Will Johns grew up surrounded by rock-and-roll history but Bluesdaddy isn’t a story about glamour.
In this candid conversation, Johns talks about growing up in the shadows of legendary musicians, the complicated family legacy behind his famous name, and how the blues became more than music. It became a way through.
Will Johns on Bluesdaddy, rock-and-roll shadows, and finding salvation in the blues
Will Johns was born close enough to rock-and-roll history to hear it through the walls, but Bluesdaddy: Born Into Noise, Raised on Chaos, Saved by the Blues (Genius Book Publishing, Oct. 1, 2026) is not a book about glamour. It is about what happens after the myth fades, when the names on the record sleeves become family, absence, pressure, disappointment, rescue, and memory.
The son of legendary producer Andy Johns and nephew of Glyn Johns, Will grew up with a last name that carried both weight and expectation. Around him were figures who helped define modern music: Eric Clapton, George Harrison, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, and the Boyd family. But as Johns makes clear, proximity to fame did not mean protection from chaos.
In Bluesdaddy, Johns writes with humor, bruising honesty, and a survivor’s instinct for turning pain into rhythm. The blues, for him, became more than a genre. It became a language for grief, endurance, family wreckage, hard-won self-knowledge, and the strange grace of being saved by sound.
In this conversation, Johns reflects on his childhood, his complicated inheritance, the recognition that helped crystallize his identity as a contemporary blues artist, and the full-circle honor of being inducted into the Chicago Blues Hall of Fame.
Q: You describe Bluesdaddy as a story about being “born into noise, raised on chaos, and saved by the blues.” When did the blues first become more than music for you and start becoming a way to survive?
A: Well, I would have to say that in 2011, when I was contacted by Clive Rawlings from Blues Matters magazine in the UK, the subsequent article generated a lot of interest from the UK blues scene. Up until that point, I had always considered myself a rock, blues, and funk player/artist. From that point on, due to the recognition of my song “On My Back” and its nomination for Best Blues Song in the UK Blues Awards, this crystallized my creative vision as a contemporary blues artist, and everything seemed to make more sense... and cents! The moral of the story seemed to be: Keep It Simple, Stupid. The blues was always there inside and just needed to be recognized and nurtured.
Q: Many people would assume growing up around Eric Clapton, George Harrison, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, and the Boyd family was glamorous. What do you think people misunderstand most about being raised in the shadow of rock-and-roll mythology?
A: Well, in my case, I was raised by my mum, who had her own set of difficulties she was dealing with. We were relatively poor and relied heavily on support from her sister Pattie and others most of the time. I would spend weekends and occasional holidays at Pattie and Eric’s and be a part of that world for fleeting moments, but then I would be returned to my normal life, which was sometimes very difficult. My mum left my dad in L.A. when I was very young, so I didn’t get to grow up with the rock-and-roll lifestyle that most people assume I enjoyed. I had to parent my mum a lot of the time, as she was overly fond of getting out of it in any way she could, and as often as she could.
Q: Your father, Andy Johns, and uncle Glyn Johns helped shape some of the most important records in rock history. How did that legacy inspire you, and how did it complicate your search for your own identity as an artist?
A: Honestly, Glyn was not an inspiration to me at all. I only ever knew him as a mean and dour man who discouraged my initial attempts at songwriting and performance. I remember him saying to me when I was about 20, “If you haven’t made it by now, you should give up.” I also remember he always had the worst halitosis, the worst bad breath imaginable. I’m pretty sure no one was ever bold enough to tell him. Andy, like his brother, could also be very disparaging about my singing, saying, “It’s better when you don’t sing.” Only because Jack Bruce had told me that I could sing well was I able to ignore those negative comments, which usually came when Andy was hungover from a bender. Still, coming from such a well-known musical family, of course these days I can appreciate the drum sounds and recording techniques of both the Johns brothers. But the personal relationship dynamics were less than inspirational for me.
Q: The book suggests that celebrity is the setting, but not the story. What was the deeper human story you most wanted readers to understand about your life?
A: I wanted to get across to readers that music saved me from a life of pain and misery. We know music is a healing phenomenon that brings people of all walks of life and all nationalities together with love. I also wanted readers to understand that devotion to mastering an instrument requires a certain amount of discipline and ruthless relentlessness. The main motivation for me to complete the book was to record some of the absurdities of my life’s reality, which even I still struggle to comprehend, for my two sons, Charlie and Eddie. I wanted to help them understand some of the challenges I faced and explain a little bit about where they came from. Sometimes a father figure can come unexpectedly as a friend, and the kindness of strangers can sometimes outweigh one’s own family’s capacity to give.
Q: You write about chaos, addiction, family instability, love, loss, and road-life absurdity with humor and candor. Was there a particular story or chapter that was hardest for you to revisit?
A: One of the hardest chapters of my life to revisit was when the dark times of the pandemic hit. It literally was so life-changing. From performing with Eric Clapton at the Ginger Baker tribute concert, to the world shutting down during the tour, to getting so ill I nearly died, it was a lot. Then the breakup of my marriage and the dissolution of the family home fueled the release of Bluesdaddy, the album. Of course, now I would not change a thing. Some of the things that happened subsequently while finishing the book all combined to make for an incredibly emotional and transformational experience.
Q: Your induction into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2025 seems like a powerful full-circle moment. What did that recognition mean to you after spending so much of your life trying to become more than a famous last name?
A: The induction into the Blues Hall of Fame was such an honor and the greatest accolade I could have ever dreamed of. To then have Buddy Guy actually say of my playing, “Now that’s what you call the blues,” was immeasurably fantastic. My mum always used to say, “Some people play the blues and some people play the blouse.” It was meant humorously, but within that anecdote was a lesson that, to me, meant you have to really mean it. You can’t fake it. For the longest time in my life, I wondered if I was playing the blouse, so Buddy’s words meant everything to me.
Read Bluesdaddy
In Bluesdaddy: Born Into Noise, Raised on Chaos, Saved by the Blues, Will Johns steps beyond the mythology of his rock-and-roll upbringing to tell the much more personal story underneath it—one of family, addiction, loss, survival, and the music that helped carry him through.
Bluesdaddy releases October 1, 2026, from Genius Book Publishing.
Order Bluesdaddy today and discover the story behind the music.
