We asked Jonny Green, leader of The Jonny Green Arrangement, to introduce himself to the Kansas City Blues Society members and here is his interesting story.
I am American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. I was born in Spain, moved to England at the age of one, and then again to Pensacola Florida at the age of five, where I grew up. I headed to Atlanta GA for college, studying for four years at Emory University. After floundering around for a couple of years I moved back to England, living in London and Brighton until the age of 31. At this point I found myself in Kansas City, where I remain until this day.
Having taken some piano lessons in my youth, and never feeling at home with the instrument, I gave it up. By the time I was a teenager, I became obsessed with the popular rock music of the South, songwriters of all genres, and the guitar. My musical style was influenced by the all sorts of music that was in my environment. Rock on the radio, Catholic and Episcopal music at church, and also the stuff that teenagers shared on mix tapes, or found in their parents record collections. That’s where I found Dylan, Paul Simon, Lenard Cohen, and so many more.
In high school I formed a band and found some success playing at the local music festival and getting some air time on a local radio station. In Atlanta I became aware of how little about music I knew, and how limited I was on guitar, and continued on my long journey toward mastering the instrument. This is when I first became really aware of the Blues. It started with BB king live at the Regal. I played that tape driving across the south so many times, from Atlanta to Pensacola Florida and back. Then I could hear the blues in Jimmy Hendrix. Making BB King and Hendrix the foundation of my blues knowledge.
For years I was interested in bluegrass music, and was obsessed by the British rock band Radiohead. I continued playing in local rock bands in Atlanta, even though we could rarely get a gig. Fighting though some tough years in Atlanta, I graduated and moved myself back to England, accomplishing in one and a half years, my Masters degree in Anthropology from University College London, the third oldest university in England, except for Oxford, and Cambridge.
Finding myself over educated and under employable, I found work in the supermarkets around London and Brighton, working as a butcher, a baker, but never did get to try candlestick making. I formed another rock band right after graduating, and failed miserably in rock scene of London. Then right about the time I turned 26, thinking I would follow in the path of my hero, Indiana Jones, I set off around the world for three months looking for a PhD topic.
I went around southeast Asia for three months without my guitar, looking for my self, and hoping for a career in academia. I came home to England with a thesis proposal about bamboo. Although admitted to the PhD program, I failed to receive any scholarship money and was despondent and depressed. Having no real career I realized my only material possession was my Martin guitar, I had a moment of spiritual realization, and committed myself to songwriting and the guitar, for the rest of my life. This idea filled me full of peace, and excitement, and I quickly started finding paying gigs when I could and busking in the streets of Brighton, often with friends for hours and hours, honing my craft.
This is where I got truly hooked on the blues. I was drawn so strongly to the blues at this point in my life, I was like a reborn person. I had a path, and a mission, finally, and I felt like myself. I would scour the flea markets of England for blues cds, and old folk recordings. I became aware and obsessed with everything form Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, Big Bill Broonzy, Sonny Boy Terry and Browny Magee. I was so moved by Bukka White, I became obsessed with resonator slide guitar. When I heard Lightning Hopkins, it was like my soul finding its way home.
My connection to the blues was not random. In the blues I saw the culture of the African American people. The people who I grew up around. From the ages of five to ten, my family hosted over 400 foster children. Many of these kids were Black, and these were my brothers and sisters through those years. I did not see a lot of my parents during that time, and my life consisted of fighting with angry kids in the yard, and trying to process the suffering of their broken homes. Although my schools had many African-American kids from many different backgrounds, my experience was with the poorest of the poor, the most neglected and abused.
The Blues has always been a way for me to reconnect with that inner child. To be with the kids I once knew. To somehow be one of them again, and to get through the hard times of my present, and to fight the sadness and demons buried in my heart and my childhood.
After a couple of years playing pubs at night, and working in the supermarkets all day I produced my first solo rock album, and with the single ‘Jenni’ went through to one of the final rounds of the International Songwriting Competition. The song also won me a full scholarship to Folk Alliance International, a few years later.
Struggling to get by, and losing my cousin and Grandma in England, it was time to move back to the states after a decade in the UK. In need of work, I moved to Kansas City where two of my sisters has recently moved. I started out helping my sister at her business, and somehow transitioned to the world of pest control, which is still how I pay the bills, with my small one-man business.
I do believe God had a plan and Kansas City was his plan for me. I somehow unwittingly ended up in one of the most vibrant music scenes in the world, where I could freely work in music to my hearts content, learning and honing my craft. Learning more blues, and working out in the bars constantly with a covers band I started called ‘My Six Gun Heart” for almost ten years, I began to improve as a musician, guitarist, singer, and songwriter. I have also managed to tour the UK once in the last decade, playing venues in Brighton, Leeds, York, Gasgow, Scotland, and Sligo, Ireland.
That brought me to my current phase of my career. After Covid, I restarted my career anew, re-branding myself as The Jonny Green Arrangement, and seemingly out of nowhere I had two years of great success, playing gigs constantly again, and winning second place in our Kansas City “Road to Memphis” Challenge the last two years in a row.
Moving forward, I am working on the balancing act of raising my amazing two children (Isaac 7, and Hazel 5), and having a strong marriage and family life, with the demanding lifestyle of being out there at night, working in song into the wee hours of the morn as much as possible. I am currently starting to tour on the Gulf Cost near my home territory, and continue to invest myself in the local blues and live music scene in Kansas City. I hope to be touring back in England and Europe as soon as possible, and am currently working on that. I thank Betty Berry and the whole Kansas City Blues Society for giving me encouragement and exposure, as I work toward the goal of one day, having just one career – that of a traveling musician.