Richard Leo Johnson - A Quick Biography The  Legend  of  Vernon  McAlister, Richard Leo Johnson’s newest recording on Cuneiform, is an astonishing and magical  release – a sort of acoustic guitar equivalent to the classic Lewis Carroll novel, Alice in Wonderland. Early in the 21st C., Johnson’s neighbor in Savannah, GA introduced him to a mildewed National Duolian steel-bodied guitar, dating from the early 1930s. Also called a resonator guitar because its uniquely shaped, steel body self-amplified or resonated sound, the Duolian was a mass-produced, inexpensive, and road-worthy instrument popular among blues, jazz, Hawaiian musicians who worked roadside taverns in the Depression years.  Previously, Johnson had used a variety of finely-made, modern guitars – most notably an 18-string, custom made, double-necked McCullum – to express his fleet-fingered, idiosyncratic and highly innovative style. But as soon as he heard the Duolian, and discovered the name “Vernon McAlister” crudely scratched into its side, Johnson tumbled deep inside the resonator’s web, just as Alice had fallen down the rabbit hole. The  Legend  of  Vernon McAlister was born, resulting in an all-instrumental CD that can serve as soundtrack or ‘aural’ history to a written tale (readable on www.vernonmcalister.com). It is perhaps the best and most certainly the most imaginative project that this highly imaginative guitarist has ever done. Richard Leo Johnson is one of the most innovative and inspired acoustic guitarists on the current American music scene. Amazon.com’s editors called Johnson “perhaps the next in a short line of guitar greats – a line that includes [Michael] Hedges, Derek Bailey, Pat Metheny, Sonny Sharrock, and a few others,” while Playboy touted him as “the most innovative guitarist since Jim Hendrix.” More Biography >>>