Breaks: Syl Johnson

Amongst the ranks of Howlin’ Wolf’s backing players no one will ever be able to over shadow Hubert Sumlin. The guitarist was able to carve out a solo career subsequent to leaving Wolf’s employ, but not quite the acclaim that his former boss obtained.

Apart from Sumlin, though, there were a number of other folks that came and went with Wolf’s shifting line ups. Syl Johnson was one of them. Today Johnson isn’t recalled for too much at all outside of the deejay community or around your cool uncle’s card table. But just because his star has seemingly faded away doesn’t mean that Johnson needs to be tossed aside and remain obscure.

His career persisted from the fifties up through the middle of the aughties with full length records being released as late as 2006. Of course, those earliest sides during the fifties are simply Johnson being a hired gun. But again, Holwin’ Wolf didn’t retain any slouches.

By the end of the ‘60s, Johnson’s career was launched with the release of his first long player as a leader. The 1968 disc is generally seen today as a precursor to the album that the guitarist and harmonica player is best known for – but only by those willing to dig into those dusty bins in various record store basements and resale shops.

Is It Because I’m Black, released in 1970 by the Hi Records, had a built in audience as Johnson counted Al Green as a label mate. And while the better known singer should and will always be readily identifiable, there are moments on Johnson’s second album where the two are almost indiscernible.

The short and funky “Walk a Mile in My Shoes,” like much of the remainder of the album, finds Johnson speaking on the topic of empathy. This effort isn’t as overtly related to race – at least until the end of the track. And while the song remains a broad swipe at closed minded folks, its being applied to race is pretty easy to surmise at the outset. Its short run time should only leave listeners wishing that there was an extended mix with the Hi house band working out a rhythm doesn’t end.

What listeners, fans and aficionados know Is It Because I’m Black for, though, is its rambling title track. The effort is repeatedly referenced as a precursor to the message songs that began cropping up on soul and funk records later in the ‘70s. With lines like “I wanna be somebody,” it’s no wonder why. But where the song fits into the American music experience seems to be in relation to a folk tradition.

The title track, during its seven minutes, relays a message of the disenfranchised and how any effort to rectify the situation is met with denial. There’s even  mention of broken dreams echoing Langston Hughes from decades back. But this is a message song just like Marvin Gaye would work out in a few years or one that Woody Guthrie wrote during his running through the Dustbowl during the Depression.