Listen Up: One-man band gets audience into his act

By Michael Donahue

Friday, July 3, 2009

Richard Johnston's one-man band is an institution on Beale Street. People gather in front of him while he plays guitar, drums and sings -- all at the time same. They dance and talk to him. The audience gets larger during the evening.

By playing the drum with bare feet, Johnston achieves the sounds of the kick and bass drums and tambourine. His one-man band beat out musicians from around the world to win the Blues Foundation's 2001 International Blues Challenge.

Saturday night, the one-man band, which began on Beale in 2001, will become a group of performers, but they'll still play on the street in front of The New Daisy. Johnston is going to tape a pilot of an entertainment show titled "Unmanageable," which will feature himself along with comedians, other musicians and Beale Street talent. He plans to feature the show on his Web site, richardjohnston.com.

"It was a hit when I played the drums with my feet 'cause it's neat to see somebody enjoying that much music all by themselves in a sense," Johnston said. "I was able to play the music the way I wanted to play it with the ferocity I wanted to play it with. And there was just one guy on the bus, so to speak. So, it was a good start."

But, he said, "I've gotten lonely out there by myself. I've also seen a lot of opportunity for more of a vaudeville or a revue."

He got the idea to tape his street show about two years ago. "It's not just me. It's about these people. You see them come out of their shells. That is absolutely integral to what I'm doing. You can't really film one without the other. So, I thought, 'Well, there you've got a basis for a show.'"

The show will feature actor/comedians/ musicians Stephen and Michael Kline and Randall Holcomb. He wants the comedians to interact with the audience. "I like to really connect with the people. Get inside. Bring something out of them. So, I wanted the comedy to be the same.

"I want to see the largest variety of people I can see. ... I want to throw what I think to be the best American world music I've ever experienced, which is North Mississippi hill country blues, at them and entertain them all."

He likes hill country blues because it's unstructured. "You never know where it's going. It's as complex and wonderful as people are themselves when they're in a large group. It's the perfect music to play 'cause it's chaos."

Richard Johnston's "Unmanageable" show

8 p.m. Saturday under the marquee at The New Daisy Theatre, 330 Beale. Free. An after-party at 10:30 p.m. will be held inside the New Daisy. Admission to the party is $5.