Chuck Johnson & Charlyhorse

Overview

We've been waiting awhile for the emergence of the entertainer whose experience and stories can put a rich patina on our own remembrances, an artist whose music at once feels like home but opens a new world of thought and feeling.  His upbringing in a small Southern town and the roads he traveled inspired vivid stories populated by trailer-park queens, hellfire preachers, shuttered cotton mills and down-home philosophers. His humorous, high-energy performances paced by wistful ballads of lost love, life and death are both engaging and memorable, leaving the crowd talking long after the show.  If Tom Sawyer had grown up to be Woody Guthrie, the result would be Chuck Johnson, “the Charlyhorse.”   Firmly anchored in the American roots tradition, Chuck’s songwriting draws on the legacy of his musical heroes, including John Prine, Bob Dylan, Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt, but his background in rock, country, R&B and soul gives each tune its own unique feel.   Onstage, the upshot is compelling, soulful performances — spirited rockers paced with wistful ballads of lost love, life and death. Chuck’s presentation, salted with wry humor, invites the audience into the act.  With a voice like smooth Tennessee whiskey, lyrical imagery of surprising sophistication and a passion for his work, Chuck draws his listeners into musical movies they’ll be talking about long after the show’s over. His creative approach to the enduring Southern roots genre places him in the front rank of emerging singer/songwriters.