The Shadow
Johnny King, owner of Sol Island Music Productions and founder of The Box Rockers, has worked with six Grammy winners in recording his albums.
King, who was born at the C&O Railroad Hospital in Clifton Forge on Oct. 22, 1974, was The Box Rockers’ band leader when he returned from Florida in 2006 to perform a benefit for Billy Berberette at The Historic Masonic Theatre.
“I moved back home on Christmas night in 2019 and established The Alleghany Highlands Blues Society a month later,” King recalled.
Since returning to the Alleghany Highlands, he has teamed up with Berberette, a bass guitarist and vocalist, to form Johnny King and Friends, a band that will perform at Carnegie Hall in Lewisburg on Fri., May 13, at 7:00 p.m.
As for the benefit for Berberette that Appalfolks of America Association organized, King remembered, “Ironically, he has become the bass player for Johnny King and Friends.”
King and Anne, his wife who is from St. Louis, have four children: John King, II; 14; Michael King, 13; Luke King, seven; and Anastasia King, five.
Johnny remarked, “We are homeschooling our kids until the public schools get the kinks out.”
He continued, “As for my music mission, it is from God, and it’s my life’s work.”
“My songs have Christian overtones throughout the lyrics,” he revealed.
Johnny confessed, “All my power comes from the Holy Spirit.”
Since returning home and working with Berberette, Johnny has been recording his songs at a studio in Roanoke.
He noted, “Both Billy and I have been recording at Final Tracks Studio in Roanoke with engineer, Skip Brown.”
Johnny continued, “We’ve produced five albums that feature 60 songs spanning across five genres, blues, country, rock, reggae and Americana.”
The Grammy winners Johnny has worked with as a recording artist are Buddy Miles, drums and vocals; Vassar Clements, fiddle; Kofi Burbridge, flute; Dirty Dozen Brass Band from New Orleans, horns; George Porter, Jr., bass; and Bobby Rush, blues harp and vocals.
For the past 25 years, Johnny, a guitar virtuoso and soul singer, has performed professionally nationwide and penned more than 60 songs.
Since returning to the Alleghany Highlands, Johnny has teamed up with the late B.B. King’s drummer, Tony “TC” Coleman who spent three decades touring with B.B.”
Johnny and Coleman hope to record B.B.’s entire catalog and release selections from the recordings every two months over a 10 month period, the time it will take to complete the release of B.B.’s entire catalog.
Coleman is both a vocalist and drummer, and he will be performing back-to-back shows with Johnny King and Friends beginning at Carnegie Hall on Fri., May 13 and at The Historic Masonic Theatre on Sat., May 14. Each show will begin at 7:30 p.m., and tickets can be purchased by visiting www.johnnykingandfriends.com.
For the show at Carnegie Hall, tickets can be purchased by visiting www.carnegiehallwv.org and for the show in Clifton Forge, tickets may be purchased at https://historicmasonictheatre.com.
