Artists:Little Johnny Kantreed

Little Johnny Kantreed was born and raised in the Nashville, Tennessee area. In the late '70s, solo artists were a dime a dozen in Nashville. So he packed up his powder blue Vega and moved to the Daytona Beach area of Florida, where he played happy hours and opened for beach bands. He decided that a steady paycheck would be a good way of life, and entered the radio scene. He DJ'd morning drive times in Greenville, Kentucky and Winchester, Virginia. Upon realizing that he liked Tennessee better than the nomadic life of radio, he landed back in Nashville.

Kantreed at Cocktail's Bar & Grille in Nashville, Tennessee. (photo by V. Jon Nivens)

Back in his hometown, he hooked up with a couple of bands, playing drums for The Color Flag and Horse Of A Different Color. But it was the blues was in him. Since then he has played at The Arkansas Blues & Heritage Festival (formerly the King Biscuit Blues Festival) in Helena, Arkansas, The Ground Zero Blues Club and the Juke Joint Festival in Clarksdale, Mississippi, along with King's Palace on Beale Street in Memphis, The Slippery Noodle Inn in Indianapolis and the Blues Stage at The Beanblossom Blues Festival in Beanblossom, Indiana. He has shared stage with Americana artists Annie Mosher and Cheley Tackett, blues artists Blue Mother Tupelo, Patio Daddio of Delicious Blues Stew, Jimbo Mathus, Wichita's Moreland & Arbuckle, Indianapolis based The D-Moans, The Blues Attic Ramblers and "The Southpaw from Arkansas", guitarist Michael Holloway.

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