Our love and deepest sympathy go out to his wife Susan and the rest of his family, who, like us, are just hearing what few details are available at this time.Īnyone who has seen STYX over the last couple of decades and seen my many guitar changes or caught a glimpse of my onstage guitar vaults - this was Jimmy Johnson’s domain. When he failed to show up for lobby call, fellow crewmembers contacted hotel management, broke into his room, and discovered him there. It is with profound sorrow that I am announcing my dear friend and right-hand man, guitar tech and inventor Jimmy Johnson, passed away in his hotel room in the early hours of the morning here today, July 24, 2019, on the Southern Coast of California.

Photo by Jason Powell, taken backstage recently at Sweden Rock Festival, June 8, 2019 - Jimmy Johnson in the black t-shirt in the middle, leaning on the shoulder of Todd Sucherman, with Tommy Shaw aiming his guitar at the camera, James Young in the background, and Ricky Phillips in sunglasses I had forgotten to make it unlisted when I moved back to Alabama, so he got my number from directory assistance - but it was because I was playing in that club.' When they were looking to replace John Curulewski, he remembered me, but he didn't have my phone number. The tour manager for STYX came and saw us play and came back and introduced himself. That's how I got my break - playing in a club on Rush Street in Chicago. There were lots and lots of clubs where live music was the center thing. On getting his big break: Tommy : 'Back when I was still living in my hometown, what you did was you played in clubs. If you're a musician that gets on the road a lot, the trip home or the trip out there is a lot shorter.'

The other thing is, Nashville is pretty centrally located. To go one place and get one thing done would take you two or three hours because of traffic. We lived in Los Angeles for almost 24 years. You get a certain attitude when you're driving in Chicago or New York or Los Angeles, and when you come here, you notice right away that you don't hear anybody blowing their horns. When people move here, they tend to want to assimilate into that instead of bringing the culture with them from the last place they lived.

It's encouraged - that kind of thing is just in the culture. Tommy: 'There's a Southern way of life - Southern attitudes. A few excerpts follow (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). STYX vocalist/guitarist Tommy Shaw recently appeared on 'PodKats!', a podcast hosted by John 'Kats' Katsilometes of the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Radio silence styx