I’m sure most Syl Johnson fans thought the soul legend would never grace our shores. But funnily enough, at the age of 72, he’s decided to make his first trip Down Under next month.
For those of you who don’t know about Syl, let me clue you in. He played with blues icons Howlin’ Wolf, Junior Wells, and Magic Sam before launching his solo career. His breakthrough hit was “Take Me To The River,” a song which has since been covered by Al Green and Talking Heads.
These days kids might be more familiar with Syl’s work through the samples used by Wu-Tang Clan, Get Boys, Cypress Hill, and dare I say it, MC Hammer.
Right now there’s only two places around the country you can see this living legend. He’ll play Melbourne’s Corner Hotel on February 14 and Perth’s Charles Hotel on February 21. Hopefully more shows will be added for those of us in other states!
Image source: Masahiro Sumori @ Wikimedia Commons