Johnny Dyer

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Bluesman Johnny Dyer (Dec.7,1938 - Nov.13, 2014) ....R.I.P. Johnny Dyer was born on Dec.7,1938 and spent some time growing up on the Stovall Plantation in Rolling Fork, Mississippi, where blues patriarch Muddy Waters was raised by his grandmother. One day when he was seven years old, Johnny found a lost harmonica and fell in love with the instrument. He remembers practicing under his bed at night, thinking that his mother wouldn't be able to hear him. Later he began practicing out in the same fields where Muddy once labored. Although Dyer tried various other instruments like guitar and drums, nothing consumed him as much as the harmonica. He was influenced by the sounds of harp master Little Walter, whom he heard being played on a Nashville radio station, and blues aristocrats like Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Big Walter Horton. Dyer formed his first band at age 16, in which he played acoustic harmonica. His first experience playing amplified harp came during a club gig in the early 1950's with his friend Smokey Wilson. Muddy Waters discovered his talent and eventually moved north to find greatness. Johnny Dyer also migrated, but instead of going north to Chicago, he followed his fortune to California, where he fell in with the burgeoning West Coast vanguard typified by Johnny Otis, Jimmy Witherspoon and T-Bone Walker. In 1958, Dyer moved to Los Angeles after receiving many letters from his uncle telling him about the rapidly growing blues scene. One of the first peo

top songs

albums

Jukin'

Rolling Fork Revisited

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Mark Hummel's Blues Harmonica Blowouts

Shake It!

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Listen Up

East Meets West : Blues Harp Meltdown Vol. 2

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Blind Pig Records - 25th Anniversary Collection

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Blues Bar-B-Que (ED CD 7030)

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Blind Pig Records 25th Anniversary Collection [Disc 2]

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Walkin' Blues - 15 Years from Mountain Top Productions

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Blues Bar-B-Que

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Topanga Canyon In Stolen Mercs Riddin' At Midnight

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