Johnny Fuller, born in Mississippi in 1929, was nevertheless primarily associated with California blues, although his recordings over the years covered a remarkable range of musical bases within the broad categorisation of blues.

Not to be confused with, nor was he related to, the American blues musician Jesse Fuller, Johnny also recorded for an extraordinary number of record labels, many of them small under-resourced independent operations on the west coast as he played around the San Francisco Bay area during the 1950s, which helps to explain his failure to register the chart hits that many of his recordings undoubtedly merited.

This 53-track collections features just about all his A- and B-sides on the Jaxyson, Flair, Rhythm, Hollywood, Money, Aladdin, Imperial, Irma, Specialty, Veltone and Art-Tone labels during this era, several of them owned by serial entrepreneur Bob Geddins. In the course of recording in so many different environments, with different groups and different producers, his music changed, developing from the gospel-flavoured country blues under the name of Brother Johnny Fuller through hard-edged guitar-based blues to horn-heavy R&B, and later flirting with out-and-out Elvis-impersonating rock ’n’ roll, with various other shades of blues visited along the way.

His best known recording, Haunted House, was later covered with some success by Jumpin’ Gene Simmons. His other better known tracks were All Night Long, You Got Me Whistling and Johnny Ace’s Last Letter. He was a talented singer, guitarist and songwriter, and this varied set offers an entertaining showcase for the qualities of an artist who should have had more success than he enjoyed. He worked as an auto mechanic from 1968 to 1983 and died of lung cancer in California, in 1985, aged 56.

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TRACKS

Disc 1
Track	Title	Artist
1	I Must Tell Jesus	Brother Johnny Fuller
2	From Bad To Worse (Incomplete)	Johnny Fuller
3	Buddy	Johnny Fuller
4	Hard Times	Johnny Fuller
5	Back Home	Johnny Fuller
6	It's Your Life	Johnny Fuller
7	Prowlin' Blues	Johnny Fuller
8	Johnny's Low Down Blues	Johnny Fuller
9	These Young Girls	Johnny Fuller
10	I Walk All Night	Johnny Fuller
11	Fool's Paradise	Johnny Fuller
12	First Stage Of The Blues	Johnny Fuller
13	Beggar Man Blues	Willie B. Huff & J. Fuller Orchestra
14	I've Been Thinkin' And Thinkin'	Willie B. Huff & J. Fuller Orchestra
15	Train Train Blues	Johnny Fuller
16	Bad Luck Overtook Me (Black Cat)	Johnny Fuller
17	Lovin' Lovin Man	Johnny Fuller
18	Remember	Johnny Fuller
19	Mean Old World (Troubles)	Johnny Fuller
20	How Long	Johnny Fuller
21	Roughest Place In Town	Johnny Fuller
22	Comin' Round The Corner	Johnny Fuller
23	My Mama Told Me	Johnny Fuller
24	Too Late To Change My Mind	Johnny Fuller
25	Sunny Road	Johnny Fuller
Disc 2
Track	Title	Artist
1	I Can't Succeed	Johnny Fuller
2	Johnny Ace's Last Letter	Johnny Fuller
3	Cruel Cruel World	Johnny Fuller
4	My Heart Beats For You	Johnny Fuller
5	Garden Of Memories	Johnny Fuller
6	Mercy Mercy	Johnny Fuller
7	Sister Jenny	Johnny Fuller
8	My Heart Is Bleeding	Johnny Fuller
9	Don't Slam That Door	Johnny Fuller
10	Restless	Johnny Fuller
11	Deep In My Soul	Johnny Fuller
12	Whispering Wind	Johnny Fuller
13	Miss You	Johnny Fuller
14	Stop, Look And Listen	Johnny Fuller
15	Weeping And Mourning	Johnny Fuller
16	Strange Land	Johnny Fuller
17	First Stage Of The Blues	Johnny Fuller with Candy Man McGuirt and His Band
18	No More, No More	Johnny Fuller with Candy Man McGuirt and His Band
19	You Got Me Whistling	Johnny Fuller
20	All Night Long	Johnny Fuller
21	Haunted House	Johnny Fuller
22	The Mighty Hand	Johnny Fuller
23	Swinging At The Creek	Johnny Fuller
24	Many Rivers, Mighty Seas	Johnny Fuller
25	She's Too Much	Johnny Fuller
26	No More Loving	Johnny Fuller
27	The Power	Johnny Fuller
28	Wyatt Earp Shot Stagger Lee	Johnny Fuller