For two weeks in September 2003 Poland was treated to the real Chicago blues as played by Wheatbread and the Polish edition of his band. With Lukasz Gorczyca on bass and new drummer Arek Kus, Wheatbread astounded audiences with his unique mix of all styles of Blues. When asked to comment on his Polish reception Wheatbread said, 'The Poles are a funky and soulful group. They seem keenly in tune to what the Blues is about and don't mind that I mix it up a lot and don't think Chicago Blues died after the 60s. Also, I was delighted with our new drummer, Arek, who is one of the funkiest and tastiest guys in Europe. He kicked the crap out of our previous drummer!' Wheatbread plans to go through Poland, the Ukraine and Russia again in March 2004. See you there!

Wheatbread played Enniscorthy's incredible Blues fest once again in September 2003. In addition to gigs in the evenings Wheatbread gave an introduction to Blues to over 600 students during the weekend. Also, he gave a workshop talking about the basics of Blues and let some of the local talent get pointers and talk about their own experience in the Blues. On sunday night Wheatbread topped off his show by inviting the great Scottish Bluesman Alan Nimmo to join him onstage. They played two numbers, one of which Wheatbread made up on the spot, and the classic 'Rock Me, Baby.

Wheatbread fulfills the promise to play at Giethoorn's great Blues Drive festival on August 16th 2003. The Blues Drive is one of the coolest festivals in Europe and one of the weirdest! The main stage floats out in the middle of a resevoir and you get there by boat! Also, a lot of fans are on watercraft. Wheatbread brought the Irish edition of his band and they tore up Venice of the north until three am, well past closing time!

Once again Wheatbread returned to Holland and Belgium in June 2003 for ten dates in two weeks. Wheatbread headlined a few festivals there including the incredible Delirium Blues Festival in Handzame. Ruf Records artist, Ana Popovic opened for Wheatbread with a hot set before he took over at 1am and made the tired crowd stand up and shout til the wee small hours. Great night!

Wheatbread started his own record label in 2003 to meet the need for releases from independent Blues artists. The first two releases on the label will be by Wheatbread Johnson himself and then releases from other independent Bluesers will follow next year.

Primarily gigging around the southern half of Poland, Wheatbread spent six weeks in the land of pireogi and kiielbasa for two weeks in March and then four weeks in May 2003. Wheatbread comments,'I couldn't wait to get there and meet tons of new people and hear the locals play. This was my first time working in that part of the world. I was very excited.' One of the highlights of the trips were a headline at Blues Brothers Day in beautiful Wroclaw. Wheatbread loved it so much that there are plans laid for three yearly trips to Poland.

New CD for 2003!

Wheatbread's new CD is due out in late 2003. Composed of all original material that some of you have heard at the shows. There is a wide range of tunes drawing from all the music that Wheatbread loves, especially the Blues! 'I want it to be a powerful introduction to my take on modern Blues,' says Wheatbread. 'Also, I intend it to be a killer guitar record! I won't hold anything back!'

Primarily gigging around Krakow, Wheatbread will spend two weeks in the land of pireogi and kiobabsa for the first two weeks of March.. The tour dates will be finalized soon and can be found on our gigs page. Wheatbread is working there with some of Poland's hottest Bluesers. Wheatbread comments,'I can't wait to get there and meet tons of new people and hear the locals play. This is my first time working in that part of the world. I am very excited.' Watch this page for more details soon.

Wheatbread's new CD is due out in early 2003. Composed of all original material that some of you have heard at the shows. There is a wide range of tunes drawing from all the music that Wheatbread loves, especially the Blues!

Updated Sampler Page Sampler Page

Free samples from CDs and live shows updated monthly.

New Wheatbread Interview HERE!! Interview

Wheatbread talks about the new CD and touring in Europe. Also, he describes some of the new songs from the CD out in 2003!

Kids get the Blues too!

Wheatbread ran successful programs for kids and students at the 2002 Enniscorthy Blackstairs Blues Festival and the 2002 Guinness Cork Jazz Festival. For the youngest kids he taught them some of the oldest African-American work songs and told them stories about the Blues greats while getting them to stand up and dance to the Chicago sound. Older music students heard Wheatbread's advice on being an improvising musician and playing gigs in the modern scene. Fun was had by all and he will offer more clinics and classes in the near future.

Wheatbread was in Belgium and Holland for a two week tour. Here are a couple of photos taken during the gig at Turnout.