CALENDAR PHOTO Wintertime Blues Festival

Big Jack Johnson and Johnny Rawls were both born in Mississippi. And they're proud of it. The state is listed prominently in both of their bios.

Mississippi, after all, is a Mecca for the blues. And growingup, Johnson and Rawls soaked up the local music scene with a passion, emerging with a studied appreciation and affinity for the blues. Their blues-drenched talents will be on full display Feb. 20 during the Wintertime Blues Festival at the Rialto Theatre, 318 E. Congress St.

Johnson is a native of Lambert, Miss. He first recorded in 1961 at Sam Phillip's famed Sun Studios in Memphis, Tenn., the same place Elvis cut his teeth. By the '70s, as a member of the Jelly Roll Kings, he had found fame as a singer and guitar player. He moved on to a solo career, backed by his band The Oilers, and in 1994 won the Best Live Performer Award from Living Blues Magazine.

Rawls (left) has set out on a solo career, too, after two decades of backing up such artists as Lynn White, Blues Boy Willie, Johnny Taylor and O.V. Wright. His latest record, "Here We Go," is blues cross-pollinated with soul.

"Most folks aren't really putting out soul records," he said. "They're missing it. But I'm gonna bring it right to the point. It's complex music that not anybody can just go and start doing. You've got to grow up with that and you've got to feel that."

Tickets for Friday's 9 p.m. Blues Fest are $10 in advance at Hear's Music, Yikes and Guitars Etc.; $2 more at the door. Sistah Blue, one of Arizona's best home-grown blues groups, will open the show. Call 740-0126 for information.

- Mark Wyckoff

Copyright The Tucson Citizen Feb 19, 1998