In 1993, Johnson self-released a CD with percussionist Jud Martindale. Called Creatures of Habit, it caught the attention of Cuneiform’s Steven Feigenbaum. Three years later, Johnson’s home in the Ozarks burned to the ground. The fire destroyed his entire life’s work as a photographer – over 300,000 photo prints and negatives. Devastated by the loss of his art, with his photographic studio and career in ashes, Johnson decided to pursue a music career. He moved to Nashville, began gigging incessantly, and within a year signed to a major label: Capital Records’ Blue Note/Metro Blue.
Johnson’s first major label CD, a solo work called Fingertip Ship, was released in 1999 on Blue Note’s then-sister label, Metro Blue to a staggering amount of critical acclaim. The CD was reviewed in such publications as Down Beat, Jazziz, and Playboy, and sparked feature articles on Johnson in Billboard, Guitar, and Jazz Times.  Language, Johnson’s 2nd major label release, came out on Blue Note the following year. A departure from his solo CD, it featured guest artists on variety of instruments. Musicians Gregg Bendian, Paul McCandless, Andy Reinhardt, Warren Haynes, Glen Moore, Reggie Washington, Matt Wilson, Cyro Baptista, and James Wormworth had received recordings of Johnson’s guitar tracks and were asked to play along. Hearing it, The Washington Post proclaimed that “…you can bet a few jaws will drop. …There’s no way to categorize this music, except maybe by creating new hybrids…but that doesn’t matter. To do so would only box in Johnson’s enormous talent.”
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