Super Chikan says he was " hatched" on February 16 1951 in Darling, MS. He spent his childhood in the small towns of rural Mississippi and now resides only a stone's throw from the famous Crossroads in Clarksdale. As a child he was fascinated by the sounds of the family's chickens and soon discovered he had a keen ear for noticing the slightest nuances. Too young to work in the fields, he spent his days trying to talk to the chickens and to understand their mysterious language. It wasn't long before friends and family alike were calling him "Chikan Boy." With what has become his trademark wit and sense of humor, Chikan not only accepted the title willingly, he took it as a badge of honor. Even as a small child, Chikan displayed an innate understanding of the attention that one gains when one stands apart from the "flock".

It was only natural then, that this talent manifests itself in another area of his life, music, a family interest shared by his uncle the legendary Big Jack Johnson. Chikan's first instrument was a "diddly-bo" and consisted of a length of wood with a strand of bailing wire stretched end to end. However, it wasn't long before Chikan heard more sounds than a one string could produce, so he built himself a four-string diddly-bo. Having no key to tune the sound, Chikan used a Prince Albert can and Popsicle sticks. He would break the stick into half inch pieces and slide it under each string on top of the can. Sliding it up the can would give him a different pitch.

As much as the young Chikan loved music, the realities of poverty in the Delta demanded that he do his part in helping his family. This meant he put down his diddly-bo and pick up a cotton sack. He was only eight years old. Picking cotton would only be one of many jobs Chikan would do during his lifetime.

When he was thirteen, Chikan bought himself his first real acoustic guitar from the Salvation Army store in Clarksdale. He didn't care that it only had two strings, and it wasn't long before he taught his guitar to cackle like the chickens. As he grew as a musician he was fascinated with the styles of Jimmy Reed, Elmore James, Lightnin' Hopkins, and Slim Harpo. Since Reed's style adapted itself easily to his two-string guitar, Chikan found he liked it best.

Fate would introduce him to a Mennonite land leveler who would recognize Chikan as a hard worker and an eager learner. Welcoming the opportunity to leave the cotton fields, Chikan spent almost two decades driving a tractor as a land leveler. It was a time of hard work but it kept him out of the fields and out of trouble. Eventually, this work led to his driving a truck for a living. It was the time alone driving the truck that provided the fertile soil for Chikan's song writing to take root, and take root it did. He started pulling off to the side of the road to write down the lyrics that would come to him as he drove down familiar highways day after day. It wasn't long before he had notebooks full. When Chikan took these to friends in the music business, they encouraged him to record them himself.

While learning to find his own voice, he spent time playing with Frank Frost, Sam Carr, Wesley Jefferson, and Jackie Brenston. It was during this period that Chikan gained the experience and wisdom with which he would later present his music to the world. Chikan treasured the memories and the friendships gained during that period. Still, as rewarding and educating as the experience was, there came a time when that innate drive to "crow" on his own became too strong to resist. For deep within the heart of James "Super Chikan" Johnson beat a rhythm so powerful and so real, he had to perform it. He had to do "his" music. Developing his own style meant refusing to ignore the music he heard within even if that music wasn't like any others around him. It was the rhythm of the Delta as it flowed through his veins. It was the rhythm of the fields, of poverty, of rejection, and of hope, but most of all it was the rhythm of reality because above all else Chikan wanted to be real, authentic and not just an imitator of other performers. Though admittedly influenced by a variety of mentors, including Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, and Chuck Berry, somehow he knew that what he admired most in each was their individuality.

The philosopher Chikan recognized the very essence of the soul of Blues. That essence was a refusal to conform just to perform. The essence was individuality. He knew he had his own unique creative spark within, and he knew he had to give it voice. He also knew that blues music wasn't written for the ear alone but for the soul, and he had to give his soul voice. For while common sufferings bring people together, it is the unique expression of the individual voice that leads to a place beyond the suffering, a place of creativity, a place of renewal.

That creative spark resonated within the walls of his being and revealed itself in yet another area of Chikan's life. Added to his ability to play bass, guitar, piano, and harmonica, not to mention writing deceptively poignant lyrics, Chikan discovered his talent for painting. Again, never to be one to follow the traditional path, his art demanded its own unique canvas, and what better canvas than guitars created by Chikan himself. Using discarded five-gallon military gas cans, Chikan crafted what he now calls his Chik-can-tars. Scenes of the Delta flowed from his brush onto the instruments, and no two alike. He started creating pictorial road maps that directed an observer to another time. His Chikantars were symbols of a life of making do with what one had in order to give voice to one's talent. They are as authentic and original as the Blues itself.

Still never one to be limited or defined by anyone or anything but his own need for meeting his own standard, Chikan, the very essence of "outside the box" thinking, also added B.C. Rich guitars to his playing. When Chikan takes the stage his audiences stand fascinated as he transports them beyond themselves as he melts classic blues rhythms with the modern tones of his guitar. Chikan then leads them to another time as he switches to the haunting tunes of his Chikantar.

In 1997 Chikan produced an award-winning debut album, Blues Come Home To Roost. This would be followed by two more albums, What you See in 2000, and Shoot That Thang in 2001. Winner of five Living Blues Critics Awards and a 1998 W.C. Hand Award Nominee for "Best New Blues Artist," Chikan's music began to find its soul mates. In 2004, Chikan was nominated and received the coveted Mississippi Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts.

By: Mary Joyce Hays