker 3: well and I'd ended up being after working very very
[1:51] Speaker 3: hard and being very very close to having a very
[1:56] Speaker 3: lucrative record deal with Sony Records, which just the band
[2:01] Speaker 3: and everything all exploded into a into a shower of
[2:05] Speaker 3: supermodels and and whatnot. And I kind of took that
[2:10] Speaker 3: a little bit personally and made the decision that I
[2:15] Speaker 3: was that's it, and I must concentrate on putting a
[2:19] Speaker 3: roof over my head first, whatever that means, whatever that entails.
[2:24] Speaker 3: And I left music for a number of years and
[2:31] Speaker 3: I got involved in taking people out fishing because the
[2:36] Speaker 3: other thing that I you know that I knew what
[2:38] Speaker 3: to do, you know that I knew how to do,
[2:41] Speaker 3: and I was involved in charter fishing industry in the UK.
[2:49] Speaker 3: Used to take people out to catch big cod and
[2:53] Speaker 3: conger eels on the numerous wrecks that there are on
[2:56] Speaker 3: the south coast off of Brighton, which is the most
[3:02] Speaker 3: concentrated area of ship wrecks and submarines and airplanes because
[3:07] Speaker 3: of course from two World wars. So the Rex would
[3:13] Speaker 3: provide a sanctuary and a place an ecosystem for the
[3:17] Speaker 3: fish to be. So it was all about positioning the
[3:20] Speaker 3: boat correctly above the wreck or anchoring so that the
[3:23] Speaker 3: boat was in the correct position, and of course looking
[3:27] Speaker 3: after numbers of people who were on the boat, paying
[3:31] Speaker 3: to catch what they believed to be their next biggest
[3:36] Speaker 3: fish of their lifetime. So you had people's dreams and
[3:40] Speaker 3: expectations in your hands. And I did that for a
[3:46] Speaker 3: number of years. And that would have been the time
[3:49] Speaker 3: when while I was out at sea contemplating how on
[3:55] Speaker 3: earth did I get out here doing this when I
[3:58] Speaker 3: was born into and gosh, you know, and all those relationships,
[4:08] Speaker 3: and so I couldn't be further away from music than
[4:12] Speaker 3: than where I was bobbing about in the middle of
[4:14] Speaker 3: the English Channel. And I was literally in the middle
[4:17] Speaker 3: of the English Channel, in between England and France. And
[4:22] Speaker 3: it was there that I received a message, a phone
[4:27] Speaker 3: call from from a local blues journalist named Clive Rawlings.
[4:32] Speaker 3: He wanted to interview me about the song on My Back,
[4:37] Speaker 3: which had become popular with the blues DJs. Unbeknownst to me,
[4:42] Speaker 3: I had no idea, and following that interview, the phone
[4:48] Speaker 3: just didn't stop ringing, and somehow luckily I managed to
[4:52] Speaker 3: get away with not injuring my hands too badly on
[4:56] Speaker 3: the on the boats with you know, very large hooks
[4:59] Speaker 3: and con reels and fish with big teeth and sharks
[5:03] Speaker 3: and all this stuff. And I was pulled back, sucked
[5:10] Speaker 3: back into the music industry and particularly you know the blues,
[5:17] Speaker 3: the blue scene in the UK. So kind of that
[5:23] Speaker 3: was that was the process, and it was sort of
[5:26] Speaker 3: when I was when I was being interviewed. Then after
[5:29] Speaker 3: taking this sort of sabbatical, I guess you'd call it,
[5:33] Speaker 3: it was then I realized, kind of, gosh, how how
[5:39] Speaker 3: connected I was? Every on every turn there was a
[5:43] Speaker 3: you know, a luminary in the family. So it would
[5:48] Speaker 3: have been then.
[5:51] Speaker 2: You're the only person I've ever spoken to that can
[5:53] Speaker 2: say that they were taught the chords from Crossroads by
[5:58] Speaker 2: Eric Clapton. Oh what was that? Like?
[6:02] Speaker 3: Wow? You know what? It was more the riff. It
[6:07] Speaker 3: was more the opening riff, So, I mean, the story goes,
[6:11] Speaker 3: I was actually, you know, more interested in playing the drums.
[6:15] Speaker 1: I used to.
[6:15] Speaker 3: I used to idolize Phil Collins quite a bit.
[6:18] Speaker 2: You know.
[6:20] Speaker 3: That was the first record I ever bought was Phil
[6:23] Speaker 3: Collins Take Me Home. And of course at that time
[6:25] Speaker 3: in my life, Phil Collins was playing drums with Eric,
[6:29] Speaker 3: so I used to go to Eric's house and down
[6:32] Speaker 3: at that time there was a studio under the house
[6:34] Speaker 3: with a drum kit that you know, nobody seemed to
[6:37] Speaker 3: bother with. And I used to put zz Top on
[6:42] Speaker 3: the on the ghetto blaster really loud and smash the
[6:46] Speaker 3: hell out of the drum kit. And usually this was like,
[6:50] Speaker 3: you know, really early in the morning, and a lot
[6:54] Speaker 3: of the time, most of the time, Eric would be
[6:57] Speaker 3: out away on tour, so I'd be there with my
[6:59] Speaker 3: with my aunt he and you know, but and no
[7:02] Speaker 3: one seemed to mind. Well, one morning, you know, I
[7:06] Speaker 3: was smashing away, you know, to di zazy Top and
[7:09] Speaker 3: Eric came down, was like, hey, will you know it's
[7:11] Speaker 3: a bit early, man, come on, when he come upstairs,
[7:16] Speaker 3: you should learn, you know, why don't you learn how
[7:18] Speaker 3: to play a proper musical instrument, you know. So that
[7:22] Speaker 3: was also at the time he was developing what we
[7:24] Speaker 3: all know now as the Clapton strat which is his
[7:27] Speaker 3: signature model. So there was a bunch of guitars that
[7:30] Speaker 3: had different kinds of necks and different protect types. So
[7:35] Speaker 3: I started to pick up one of these things and
[7:37] Speaker 3: I said, can you you know, well, can you show
[7:40] Speaker 3: me how how Crossroads go? So he showed me. He
[7:43] Speaker 3: showed me, did the you know, the little bit? Yeah, So,
[7:47] Speaker 3: you know, I worked on that for a while until
[7:49] Speaker 3: I had that, and then you know, I said, well,
[7:52] Speaker 3: how does the next bit go? And it was at
[7:55] Speaker 3: that point, you know, whether whether he consciously knew what
[7:58] Speaker 3: he was doing or whether it was just like he
[8:00] Speaker 3: didn't have time, he said, well, well, you know, that
[8:04] Speaker 3: part you've got to figure out on your own. And
[8:07] Speaker 3: that put you know, that put me on the path
[8:09] Speaker 3: of like, right, well, okay, I've got to go and
[8:12] Speaker 3: work and figure it out myself. And so after I'd
[8:17] Speaker 3: figured that out, then I had to figure out, oh
[8:19] Speaker 3: this other song is. So really he just showed me
[8:21] Speaker 3: the first bit and then tricked me into, you know,
[8:26] Speaker 3: figuring out other stuff. And I've taught myself out to
[8:30] Speaker 3: play guitar. I never took lessons, and it's been a
[8:33] Speaker 3: process of elimination. So I played all the wrong notes
[8:37] Speaker 3: and now all I've got left are the right notes.
[8:41] Speaker 2: Oh that's a brilliant story. I love that. Thank you
[8:43] Speaker 2: for sharing that. Your dad Andy and your uncle Glynn,
[8:48] Speaker 2: they shape sound of rock and roll. That must have
[8:52] Speaker 2: felt like a gift to you, didn't it.
[8:56] Speaker 3: Well hmmm, it definitely gave me so many perspectives and lessons,
[9:07] Speaker 3: some on purpose, a lot of them. A lot of
[9:12] Speaker 3: them perhaps not so much intentional, but I just picked
[9:16] Speaker 3: it up anyway. I mean, Glynn is obviously just a
[9:24] Speaker 3: giant in the sound recording world, and it's been quite
[9:29] Speaker 3: interesting for me to see the recent films of the
[9:32] Speaker 3: Beatles that you know, were recently released and see how
[9:37] Speaker 3: cool he was. You know, he was at the height
[9:39] Speaker 3: of fashion with his clothes and he was hanging out
[9:42] Speaker 3: with the Beatles and they all respected him so much.
[9:48] Speaker 3: I myself, my own personal dealings with Glynn not you know,
[9:52] Speaker 3: I didn't know any of that, and I had no
[9:56] Speaker 3: idea And to see to see him in action with
[10:02] Speaker 3: the Beatles was quite a revelation, you know, and with
[10:08] Speaker 3: with my dad and I had the opportunity to work
[10:12] Speaker 3: with him in the studio and enjoy the process of
[10:19] Speaker 3: you know, of his production style, at the Black it
[10:23] Speaker 3: was I think it was called the it was called
[10:26] Speaker 3: the Black Box. It was in Hollywood many moons ago,
[10:33] Speaker 3: and at that time I was working with Eva Gardiner,
[10:38] Speaker 3: who is a bass player now with with Pink, amongst
[10:42] Speaker 3: her other projects. She's I think most famous for playing
[10:47] Speaker 3: in Pink's live touring band. And not only is he amazing,
[10:53] Speaker 3: amazing bass player and songwriter in her own right, she's
[10:58] Speaker 3: also stunningly beautiful. And my brother Evan used to be
[11:04] Speaker 3: on drums, so we had a band called psy ps
[11:07] Speaker 3: Y back then, and we we worked with Andy in
[11:11] Speaker 3: the studio on on our songs. So that was that
[11:16] Speaker 3: was very eye opening. I mean people used to say
[11:18] Speaker 3: about working with Andy that they made the best records,
[11:23] Speaker 3: but they didn't necessarily want to work with him again.
[11:27] Speaker 3: You know, he was he had quite a deconstructive process
[11:32] Speaker 3: to his production style. He would in order to break
[11:38] Speaker 3: down your ego to get to there, you know, the real,
[11:43] Speaker 3: the real, pure talent, which obviously once ego gets in
[11:49] Speaker 3: the way of you know, he was a super genius
[11:54] Speaker 3: and it's and it's and it's sad that that he's
[11:58] Speaker 3: no longer with us, so so bless him wherever he
[12:02] Speaker 3: is right now.
[12:03] Speaker 2: So let's talk about your sixth studio album. First of all,
[12:08] Speaker 2: you must be incredibly excited, talk about everybody who's involved
[12:12] Speaker 2: with it, and give us a little insight into the
[12:16] Speaker 2: creative process of the creation of it.
[12:20] Speaker 3: Okay, well, here here's a little visual of it. This
[12:25] Speaker 3: is the obviously the CD version, and you can see
[12:31] Speaker 3: in that picture I'm kind of standing up in the
[12:36] Speaker 3: mountains and the volcanoes of Guatemala. And so at this
[12:43] Speaker 3: precise moment, I wasn't feeling particularly great. I picked up
[12:48] Speaker 3: something on the plane on the way to Guatemala, and
[12:50] Speaker 3: I'd gone there to do a tour. I've been there
[12:53] Speaker 3: a couple of times before, once about thirty three years ago,
[12:58] Speaker 3: and this was this was this was last year, and
[13:03] Speaker 3: then once again sort of about three years ago, and
[13:05] Speaker 3: then and then this was. This was a visit and
[13:09] Speaker 3: a tour that I put together for January last year.
[13:15] Speaker 3: That would have been twenty twenty five. And while I
[13:19] Speaker 3: was up there, at this precise moment that this photo
[13:22] Speaker 3: was taken, I had a bit of a a sort
[13:26] Speaker 3: of an epiphany that here I was. I'd achieved a
[13:31] Speaker 3: number of things, and I'd got to where I wanted
[13:33] Speaker 3: to be. I I found myself here on top of
[13:36] Speaker 3: the mountains, and I was all alone. I had no
[13:41] Speaker 3: one to sort of share it with, and I kind
[13:43] Speaker 3: of sort of thought, well, what's the point of all
[13:47] Speaker 3: of this and trying so hard to get so far,
[13:50] Speaker 3: it's like, well done? Will you know? What's the point?
[13:55] Speaker 3: And I felt quite alone with it. And so one
[14:01] Speaker 3: of the songs that I was toying with working on
[14:06] Speaker 3: was called the Loneliest Man on Earth, and so that
[14:11] Speaker 3: sort of crystallized the vision and the title being on
[14:14] Speaker 3: top of the world, but having no one to share
[14:19] Speaker 3: it with, you know. And so I proceeded to you know,
[14:24] Speaker 3: finish the demos for the songs here in Florida, and
[14:32] Speaker 3: some of the songs were original, for example, the Loneliest
[14:36] Speaker 3: Man on Earth and then a song moon Dog, which
[14:41] Speaker 3: actually features my son Charlie Boyd John's on guitar and
[14:47] Speaker 3: the song move It that I wrote, and then another
[14:50] Speaker 3: song called on My Back which features the Russian folk
[14:55] Speaker 3: group We May. And I used to go to Russia
[15:00] Speaker 3: as part of the British Blues Explosion, which was a
[15:06] Speaker 3: tour that my friend Boris Boris litvin Sev used to
[15:10] Speaker 3: put on with the best of the British blue scene,
[15:16] Speaker 3: and I met these guys May fronted by Iovika, and
[15:24] Speaker 3: we collaborated on a number of songs, one of them
[15:29] Speaker 3: being on My Back. Then the other songs on the
[15:33] Speaker 3: album are what I would call traditional blue songs, but
[15:37] Speaker 3: perhaps not as if you might say classic as some
[15:42] Speaker 3: of the songs on my album Blues Daddy, So lesser
[15:45] Speaker 3: known songs, perhaps like well, I say lesser known songs,
[15:53] Speaker 3: and then I look at them and I'm going, oh
[15:54] Speaker 3: my gosh, everybody knows Spoonful. So Spoonful was written by
[15:59] Speaker 3: Willie Dixon. And I'm delighted to say that I'm very
[16:05] Speaker 3: good friends with Tamiko Dixon, who is Willie Dixon's granddaughter.
[16:10] Speaker 3: In fact, she is I think her title is Granddaughter
[16:13] Speaker 3: of the Blues. And I was actually with Tamiko in
[16:21] Speaker 3: Chicago last year when I was inducted into the Blues
[16:26] Speaker 3: Hall of Fame. There at Legends at Buddy Guy's Club,
[16:32] Speaker 3: and I was lucky enough to be able to perform
[16:35] Speaker 3: with Buddy that night on that induction night, which was
[16:41] Speaker 3: absolutely wonderful for me, and Buddy was kind enough to
[16:48] Speaker 3: offer me a solo and after the solo. He said,
[16:53] Speaker 3: Now that's what you call the blues. And if that
[16:58] Speaker 3: wasn't a an ordination, some sort of ordination from one
[17:06] Speaker 3: of the greatest blues players that ever lived, then I
[17:08] Speaker 3: don't know what it is. And so that kind of
[17:13] Speaker 3: was the opposite of being up on the mountain all
[17:19] Speaker 3: alone and wondering what on earth am I doing all
[17:24] Speaker 3: this for. So it kind of turned around.
[17:29] Speaker 2: What a great story.
[17:31] Speaker 1: We'll be right back with more of the Taking a
[17:33] Speaker 1: Walk podcast. Welcome back to the Taking a Walk Podcast.
[17:42] Speaker 2: Tell me about the players on the new album.
[17:46] Speaker 3: Well, when I was, as I said, I was making
[17:48] Speaker 3: the demos and then I went on tour with Steve
[17:52] Speaker 3: Ferroni who I work with in one of my other projects,
[17:57] Speaker 3: and we had a little bit of downtime and I
[18:02] Speaker 3: told him about, oh, it'd be great if you'd play
[18:04] Speaker 3: on a couple of songs. Steve. Anyway, he said sure,
[18:08] Speaker 3: and he had his he had his studio set up,
[18:12] Speaker 3: everything was all set up, and so on one of
[18:15] Speaker 3: the days off, we just went in and you know
[18:18] Speaker 3: what he did. He played every song on the demo,
[18:21] Speaker 3: I mean just one take boom in an afternoon, and
[18:26] Speaker 3: not only that, he played it just amazing and transformed
[18:31] Speaker 3: my demos into something that was just off the hook.
[18:37] Speaker 2: He's a machine, isn't he? Steve?
[18:39] Speaker 3: Oh my goodness me just wow. As you can imagine,
[18:44] Speaker 3: he just he just added just his absolute deep pocket,
[18:51] Speaker 3: wonderful groove, you know. And I love working with Steve. Mean,
[18:56] Speaker 3: I think that Steve and I have a you know,
[18:59] Speaker 3: we have a say, complending moss there's not quite the
[19:02] Speaker 3: word for it in English and understanding. And we're both
[19:06] Speaker 3: from Brighton as well, on the South Coast in the UK,
[19:10] Speaker 3: so we have a you know, we have a lot
[19:12] Speaker 3: to talk about and we have a good laugh. Also,
[19:16] Speaker 3: as I mentioned, Tamiko Dixon is on the record. She
[19:22] Speaker 3: performs vocals as a duet on Spoonful, and my son
[19:29] Speaker 3: Charlie is on Moondog. My good friend Nigel Feast who
[19:36] Speaker 3: is a harmonica player in England from Broadstairs and he's
[19:41] Speaker 3: also the festival organizer for the broad Stairs Blues Bash,
[19:46] Speaker 3: which happens usually in January February time every year in
[19:51] Speaker 3: the UK and has blues musicians from around the world
[19:55] Speaker 3: and especially the UK. For I think it's a three
[19:59] Speaker 3: or four day long festival which is always wonderful on
[20:05] Speaker 3: vocals on the song move It. I was very lucky
[20:10] Speaker 3: to work with Amritha Rajan, who, when she agreed to
[20:16] Speaker 3: provide some vocals was lester known, but goodness gracious me,
[20:22] Speaker 3: almost as soon as she'd recorded the vocals, she went
[20:28] Speaker 3: absolutely stratospheric on the Indian version of what you would
[20:33] Speaker 3: know as I guess American Idol, but over there is
[20:36] Speaker 3: Indian Idol. The TV show, the vocal show. People just
[20:41] Speaker 3: absolutely loved her and she has just the most heavenly
[20:47] Speaker 3: vocal and she's a very beautiful girl as well, which helps,
[20:54] Speaker 3: and the audiences just absolutely fell in love with her,
[20:58] Speaker 3: so within you know, and in I would say, a
[21:01] Speaker 3: month of her recording the vocal and sending it, all
[21:05] Speaker 3: of a sudden, she's become an absolute superstar, far too
[21:09] Speaker 3: important to you to even take my phone calls anymore.
[21:16] Speaker 3: Also on vocals is Miss Lauren Duke's another incredibly talented
[21:22] Speaker 3: lady who I've had the pleasure of working with on
[21:26] Speaker 3: a number of tours around the world. Lauren is based
[21:31] Speaker 3: in Indiana and she has her own band as well,
[21:35] Speaker 3: and she's featured on a number of the tracks, especially
[21:41] Speaker 3: The Last Time and the Last Time My version of
[21:47] Speaker 3: a song by Narles Barkley which was see Lo Green,
[21:52] Speaker 3: of course, and it's just a song that I've performed
[21:58] Speaker 3: live for a number of years and we were able
[22:03] Speaker 3: to capture a really nice version and once again just
[22:07] Speaker 3: to go back to Steve Feroni's playing on that one,
[22:11] Speaker 3: you know, for a dancing song, the lyrics are when
[22:14] Speaker 3: was the last time you danced? And also on vocals
[22:21] Speaker 3: on that one is a lady we referred to as
[22:26] Speaker 3: Delta d or Delda Dina, and she is She lives
[22:31] Speaker 3: in Guatemala and I've on my tours of Guatemala. She's
[22:39] Speaker 3: been with me as backing vocalist in the band and
[22:42] Speaker 3: she contributed her wonderful vocals as well. Who else can
[22:48] Speaker 3: I tell you about? Then there's Oime now on my
[22:52] Speaker 3: adventures in Russia. At one point with Oime, we were
[22:57] Speaker 3: doing a documentary for Discovery Channel Russia and I went
[23:05] Speaker 3: into a high security prison for serious female offenders to
[23:13] Speaker 3: do a concert and when we came out, we all
[23:16] Speaker 3: we were barely down the road. We all were involved
[23:19] Speaker 3: in a very serious car accident when the lead car
[23:23] Speaker 3: with all the film crew got stuck in the snow
[23:25] Speaker 3: drift which was across the motorway the freeway you'd call it,
[23:31] Speaker 3: and we we were behind in the car behind, and
[23:35] Speaker 3: I'm seeing us going towards the car which was stationary,
[23:39] Speaker 3: and I'm going look out, look out, look out. Well,
[23:43] Speaker 3: that doesn't mean anything to a Russian speaking driver.
[23:47] Speaker 1: You know.
[23:48] Speaker 3: One of the only words that's the same in English
[23:51] Speaker 3: as it is in Russian is stop anyway. So the
[23:54] Speaker 3: guy's looking at me like, what are you talking about?
[23:58] Speaker 3: Too late? So we had this, you know, rather unfortunate
[24:03] Speaker 3: accident in the snow, but it was a very bonding
[24:06] Speaker 3: experience for me. And you know, the ladies from the
[24:11] Speaker 3: band or May which is spelled o y me and
[24:17] Speaker 3: so there are traditional what you might call Russian folk
[24:21] Speaker 3: group and they wear traditional outfits which are not dissimilar
[24:27] Speaker 3: to you know, some of the outfits that the Guatemalan
[24:31] Speaker 3: ladies might wear. Yeah, there's a lot of kind of
[24:36] Speaker 3: parallels from the old world. And of course they're all
[24:39] Speaker 3: stunningly beautiful because in Russia they didn't have three or
[24:43] Speaker 3: four or five hundred years of the Spanish Inquisition and
[24:47] Speaker 3: burning anybody who burning all the girls that were either
[24:51] Speaker 3: good looking or intelligent, you know, as witches. They either
[24:55] Speaker 3: burnt them or through them in the water to see
[24:57] Speaker 3: if they would sink or float. I can't remember which
[25:02] Speaker 3: way around it was, but I think it was if
[25:05] Speaker 3: they floated, they drowned them. But if they drowned then
[25:08] Speaker 3: they weren't witches, so either way they were done before.
[25:14] Speaker 2: You've been nominated for Best Original Blues Song three years
[25:18] Speaker 2: running by the British Blues Awards. What does it mean
[25:22] Speaker 2: to be recognized as an original voice when your family
[25:27] Speaker 2: connections are so massive.
[25:31] Speaker 3: Well, the blues scene obviously doesn't have that commercial appeal
[25:36] Speaker 3: or presence, so it means a lot to me and
[25:42] Speaker 3: you know, and to some people in the blue scene.
[25:47] Speaker 3: It's definitely an honor and a wonderful accolade, and it
[25:53] Speaker 3: does validate the hard work and the choices that one
[25:59] Speaker 3: has to make and that I've made to be true
[26:05] Speaker 3: to an art form that can sometimes be frowned upon
[26:12] Speaker 3: by family members in the business, you know, and and
[26:19] Speaker 3: family members not in the business, you know, because one
[26:23] Speaker 3: makes choices that aren't necessarily financially viable or lucrative in
[26:31] Speaker 3: the in the first instance, and you know, having a
[26:35] Speaker 3: family with young children and stuff, and a partner staying
[26:45] Speaker 3: on the horse, as it were, can sometimes be challenging
[26:51] Speaker 3: and a tough It can put a strain on relationships.
[26:57] Speaker 3: So you know, that's that's one of the elements that
[27:03] Speaker 3: you know, people don't necessarily think of or or recognize. Perhaps,
[27:10] Speaker 3: so when you do get that kind of validation, it
[27:13] Speaker 3: does mean a lot. But does does it equate cold
[27:18] Speaker 3: hard cash? Not all the time, not some of the time.
[27:25] Speaker 3: Maybe some of the time. We're still working on it.
[27:30] Speaker 2: Yeah, there you go. You wrote the autobiography, co wrote
[27:34] Speaker 2: it with Marshall Tarrell. What made it the right time
[27:40] Speaker 2: to tell your full story?
[27:44] Speaker 3: Honestly, I've always felt like I was, Oh, I'm just
[27:50] Speaker 3: gonna be honest here. You know, I'm one of the
[27:53] Speaker 3: universe's special little projects. Not that anyone else isn't, But
[28:00] Speaker 3: more recently, I guess in the last you know, five
[28:03] Speaker 3: to six years, especially with the dark times that we
[28:08] Speaker 3: all experienced, you know, there is definitely a sense or
[28:14] Speaker 3: a hint of one's own mortality. And my story and
[28:19] Speaker 3: the things that I've experienced, it's absolutely outrageous. I mean,
[28:24] Speaker 3: I can't don't even believe it myself, and it was
[28:28] Speaker 3: important for me to get my truth down for my
[28:33] Speaker 3: sons for myself. Also, you know my ex wife Lucy,
[28:39] Speaker 3: who helped me greatly in encouraging me to to start
[28:48] Speaker 3: that process. I guess last year it was like it
[28:53] Speaker 3: became completely obvious if I didn't kick it into touch,
[28:57] Speaker 3: if I didn't convert it, if I didn't do something,
[29:01] Speaker 3: if time would just go on and all of a sudden,
[29:05] Speaker 3: you're busy. There had to be some point where you've
[29:10] Speaker 3: got to finish things. I'd like to think that I've
[29:13] Speaker 3: finished things that I start. It might take a while.
[29:16] Speaker 3: And some of my songs, you know, some of my
[29:18] Speaker 3: songs I've been working on my whole life. There's still
[29:24] Speaker 3: songs to come that I you know, that I aren't finished,
[29:28] Speaker 3: that have never been put down, but they will be.
[29:34] Speaker 3: And last year it was just it to succinctly answer
[29:39] Speaker 3: the question. I think, just a sense of of you know, mortality,
[29:45] Speaker 3: that if I don't do this and get it done,
[29:48] Speaker 3: it might never happen and I can't have.
[29:51] Speaker 2: That well will As we close, since we call this
[29:55] Speaker 2: podcast take it a walk, I want to ask you
[29:58] Speaker 2: the question we a dream walk. Is there someone living
[30:02] Speaker 2: or dead that you would like to take a walk
[30:06] Speaker 2: with and could be more than one person, and where
[30:09] Speaker 2: would you take that walk? And who would it be?
[30:13] Speaker 3: My goodness, me, wow, that what a question. Maybe my
[30:24] Speaker 3: youngest self, how about that? That would be uh, that
[30:28] Speaker 3: would be a good one. I'd take my younger self
[30:30] Speaker 3: for a walk along the beach where where I'm probably
[30:34] Speaker 3: going to go and walk with my son today. We're
[30:37] Speaker 3: going to go down there. We're going to go down
[30:39] Speaker 3: to the lovely beach here in Florida and then look
[30:42] Speaker 3: at some dolphins and some manatees and some ladies.
[30:49] Speaker 2: That's wonderful. That sounds like a wonderful day.
[30:53] Speaker 3: And I'm gonna give I'll probably give him some sage
[30:56] Speaker 3: words of wisdom that he'll go in one ear and
[30:59] Speaker 3: out the there. Oh, how about that?
[31:04] Speaker 2: That is great? It makes me just smile thinking about
[31:09] Speaker 2: both walks you with your younger self, but also in
[31:13] Speaker 2: today's day with with your son Will John's congratulations on
[31:19] Speaker 2: the new music, the autobiography, all the great stories that
[31:26] Speaker 2: you've given us. And I hope you see a bunch
[31:29] Speaker 2: of dolphins today out there.
[31:32] Speaker 3: Oh thanks, buzz. We probably do some fish in today
[31:34] Speaker 3: as well. Maybe go to the Goodwill and I tell
[31:38] Speaker 3: you about I've got my websites just Will Johns dot
[31:41] Speaker 3: com and of course we're onto socials. It's Instagram's like
[31:46] Speaker 3: Will John's music, and same on YouTube Will John's Music.
[31:52] Speaker 3: And there's a bunch of fun videos and stuff up there.
[31:57] Speaker 3: And yeah, if anybody wants to connect thinking, get themselves
[32:01] Speaker 3: a stalk of life.
[32:05] Speaker 2: Thanks well for being on Taking a Walk.
[32:07] Speaker 3: Thanks buzz appreciate it, Thanks for having us.
[32:11] Speaker 2: I'm Buzznight, and thanks for listening to the Taking a
[32:14] Speaker 2: Walk podcast. Now, please check out our companion podcasts produced
[32:19] Speaker 2: by Buzznight Media Productions with your host Lynn Hoffman. Music
[32:23] Speaker 2: Save Me, showcasing the healing power of music and comedy
[32:27] Speaker 2: Save Me shining a light on how laughter is the
[32:30] Speaker 2: best medicine. All shows are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify
[32:36] Speaker 2: and are part of the iHeart podcast network.

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