Who is JITB?
Johnny in the Basement or JITB for short is a Blues Rock collective based out of NY by way of Mississippi. Frontman Will Bart began playing guitar at 13 years of age and that same year was his first time down in Mississippi. Since that first trip JITB frequents down to Mississippi to soak in the vibe and act as a sponge as we are always looking to enhance our sound while never losing the roots of the blues music which we enjoy so much.
Will Bart w/ North Mississippi Allstars Brooklyn Bowl Dec. 2018 Photo By:Jayne Tansey-Patron
Bart has had the extreme good fortune of learning from, and playing with some of the best in the biz including but not limited to Luther & Cody Dickinson (North Mississippi Allstars), Oteil Burbridge (Allman Bros/Dead & Co.), Johnny Vidacovich, Lightnin Malcolm, Garry Burnside, Samantha Fish, Danielle Nicole, Robert Kimbrough Sr, George Cintron, John Kadlecik and many more. All of these influences have had profound effect on how JITB operates musically.
Our mission statement is to push the envelope of music, specifically the blues, a genre that at some points has been lost in translation. Some people get it twisted by playing the same 1,4,5 blues over and over again. We don't settle for the minimum here in the Basement. We gonna take that 1,4,5 flip it, fold it, hang it out to dry, and re-submerge into a psychedelic gumbo in which after consuming will be nearly impossible to not move your feet.
JITB is based around Guitarist Will Bart (25) and Drummer Jordan Godfrey(19) . The rest of the band is filled in accordingly from a rolodex that has no shortage of musical prowess. Johnny in the Basement has two studio releases both of which recorded at the Zebra Ranch Studios in Coldwater, Mississippi. Home studio of Jim Dickinson producer and musician extraordinaire. (played piano on Rolling Stones "Wild horses") His sons Luther & Cody have kept the tradition going since his passing and it is an honor to be another "victim" of the Zebra Ranch! Our first EP "Chasing The Feeling" is all instrumental recorded in 2018 with Will Bart, Lightnin Malcolm, and Garry Burnside. Our sophomore release came out August 2020, "I'll Have What He's Having" is the most accurate representation of JITB's sound today. Two days back down at the Zebra Ranch in July 2019, Bart & Godfrey worked ideas off each other until four brand new JITB songs came to be. Mixed and Engineered by the great Kevin Houston (North Mississippi Allstars,Southern Ave, Samantha Fish etc..)
Johnny in the Basement 7.26.2020
“I definitely enjoyed the music. It's clear that everyone was having a good time and their pleasure creating the music communicates very well.”
— Bruce Iglauer Alligator Records
JITB's Will Bart outside Zebra Ranch Studios
Despite the pandemic Johnny in the Basement has been hunkering down and putting our best foot forward so that when we get back to playing it'll be guns blazing, taking no prisoners whatsoever. Anyone who see's JITB knows what they're capable of and almost always come back for more!