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Johnny and The Travellin' Blues is the eponymous debut album of American singer-songwriter Jonathan Crenshaw, and American blues band The Travellin' Blues Band released on May 13, 1995 by RCA Records. Produced by classic RCA producer Benny Leenbeck, who signed the band to the label, the album features seven original compositions, and a recording of,"I Ain't Living Long Like This".

Recording sessions
Crenshaw met Leenbeck at a rehearsal session for Danny Christian on September 8, 1996, at the apartment shared by Leenbeck. Christian had invited Crenshaw to the session as a harmonica player and backing guitarist, and Leenbeck approved him as a session player after hearing him rehearse with Christian.

Leenbeck later told Rolling Stone that he decided to sign Crenshaw practically then and there after performing on Christian's "Cross of Gold" and invited him to the Sony offices in Nashville for a more formal audition. Recordings from that audition, including a demo copy of Crenshaw's "Highway Life", eventually appeared on the 2004 compilation album, "The Drifter's Trip" However, Crenshaw was unable to fully commit to being signed in, and instead claimed to Leenbeck to "Hold the contract for another year, I'll be back with a band"

On September 15th, Crenshaw left Nashville and travelled down to New Orleans. On October 25th, Crenshaw met Mikey Leo in a music shop in New Orleans, the latter would soon join Crenshaw as the Bassist of The Travellin' Blues Band. The same night, Crenshaw played a small session at The House of Blues, in downtown New Orleans. After the session, Crenshaw met drummer Keith Kingston and invited Keith and Mikey back to his apartment for an impromptu jam. By the following day, the band was formed. In March 1997, the band returned up to Nashville to record for Leenbeck.

Studio time was scheduled for April, and during the weeks leading up to those sessions, Crenshaw began writing new material alongside Leo. Even though he had at that point written a number of songs, according to Crenshaw's friend Barney Jones (Brother of his then girlfriend), "If he wasn’t writing music, he was listening to it. He had an apartment on the river, and whenever I came round, I found him listening to old records, day and night. He was madly passionate about Outlaw Country, specifically the works of Waylon.  He definitely loved Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash. Hank Williams was another big thing for him, as well as old blues artists. Often he'd disappear into his room for hours on an end with a pack of cigarettes and a bottle of whiskey. We were all concerned about what songs Crenshaw was going to write. I remember clearly talking about it."

The album was ultimately recorded in two weeks between April 5th and 19th. Despite the amount of material and chemistry within the band, it was still difficult to record, according to Leenbeck. "Crenshaw's Nevadan drawl often meant he lost syllables and words, and habitually wandered off mic," recalls Leenbeck. "Leo's bass guitar kept breaking every couple of takes, so we eventually had to piece it together with tape. Kingston was the only one of the band who didn't seem to have any problems, he just sat and drummed."

Twenty-Five songs were recorded, and four of the album's chosen tracks were actually cut in single takes ("I Ain't Living Long Like This," "Highway Life," "Them Travellin' Blues," and "'76") while the master take of "Peacock Feathers" was recorded after seven false starts.

The album cover features a reversed photo of the band outside the recording studio. This was done because Crenshaw hated the way he looked in the photo, and no others were able to be taken at the time.

Music
By the time sessions were held for the debut album, the band was absorbing an enormous amount of material from New Orleans' scene. At the same time, Crenshaw was borrowing and listening to a large number of folk, blues, and country records, many of which were hard to find at the time. Crenshaw claimed in the album inside sleeve that he needed to hear a song only once or twice to learn it.

The final album sequence of Johnny and The Travellin' Blues features six original compositions; the other track is a recording of Waylon Jenning's 'I Ain't Living Long Like This'. Crenshaw preferred this recording over all other songs they had recorded."

Of the seven original songs, "Highway Life" is the best known. According to Mikey Leo, the original handwritten manuscript to "Highway Life" bears the following inscription at the top of the sheet: "Written by Johnny C in St. Louis on the 7th of April, 1995. For those living free." Melodically, the song is based on a traditional 12 bar blues rhythm, but it is possible Crenshaw fashioned the upbeat guitar riffs from an earlier melody; like many artists, Crenshaw would often adopt familiar melodies and tunes into new compositions.

The band would leave most of these songs behind when they moved to the concert stage in late 1997, but they performed "Highway Life" during their first television appearance in early 1998. After 1998, the band rarely performed songs from their debut album in concert, and only "Highway Life", "'76" and "Las Vegas Blues" would be heard with any frequency.

Outtakes
Two songs recorded during the Johnny and The Travellin' Blues sessions were included on the band’s second album, Them Homesick Blues. These songs were "I Gotta Be Mad," "I Gotta Be Mad," and another original composition, "Love Hurts" was intended to be expanded on into a fifth album, but remains unreleased. A fourth outtake, a cover “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere written by Bob Dylan, remains unreleased.

Of these four, the most celebrated is perhaps "I Gotta Be Mad," and the third song on the next album Them Homesick Blues. Leo later described the song as "the most extraordinary performance of the sessions, as demonically driven as anything Crenshaw ever put out." Of the song, five takes were recorded.

An alternate version of "Las Vegas Blues," was later included on the live album Where Are We Now?

Reception
Johnny and The Travellin' Blues peaked at number #32 on the US Country charts, and did not receive much acclaim until years later, and both Leo and Crenshaw were soon dismissive of the first album's results. The album is now considered one of the best Outlaw Country albums of the early 90s, owing it’s success to the Travellin’ Blues opening for The Highwaymen(Country Supergroup).

Recalling the album in later years, Leo said: "Peacock Feathers – what a disaster! What the fuck was I thinking?", while in 2001, Crenshaw described the album as "An embryonic development of our later sound and music. ". In a 2004 interview, Kingsley said: "The others don’t like our first album as much as I did. Sure, it might be shit, but it’s our shit, man."

On May 10th, 1998, nearly a year after Johnny and The Travellin' Blues' release, during the band’s album tour, the band performed in Charlotte, North Carolina. The band were in a bad shape, and following that night's performance, Crenshaw decided to leave the band.

The band continued the tour, with Leo taking up lead vocals until Crenshaw's return in mid-1999, following up with their second album, Them Homesick Blues.

Personnel

 * Jonathan Crenshaw – vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonica
 * Keith Kingsley - percussion
 * Mikey Leo - bass guitar, vocals,


 * Technical personnel
 * Benny Leenbeck – production