Best Blues Artist of 2010 Hits Chan's This Saturday

Johnny A., originally from Malden, MA, and recipient of Boston's Best Blues Artist of the Year 2010, will be performing his magic at Chan's Saturday night.

According to Johnny A. he studied a little at Graham College for Business but really studied while attending Berklee College of Music, where he mastered arranging and composition.

He considers himself a guitarist first, arranger, songwriter, road manager, guitar tech, van driver and (oh yes,) the bill payer.

How many musicians can captivate an audience without even saying a word? Johnny plays his guitar and the room falls silent. He's been called the Jimi Hendrix of our time and has been compared to Hendrix as well as guitar greats, Les Paul, Chet Atkins, Jeff Beck and Wes Montgomery.

Believe it or not, he's never taken a lesson.

"My approach is entirely natural," said Johnny.

For seven years, Johnny was the guitarist and musical director for J. Geil's Band with frontman, Peter Wolf. He played and co-produced 'Long Line' in 1996 and joined Wolf on his world tours.

In 2001, a solo project and debut CD, 'Sometime Tuesday Morning' launched his career to mass critical acclaim. The single, ' Oh Yeah' was the first time that an instrumental had achieved a top radio spot and sold over 90,000 copies.

In 2004, Johnny had two more singles, 'Get Inside' and 'I Had to Laugh' and the instructional DVD, 'Taste, Tone, Space' in 2006, which are approaching combined sales of $150,000.

Johnny's signature guitar, an instrument with a pure distinctive tone is a Gibson Les Paul., ES - 335, Firebird and ES-295 models. The Gibson Company, located in Nashville, Tennessee was so blown away by Johnny A's sound that they named a guitar after him, 'A Johnny A Signature Model.'

"Creating an artist signature model guitar is not something we take lightly," said Gibson's Senior Vice President Rick Gembar.  "But sometimes a player comes along who is not only a musical innovator and artist of the highest-caliber, but has innovative ideas about designing a totally new instrument.  And that's Johnny, who just knocked us off our feet."

The guitar was first introduced in 2003 and it has become one of the company's most popular and successful models.

With Johnny's incredible talent and ever-expanding skill, this may be just the beginning of a career that will span many more decades in the music industry. 

Catch Johnny A on Saturday at Chan's for two shows at 8 and 10 p.m.