This is the latest from The Bluesmobile’s C.C. Rider, who spends her life venerating the founding fathers of the blues. She’s walked the crooked highways of this singing country to resurrect the voices of the past. With the dirt of the Delta on her hands, she sleeps in the shadow of the giants on whose shoulders popular music now stands.
Super Chikan
(b. February 16, 1951)
If you’re lucky enough to travel to Clarksdale, Mississippi, you’ll see some super cool, super weird guitars hanging around. They’re made of car parts, wood salvage, glass and glue, and they’re painted up beautifully. These super individual axes are the work of Clarksdale’s own treasure, Super Chikan.
“Super Chikan” was born James Johnson in Darling, Mississippi. Got his name cause as a young boy he was always talkin’ to the local birds. Back when he was doin’ all that chicken talking he started to fuss with a diddley-bow. A simple homemade guitar. When he was 13, he went to the Salvation Army and got himself a real acoustic guitar—though it only had two strings. He learned to play that two strings so well he graduated to six. And before long he was striking those six so good he was in demand all over the globe—from Norway to Japan to Africa and back.
Wanna hear why the world clamors for him? Here ya go. Super Chikan with “Hey Super Chikan.”
