David Johnson

Silent Strings

David Johnson (1930 - 1997) lived in Elba, Alabama and was a musician and a visionary artist. He was well described by Swedish blues researcher Bengt Olson who wrote,” David lives in a block-house…...

David Johnson (1930 - 1997) lived in Elba, Alabama and was a musician and a visionary artist. He was well described by Swedish blues researcher Bengt Olson who wrote,” David lives in a block-house… he’s probably the most amazing man I’ve seen. A technical wizard for sure. He’s got little education and works out his creations with little or no help from what other people have found out before him. Builds airplanes and robots out of second hand refrigerators and car parts- in fact most anything you can imagine. In his garden, along the road, is a line of dummies driving imitations of airplanes and buggies, getting their power from the winds. David knows a lot about herbs and their medical use, all of which he learned from his father who was an old herb doctor himself… He carries a pocketful of harmonicas in different keys all the time. On Saturday afternoons he blows with a white rock band outside Bradshaw’s Grocery… However, most of the time David Johnson’s brain is busy working towards fulfillment of his master plan, a rocket.”

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