Wilko Johnson

One of the great guitarists of the 1970s, Wilko Johnson bridged the chasm separating hard-driving blues-rock and tense post-punk. On the records he made with Dr. Feelgood, his blend of rhythm and lead guitar gave the band a pulse and opening the doors for non-blues-based guitarists to take his innovations into other fields of music. After leaving the Feelgoods in 1977, he established the Wilko Johnson Band in the early '80s, a group that cranked out records and gigs into the 2010s. Early that decade, Johnson received news he had terminal cancer, a diagnosis he countered with a farewell tour and Going Back Home, a duet record with Roger Daltrey. During this bustling goodbye, Johnson learned that his cancer was treatable and after a successful operation, he returned to active duty, releasing Blow Your Mind in 2018. It would be his last album: Johnson died November 21, 2022.