For more than 20 years, James “Super Chikan” Johnson has performed with an all-female backing band, “The Fighting Cocks.” The self-taught, Clarksdale, Mississippi based musician has performed at festivals across the country and internationally.
His debut album “Blues Come Home to Roost” came out in 1997, and he’s recorded nine subsequent albums, including his latest, “From Hill Country to Mississippi Delta Blues,” recorded with collaborator Terry “Harmonica” Bean.
In addition to writing, performing, and recording music, Super Chikan makes his own handcrafted instruments from recycled parts. These highly coveted original instruments have been purchased by the likes of Paul Simon and former President Bill Clinton.
His accolades include garnering the Mississippi Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, a Blues Music Award for Traditional Blues Album of the year in 2010, five Living Blues Awards from Living Blues Magazine, and he was honored with a plaque on the Clarksdale Walk of Fame in 2011.
While here in Southwest Florida in March 2025, Super Chikan stopped by WGCU for a wide-ranging conversation about his life’s journey through music, how he got his nickname, and memories of blues legends like Muddy Waters performing at porch parties on his grandfather Ellis Johnson’s porch. Those porch parties were actually a front for covert efforts to liberate Black sharecroppers. We’ll listen back to that conversation.
