JJ Johnson: John Mayer's drummer during the Continuum era

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JJ Johnson was behind the drums when Continuum came alive on stage. He got the gig through a voicemail from John Mayer himself. He heard the album before the world did, riding shotgun in John's car.

JJ Johnson was behind the drums when Continuum came alive on stage. He got the gig through a voicemail from John Mayer himself. He heard the album before the world did, riding shotgun in John’s car. And he played the one-night-only show that became Where The Light Is the live film John said he would simply throw away if it didn’t work out. In this conversation, he tells those stories.

JJ joined John Mayer in 2003, played on Heavier Things, and held down the drum chair through the Continuum world tour and beyond from the Melkweg in Amsterdam to the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. Two decades later, you can still hear that era in every drummer who plays pop music with feel.

These days JJ plays with Gary Clark Jr., another one of the greats. We talk about that too: how both guitarists gave him the same gift trust, and the freedom to play.

This episode is part of my Continuum series: conversations with the people who were actually there when that album was made.