Biography

Shines was born in Frayser, Tennessee, which is now part of Memphis. His mother taught him to play the guitar, and he spent much of his childhood in Memphis, playing slide guitar at an early age in small music venues and on the streets. In 1932, he moved to Hughes, Arkansas, and worked on farms for three years, putting his music career on hold. A meeting with Robert Johnson, who had a major influence on him, inspired Shines to return to music. In 1935, Shines began traveling with Johnson, performing in the United States and Canada. They separated in 1937, one year before Johnson's death.

Shines played across the southern United States until 1941, when he moved to Chicago. There, he worked in the construction industry but continued to perform in local bars.

He made his first recording in 1946 for Columbia Records, but the recordings were not released. In 1950, he recorded for Chess Records, but again, no records were released. He continued to play with blues musicians in Chicago for several years. In 1952, Shines recorded what is considered his best work for J.O.B. Records. The recordings did not sell well, and Shines, frustrated with the music industry, sold his equipment and returned to working in construction.

In 1966, Vanguard Records found Shines taking pictures in a Chicago blues club and invited him to record tracks for the third volume of Chicago/The Blues/Today!. The album became a blues classic and brought Shines into the mainstream music scene. He toured with the Chicago All Stars alongside Lee Jackson, Big Walter Horton, and Willie Dixon.

In 1969, Shines moved to Holt, Alabama, in Tuscaloosa County. Natalie Mattson, a student at the University of Alabama, learned he was living in the area and invited him to play at a campus coffee house, the Down Under, which she ran. Shines performed there several times and brought his friend, blues artist Mississippi Fred McDowell, to perform with him. These were some of his earliest appearances in Alabama after his move there. He continued to play the international blues circuit while living in Holt.

Born in 1915, Shines is one of the last people still playing acoustic Delta blues. His strong guitar sound, songs that follow traditional styles, and skill with slide guitar make him an important figure in blues history.

In the late 1960s and 1970s, Shines toured with Robert Lockwood, Jr., Robert Johnson's stepson, another of the few remaining original Delta blues musicians. In 1980, Shines's career was stopped when he suffered a stroke. He later appeared and played in the 1991 documentary The Search for Robert Johnson. His final album, Back to the Country, with accompaniment by Snooky Pryor and Johnny Nicholas, won a W. C. Handy Award.

In 1989, Shines met Kent DuChaine, and the two of them toured for the next several years until Shines's death.

Shines died on April 20, 1992, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame later the same year.

According to the music journalist Tony Russell,

Discography

• Last Night's Dream (Warner Bros. Records, 1968)
• Johnny Shines: Blues Masters, Volume 7 (Blue Horizon Records, recorded in May 1968)
• Johnny Shines with Big Walter Horton (Testament Records, 1969)
• Willie Dixon: I Am the Blues (November 1969)
• Standing at the Crossroads (Testament, 1970)
• Sittin' on Top of the World (Biograph Records, 1972)
• Chicago Blues Festival 1972 (Black & Blue Records, 1973)
• Johnny Shines & Co. (Biograph, 1973)
• Johnny Shines (Advent Records, 1974)
• Too Wet to Plow (Blue Labor Records, 1977)
• Hey Ba-Ba-Re-Bop! (Rounder Records, 1978)
• To Wet To Plow (Tomato Records, 1989)
• Back to the Country (Blind Pig Records, 1991)
• Traditional Delta Blues (Biograph, 1991)
• Mr. Cover Shaker (Biograph, 1992)
• Skull & Crossbones Blues (High Tone, 2003)
• Johnny Shines: The Blues Came Falling Down – Live 1973 (Omnivore Recordings, 2019)