John Mooney was born April 3, 1955, in East Orange, New Jersey, and raised in Rochester, New York. He left home at 15, and a year later met Son House — the Mississippi Delta bluesman who became his mentor, taking the teenager under his wing and shaping his driving slide style and vocal sound. Mooney moved to New Orleans in 1976 and was soon gigging across the city’s R&B circuit with Earl King, the Meters, Snooks Eaglin, and Professor Longhair, with whom he worked for some time. Out of those two educations — the Delta and the Crescent City — came his signature sound: acoustic-born Delta blues adapted to the electric guitar and set to a syncopated second-line beat.
Blind Pig Records released his debut, Comin’ Your Way, in 1979. In 1981 he formed his own band, Bluesiana, and has been recording and touring with it ever since — across the U.S., Europe, Japan, and Australia, with invitations to the Montreux Jazz Festival, the Newport Folk Festival, the Chicago Blues Festival, and a yearly appearance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
