Hail hail ! Rock and Roll
and Johnnie Johnson
Free downloads offer

June 27th is the release date of the DVD for "Hail! Hail ! Rock and Roll!" The film was ostensibly about Chuck Berry. It also was the beginning of Johnnie Johnson's rise from obscurity. The film began the process by which the public began to learn the truth about Johnnie’s role in the creation of the songs credited to Chuck Berry, and in the creation of Rock and Roll itself. The public is still learning. There is still a lot to tell, and a lot more for people to learn about Johnnie Johnson.

To honor Johnnie Johnson, on June 27th, Cousin Moe Music will begin to offer free downloads of Johnnie's last solo recording project, "Johnnie Be Eighty! And Still Bad!". The downloads will be available free until July 8th. Johnnie’s date of birth.

The music will be available at our website at cousinmoemusic.com

“Johnnie Be Eighty. And Still Bad!” is a completely original project, taped live in the studio to capture the essence of a Johnnie Johnson performance. As such it offers a unique perspective on Johnnie’s collaborating and songwriting contributions.

Johnnie Be Eighty. And Still Bad - CD

Johnnie Johnson dies
- 13th April 2005

Johnnie Johnson, pianist, who collaborated with Chuck Berry on many of his early hits has died. They later had a falling out over royalties in 2000.

Rock and Roll Hall of Shame

"... Johnson sat in front of the TV set and watched Berry perform Johnnie B. Goode in front of 60,000 fans at the Rock Hall's grand-opening concert.
"It was the song that Chuck wrote as a tribute to Johnnie, the national anthem of rock 'n' roll,'' Turek says. "And they didn't even invite him to the concert."

Johnnie Be Eighty. And Still Bad - new CD

Johnnie Johnson, collaborator and pianist with Chuck Berry, just released a new CD. "Johnnie Be Eighty. And Still Bad".
Johnnie and I co-wrote all the songs, I produced it on my label, Cousin Moe Music. All original and it rocks. I used all St Louis musicians, and Johnnie played his heart.
We cut it late last year. The manufactured product returned from the factory the day before Johnnie passed. He knew his music was here.
Jeff Alexander - producer

Johnnie Johnson - bio

Johnson died on Wednesday at his home in St. Louis, at the age of eighty, after recent bouts with pneumonia and a kidney ailment. With his death, rock & roll lost a vital link to its roots in the Chicago boogie-woogie of Meade Lux Lewis and the jumping-piano jazz of Earl Hines and Count Basie.

Born on July 8th, 1924, in Fairmont, Virginia, Johnson was the son of a coal miner and entirely self-taught on the piano. By the early Fifties, he was in St. Louis, leading his own combo. But on New Year's Eve 1952, Johnson hired a struggling, local guitarist, Chuck Berry, to sit in for another member of the band. Johnson quickly ceded the limelight to Berry's guitar and songs, and both of their lives were changed forever. Johnson went on to become the greatest sideman in rock & roll, at the very moment the music was being born.

He played on most of Berry's biggest and best records of the Fifties and early Sixties, including "Maybellene," "Roll Over Beethoven," "Memphis, Tennessee," "Little Queenie" and "Nadine (Is It You?)." Johnson played with Berry, on and off, into the Seventies, until personal tensions, compounded by Johnson's drinking, caused Johnson to retire back to St. Louis. He was driving a van for the elderly when Keith Richards brought him out of retirement to play at the 1986 shows filmed for the Chuck Berry concert movie, Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll.

In the early Nineties, Johnson recorded two solo records for Elektra's American Explorer series. And in 2001, Keith Richards inducted Johnson into the Hall of Fame.

"It was so much fun to play with Johnnie," said Bo Diddley, with whom Johnson played his final show. "The world has lost a great man and a great musician."

The "Father of rock and roll"