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EP Gets Johnson on Folk Festival Stage

Artistic Director Impressed

Woody Johnson made his festival debut at the 2008 Ottawa Folkfest. His scholarly research of obscure, black American poets follows in the footsteps of folklorists like John Lomax and Dorothy Scarbourough. His research into previously unrecorded songs found on cylinders and discs intrigued Chris White, artistic director of the festival, who hired him after listening to a three-song demo CD. Woody shared the festival stage with Colin Linden, one the most successful Canadian blues performers and producers.

Said Johnson after the show,"I was pretty nervous up there - wasn't sure I could keep up with a musician as talented as Colin, but once the music started and we got to talking about the artists from that era, well, I just kind of forgot myself, and he made me feel right at home."

Woody Johnson
Debut CD Released

Campus Radio

Two Weeks in Top Ten

Johnson's new CD has only just been released, yet in a short time he has received considerable airplay, and has been listed on the roots/folk/blues charts of several campus radio stations:

• CFMU 93.3 MHz - Hamilton Top 30 Week of Nov. 10
• CFBX 92.5FM - Kamloops Top 30 Week of Nov. 10
• CIUT 89.5 MHz - Toronto;
• CJAM 91.5 MHz - Windsor;
• CKXU 88.3MHz - Lethbridge;
• CJSW 90.9 MHz - Calgary;
• CFRU 93.3 MHz - Guelph.

Ron Burd, of CIUT, Toronto, has remarked that it is "a fine collection of songs superbly recorded".

Johnson Travels

East To Record

New Songs to be Recorded

Woody Johnson is now back to Ottawa researching early Canadian children's songs as well as collecting more poetry from the 19th century, to be recorded on a new CD. “I have already written music for several more poems from that era and have several more ready to go,” says Johnson, “I will be using the facilities at Constant Sound Studio in Constance Bay, Ontario.”

Encouraged by the response from the folkroots community and the airplay he is receiving on campus radio stations throughout the country, he hopes to have a complete CD ready by spring, 2010.

“I have a collection of children's nonsense rhymes, skipping songs, clapping games - some from Canada and some from the United States. I'm planning a complete CD in this genre and my projected release date is the summer of 2010.”

Asked why Ottawa is important he explained, “Ottawa is a researcher's paradise. As well as The National Library and Archives, there are other institutions (both religious and secular) that are available to me for the research which is essential to my projects. Contacts at the Parliamentary Library make it possible for me to obtain poetry books and music books that are rare or otherwise unattainable, and the only way to have that access is to be in Ottawa when doing that research.”