Tom Johnston (musician)
| Tom Johnston | |
|---|---|
Johnston and Stage PRS
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Charles Thomas Johnston |
| Born |
August 15, 1948 Visalia, California, U.S. |
| Genres | Rock |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter |
| Instruments | Guitars, vocals |
| Years active | 1970–present |
| Associated acts | The Doobie Brothers |
| Website | doobiebros |
| Notable instruments | |
Charles Thomas "Tom" Johnston (born August 15, 1948) is an American musician. He is a guitarist and vocalist, known principally as a founder, guitarist, lead vocalist and songwriter for the Grammy Award-winning rock group The Doobie Brothers, as well as for his own solo career. His off-and-on career with The Doobie Brothers spans more than 40 years, during which time the band exhibited numerous successful styles.
Johnston is most well known for both his lead guitar and vocal role in the band The Doobie Brothers, as well as for his adaptation of his own acoustic guitar style, blending a unique strum and percussive accented rhythm at the same time on one instrument. This style, interwoven with melodic hammer-ons (Example Early Johnston Riff and Vocal on YouTube) gave Johnston an early signature sound inside of popular 1970's rock music. All the rhythm structures behind "Long Train Runnin'" and "Listen to the Music" were formulated first for an acoustic guitar, and then re-applied in similar style on an electric guitar.
Johnston was born in Visalia, California. His greatest musical influences during his youth included those of Little Richard, Bo Diddley, Elvis Presley, James Brown, and other rhythm and blues artists featured on the radio in the 1950s. After brief school stints with the saxophone and clarinet, at the age of twelve Johnston took up guitar. "I started out [on] the clarinet at seven, and I played that for eight years. I also played the saxophone for three years, drums for a year and a half, and took up the guitar when I was in the seventh grade. That was pretty much of a rebellion/image trip. But I felt at home on the guitar. I loved the saxophone and played tenor and baritone. But unfortunately, when I hung the clarinet up, I hung up all the reed instruments and just started playing guitar, and I never touched them again. I taught myself guitar and a little piano at home. I played piano on the first album The Doobie Brothers, and a little harmonica on a few others." Following the blues and rhythm styling of Freddie King, Jimmy Reed and Chuck Berry, he had formed his first band by age fourteen. Johnston recounted to Vintage Guitar Magazine that he was a "huge James Brown fan – still am. I saw him in 1962, after "Live at the Apollo" came out, and it was a life-altering experience." In his early career he played in a variety of bands, including a Mexican wedding band that played half soul and half Latin music. His interest in rhythm and blues led to his singing in a soul group from a neighboring town and, eventually, his own blues band.
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