The original banjo player in the progressive bluegrass band New Grass Revival, this Kentucky picker was known for whipping off solos in the five minutes and plus range in which it seemed like every possible permutation of the notes available on the instrument would be presented. Johnson began playing guitar when he was seven, but the banjo came into his life much later, when he was 25. One of his first and greatest influences from the old-time and bluegrass camp was Ralph Stanley, leader of the Clinch Mountain Boys. Johnson joined a bluegrass band named Poor Richard's Almanac in the late '60s, an era in which great amounts of experimentation and fence-bashing were taking place in all genres of music, bluegrass definitely included. A fellow member of this group and a man who would also become a great influence in progressive bluegrass on his instrument, was mandolinist Sam Bush.
