Art Opening: ALL VOLS: KNOX COUNTY WARRIORS

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ALL VOLS: KNOX COUNTY WARRIORS

Pioneer House Gallery
413 S. Gay Street
Knoxville, TN 37902

Opening Reception:
Friday November 13, 2015 6-9pm

In October of 1978, my dad (a University of Tennessee alum) took me to my first Tennessee Volunteers football game at the Liberty Bowl in Memphis; a frustrating loss to Mississippi State. A bitter cold swept in as the sun set, and I got sick on the way home. I thought it was the Wendy’s, but years later I considered the plausible scenario that it might have been my first true taste of internalized, spectator heartbreak. The mood was somber, and the car savage and foul, all the way home. Memphis was the closest town of any significant culture for those of us from across the river in southeast Missouri and northeast Arkansas, so I made it there a good bit as a kid. In the coming years my dad continued to turn me on to the magnitude of Tennessee football, kindly taking me back to the Liberty Bowl when the Vols would come west for the occasional home-away-from-home game. Thanks to him I got to see Reggie White, Willie Gault, and Bill Bates play at the height of their college careers. While most of the other kids in our neighborhood wore Staubach, Swann, or Bradshaw jerseys in our sandlot, full tackle games, I was the kid in the orange #6 Jimmy Streater jersey and homemade Power-T helmet, both gifts from my dad. I wore that jersey so thin that he chose to replace it a couple years later. Even as life took me southwest, I’ve been proud to follow along and watch the Vols from afar. Through good years and bad, it’s given my dad and I even more conversation to chew on, and I’ve long been grateful for that.

I get to travel a lot, but I’ve never gotten to spend much time in Knoxville. Next Saturday I’ll finally make it to Neyland Stadium for a game. It’s been both educational and nostalgic to assemble this show, and a chance to pay tribute to some of my favorite Vols football players. It’s also a good excuse to take an overdue road trip with my dad. There are some legends missing here and there, and I accepted that possibility from the start. There are many, and I figure that’s a good problem for a football program to have. I didn’t sweat a strict to-do list, but instead went with whatever player happened to inspire or intrigue me at the time the paints were out.

Thanks to my friends Bill Bayne and Julie Belcher for encouraging and enabling this show.

This one’s dedicated to my dad.

-Will Johnson, November 2015

New Album + USA Tour Dates!

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NEW ALBUM!
“Swan City Vampires” will be released worldwide on September 25. You can pre-order it now and download the entire album instantly.

BUY IT HERE

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1. Paradise, Basically
2. You vs. Off The Cuff
3. Nameless, But A Lover
4. Call, Call, Call
5. (Made Us Feel Like) Kings
6. Pulleys
7. It’s a Pretty Fucked Skyline
8. Mulnomah
9. Thug Life Pt. 2
10. The Watchman
11. Chalked Lines/Waxed Sun

“Swan City Vampires, the new solo album from former Centro-matic frontman Will Johnson finds him in peak form. At times as beautiful and melodious as he’s ever been, at others with a primal immediacy beyond anything I’ve ever heard him do. Raw and urgent, this album is a thing of immense beauty that only gets better with each repeated listen. This could end up being my favorite album he’s ever made.” – Patterson Hood (Drive-By Truckers)

“Swan City Vampires is another fantastic release from Will Johnson. It’s melancholy, hazy but hopeful. It’s tuneful, complex, and beautiful. At times it seems to me like a fever dream, but with sudden stunning moments of clarity. I’ve been listening to it a lot in the early mornings, but I think it’s also a dusk record, as it’s shadows reveal new things each time. Scary like a vampire, pretty like a swan, buzzing like a city. Will again delights and surprises.” – Craig Finn (The Hold Steady)

“Will Johnson is one of my favorite songwriters on Earth, and this album is as literate and addictive as any of his previous work. These songs are honest and specific while remaining open to multiple layers of interpretation. The melodies are beautiful and memorable, and Will’s voice is a complex and delicate instrument. As a long-time fan, it makes me happy to know that Will is still challenging himself to make music that truly can be called art.” – Jason Isbell

TOUR DATES
Will is gearing for a very busy fall with a ton of tour dates. Tickets for the first leg of the Living Room Tour on sale now.

BUY LIVING ROOM SHOW TICKETS HERE

9/25 : Austin TX – Waterloo Records – FREE!
9/26 : Denton TX – Oaktopia Fest –  TICKETS
9/28 : Colorado Springs CO – Living Room Show
9/29 : Denver CO – Living Room Show
9/30 : Cheyenne WY – Living Room Show
10/1 : Fort Collins, CO – Living Room Show
10/3 : Boise ID – Living Room Show
10/4 : Seattle WA – Living Room Show
10/5 : Portland OR – Living Room Show
10/6 : Eugene OR – Living Room Show
10/7 : Reno NV – Living Room Show
10/8 : Sacramento CA – Living Room Show
10/9 : San Francisco CA – Living Room Show
10/10 : Petaluma CA – Living Room Show
10/11 : Los Angeles CA – Living Room Show
10/13 : Las Vegas NV – Living Room Show
10/15 : Phoenix AZ – Living Room Show
10/16 : Albuquerque NM – Living Room Show
10/18 : Austin TX – Living Room Show

We’ll see you out there!

“Murder of Tides” and “Vultures Await” on Vinyl!

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We’re pleased to announced the release of Will Johnson’s first two solo albums “Murder of Tides” and “Vultures Await” for the first time on vinyl.

Our goal was to create the best sounding albums possible for these reissues. The running time for Murder of Tides was short enough to comfortably fit on two sides of a single LP while maintaining the highest possible sound quality. The running time of Vultures Await was just at the limit of being able to fit on two sides of a single LP. Instead of trying to squeeze the entire album on a single and compromising the fidelity, we decided to spread the album out over four sides to create an a fantastic sounding double LP set.

The audio has been remastered for vinyl by TW Walsh and the artwork has been reformatted from the original hi-resoulution elements for the new album jackets. New full-color LP labels have been created for these reissues.

+ Murder of Tides: Single LP in full-color single album jacket.
+ Vultures Await: Double LP in full-color gatefold album jacket.
+ Album jackets printed on high quality uncoated paper.
+ 150g high-quality virgin black vinyl.
+ Re-mastered for vinyl by TW Walsh.
+ Pressed by Gotta Groove Records in Cleveland OH.
+ Vinyl pre-orders get instant full-album WAV and MP3 downloads.

PRE-ORDER NOW

 

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TEXAS – MARCH, 2015

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HEM LINES/PYLONS/NEW FLORA:
It’s not yet April 1 and there’s already a sweet surplus of farmer tans roaming the neighborhood. It’s a noticeably early crop this year. There’s a kid with a thousand-yard stare that I see every once in a while out on the sidewalks. He’s never without a cigarette and a 44oz cup of something. Some have talked like he might be trouble, but then again, he might not be. Safe to say we both got to the farmer tan trough fast, and I feel really good about mine. Long winter by most everyone’s standards, so the energy is understandably steady. The new noises and smells and insects are a welcome ruckus. Even you, wasp.

I’ve been in some comforting bunker of a recording thing with my friends John Congleton and Ricky Ray Jackson (Phosphorescent, The Happen-Ins) recently, and the next LP sits about half way complete. I’ll head out on the road in a few days for some shows, breaking the new songs in and ironing the old ones out over the course of thirteen shows. This will be the only tour until Fall, once the record comes out, so stop down if you’re around these areas:

April 02 : Saint Louis MO
April 03 : Chicago IL
April 04 : Cincinnati OH
April 05 : Columbus OH
April 06 : Pittsburgh PA
April 07 : Buffalo NY
April 08 : Montpelier VT
April 09 : Gloucester MA (near Boston)
April 10 : Weehawken NJ (near NYC)
April 11 : Media PA (near Philadelphia)
April 13 : Falls Church VA (Near DC)
April 14 : Baltimore MD

BUY TICKETS

CHALKED LINES/STOLEN SIGNS
I have a lot of of new baseball paintings stacked and ready for an opening at Yard Dog Gallery in Austin on Saturday evening, April 25. I suspect there will be more info as the time nears, but save the date if you look to be in or around Central Texas then.
Onward, and good springtime to all. -Will J.