Johnny Rawls - Guitar and Vocals
David Taylor - Hammond B3
Bernard Watts - Guitar
Daryl Johnson - Bass
Eddie Gillespie - Drums
Anthony Johnson - Alto Saxophone
Samuel Ross - Alto Saxophone

Produced by Johnny Rawls
Recorded at Taylormade Studio, Jackson, Mississippi
Engineered by James Taylor
Mixed at Triple X Studio, London, by John Stedman and Rick Cassman
Sleeve Design by Unreal Image

JSP Records
P.O. Box 1584
London N3 3NW England

Thanks from Johnny Rawls:

Special thanks to Dietra Farr for inspiration and input on this CD. Thanks to Jim O'Neil for giving me the chance to be heard. Thanks to Patty Johnson for looking out for me.

I want to dedicate this album to the legendary O.V. Wright.

Liner Notes:

In a world where guys in dark suits and sunglasses can sing a few bars of Sam & Dave and be called soul singers it’s good to know that there are still some real soul men out there just waitin’ to bust down all the doors. Singer/guitarist Johnny Rawls is just one of those men.

Johnny Rawls has spent most of the last thirty years putting in his time in other people’s bands. Now it’s time to step out on his own. Rawls was raised in the heart of chitlin’ circuit country. Born in Pervis, Mississippi (near Hattiesburg) on September 10, 1951, Johnny Rawls was turned onto music as a child by his grandfather, John Paul Newson. Newson, a blind guitarist, played at local parties and family gatherings. Rawls watched his grandfather and older cousin make music and was fascinated at the good times. He started playing the clarinet and saxophone in the school band in the third grade and was a gifted student. As a teenager, Rawls’ band director, Carl Gates, hired him to play in his band. The group backed the likes of Z.Z. Hill and Joe Tex as they played the Gold Coast. Rawls picked up his grandfather’s guitar at the age of twelve after his grandfather died and left it to him. He would watch the players in other bands and was soon hooked. As he told me, “You know man the guitar just sends me! But man all the girls loved the sax player because of Jr. Walker and Maceo and people like that.”

Rawls left the deep south at the age of seventeen and joined the Job Corp for a year. After that, he returned to Mississippi and formed his first band with several high school friends. As the only band in the area, they got regular work as backup for touring artists playing local clubs. The group backed people like Willie Hightower, Tommy Tate, Lynn White and Slim Harpo. By 1970, Rawls was once again working with his old band director, Carl Gates, and was doing regular work with soul singers like Z.Z. Hill and O.V. Wright. After a move to Milwaukee and subsequent touring with his own band, The Earthbound Band, Rawls was called back to the South in the mid-seventies to form a band for soul great O.V. Wright.

Rawls worked as Wright’s guitarist and band leader until his death in Mobile, Alabama on November 16, 1980. It was during those years that Rawls put the finishing touches on his deep soulful sound. “It was a great experience playing with him. I learnt a lot. He was one of the greatest soul singers that has ever lived. He was a friend of mine. See, we was like brothers. I picked up a lot of soul influences from him”

After the death of Wright, Johnny Rawls was encouraged by Charles Evers and Perry Payton to carry on under the name of the O.V. Wright Band. It was at this time that Rawls paired with the young guitarist L.C. Luckett. Luckett, part of the gospel band the Luckett Brothers, had recorded a gospel record with O.V. Wright and the pairing with Rawls was natural.

For the next thirteen years, the pair toured together as the O.V. Wright Band. They opened shows for blues greats like B.B. King, Little Milton and Bobby Bland and worked as back up band for artists like Little Johnny Taylor, Latimore, Gary B.B. Coleman, and Blues Boy Willie. During the mid-1980s, the band teamed with singer Lynn White for two years and helped to get her career headed in the right direction.

Rawls and Luckett made their first recordings together in the mid-1980s on their own label, Touch Records. They recorded a 45 “I Wouldn’t Mind” and followed with an LP, You’re the One but still couldn’t shake the O.V. Wright Band label. The pair’s next recording was nearly ten years later on Jim O’Neal’s Rooster Blues label. Runner up in the Living Blues awards for the Best Blues Album of 1994 in the Soul/Blues category, Can’t Sleep At Night was greeted with rave critical reviews.

In 1995, Johnny Rawls decided he was ready to do his own thing. He made the decision to split from L.C. Luckett and go out on his own. “Nothing happened man. It was just time for me to move on. I had outgrown the Rawls and Luckett situation.” Luckily Rawls found label owner John Stedman who was happy to let him produce his own record. Here We Go was recorded in Jackson, Mississippi in March of 1996 at Taylor Made Studios and is purely as Johnny Rawls production. He is backed on drums by “Fast” Eddie Gillespie, David Taylor on keyboards, Darryl Johnson on bass, Anthony Johnson and Samuel Ross on saxophones, and on five tracks, Bernard Watts on rhythm guitar. Rawls handles lead guitar work and all of the vocal chores.

The sound on this release is decidedly soul oriented. The music is carefully crafted and displays the variety of influences absorbed through the years. Johnny’s talents as a songwriter and producer shine through on every track. As he notes, “Most folks aren’t really putting out soul records. They’re missing it. But I’m gonna bring it right to the point. I’m gonna tell you something man. Everybody can’t do that material. See you’ve got to grow up with that and you’ve got to feel that. It’s complex music than not anybody can just go to doing or writing.” But Johnny Rawls isn’t just anybody. His experience in singing, playing and writing make this one of the most solid soul releases in recent memory. Johnny’s vocals are powerful and moving and like all great soul music, include a strong gospel influence. (In fact Johnny has just released a gospel record on his own Church House Records with Rev. Noland Holmes and Co. featuring himself and his daughter Destiny Rawls.)

True soul music is in short supply these days. But Johnny Rawls has his sights set on changing all of this. His thirty years of dues are ready to be cashed in. It’s payback time and for soul music fans the payoff sounds like heaven.

Brett J. Bonner, Living Blues Magazine