- Johnny Moeller
Infobox musical artist | Background = non_vocal_instrumentalist | Instrument =
Guitar
Name = Johnny Moeller
Born = Birth date and age|1970|10|31|mf=y
Fort Worth,Texas , U.S.
Genre =Blues ,Texas Blues
Associated_acts =The Fabulous Thunderbirds
Years_active = 1985 - PresentJohnny Moeller (born Jon Kelly Moeller,
31 October 1970 , Fort Worth,Texas ) is an Americanblues guitarist currently withThe Fabulous Thunderbirds .He had early exposure to
music in the home as his father played a littleboogie-woogie piano and was constantly listening to music. He started playing guitar in his early teen years and soon discoveredSlim Harpo andJimmy Reed in his father's record collection. Additionally, Moeller remembers hearings lots of bothZZ Top and The Fabulous Thunderbirds. Over the years Moeller's main influences have been fromFreddie King ,Lightnin' Hopkins ,Earl King andGrant Green . Lesser, but meaningful influences come from a wide variety of other blues, soul andfunk artists.He began playing in Dallas and Fort Worth
blues clubs whilst still inhigh school . During the summers Moeller and his year and a half younger brotherJay Moeller , who was already playingdrum s (and is now thedrummer with The Fabulous Thunderbirds), would travel from their home in Denton down to Austin to "hang out" with their father. The summer they were 16 and 15 their father convincedClifford Antone of the Austin blues clubAntone's to let his sons periodically sit in with the evening's performers. The first night Moeller appeared on Antone's stage was withLittle Charlie & The Nightcats . It was an event that Moeller would never forget and from that night on Antone was one of Moeller's biggest supporters.After Moeller finished high school in Denton he moved to Austin and into the music scene that is
6th Street (Austin) . He worked many of the city's well known venues and often soaked in the music of the constant stream of blues artists which Antone brought. Amongst those that played Antone's wereEarl King ,Albert Collins , andJames Cotton .Years later the "
Austin Chronicle " quoted Antone (who also helped launchStevie Ray Vaughan ) as saying: "Johnny, nobody can burn like that kid. He's got the heart like Stevie had, about the only one I've seen with that kind of heart. Johnny's so quiet and bashful, just a sweet kid and sometimes those kids get overlooked." [ [http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid%3A82275 Those Magic Moments, On the Eve of His Club's 26th Anniversary, Clifford Antone Remembers the Masters, Austin Chronicle, July 6, 2001.] ]By the time Moeller had joined The Fabulous Thunderbirds in mid 2007 he had recorded, played regularly with, or toured
North America ,Europe andScandinavia with Darrell Nulisch,Lou Ann Barton , Mike Barfield,Doyle Bramhall II , Gary Primich, and Guy Forsyth.Discography
*The Moeller brothers, along with their childhood friend Paul Size, later of the Red Devils Blues Band, collaborated on a Dallas Blues Society Records release - "Return of the Funky Worm" (1996).
*"Johnny's Blues Aggregation", Dallas Blues Society Records, (2001)
References
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