Keg Johnson
This Week In Texas Music History we’ll remember a musician who built cars and painted houses when he wasn’t playing with some of the biggest names in jazz.
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Trombonist Keg Johnson was born November 19, 1908 in Dallas. Johnson’s father, a choir director, encouraged his son to play music. As a teenager, Keg Johnson worked along side his father at an auto factory while performing at local clubs on weekends. In 1930, Johnson moved to Chicago to play in Louis Armstrong’s orchestra. In 1933, Johnson relocated to NYC where he worked for years with such jazz greats at Bennie Carter and Cabb Calloway. Despite his great success Keg Johnson took some time off from music in the early 1950s to paint houses. However, by the late 1950s he had returned to music full time and spent the rest of his life recording and performing with Ray Charles and other prominent entertainers.
Next time on This Week In Texas Music History we’ll pay tribute to an artist who could really sink his teeth into his work.
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