Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Purchasable with gift card
$1USD or more
about
Played piano by ear age 5. Ran car battery dead listening to the Beatles. Taught herself guitar age 9. AM radio was her closest companion. Played trumpet age 10. Spun records endlessly. Hopeful. Obsessed with Rachmaninoff. Taught herself drums age 15. Infatuated with Gershwin. Inspired. Wrote 1st song age 16. Won piano scholarship age 17. Attended music school. Intrigued with all instruments. Sought to master as many as possible. Audition placed her under Prince's purple canopy. Did the Minneapolis funk/r&b thing. Returned to music school. Resolute. Wrote music day and night. Sang jazz in award winning vocal group. Choir received top national honors in Chicago. Featured in Down Beat Magazine. 1 of 2 awarded highest honors for outstanding vocal performance at Greeley Jazzfest. Earned Bachelor of Music degree. Happy. Wrote/recorded old school pop with original band. Played in popular alt-country band. Sustained vocal injury. Ended hopes of music career. Devastated. Doc said, "When given a lemon make lemonade." Continued writing/recording in spite of challenges. Fire destroyed studio. Defeated. Walked away from music for a season. Cathartically composed originals for her ears only. Accumulated hundreds of songs in backlog. Rebuilt studio. Determined. Resurrected songs from ashes. Recorded "Rendezvous" amongst other demos. Nearly 90,000 hits on Myspace. Now has catalog 25 years deep. Received requests to release music. Dream reawakens. Struggles with vocals but defiantly refuses to quit. Tracks mostly solo with occasional studio favors. Records slowly but tenaciously. Thankful. Her once agile voice is replaced with fragile, world weary one. Upon completion, collection will be appropriately titled, LEMONADE. "Rendezvous" is the 2nd release of many to come. Musical influences include the Beatles, Kinks, Byrds, Left Banke, David Bowie, Todd Rundgren, Elton John, Badfinger & Brian Wilson.
Sittin' by the tracks at Euston
Doin' everything I can
To try to find an explanation
For somethin' I don't understand
Runnin' out of patience hangin' 'round
Waitin' on the ticket man
Wanna get to Lime Street Station
Hey Mister can you lend a hand
CHORUS
Call it a rendezvous...something of a mystery
Deja vous…a reoccurring destiny
Rendezvous…with someone I used to be
Yes I can hear you calling me
Hear the rumble of the engine
Hear that lonesome whistle cry
Shaking of the wheels against the rails
Sweet as any melody
Hours since I've seen the sun go down
And if I gotta ride all night
Wake me up at Lime Street Station
Everything will be alright
CHORUS
~Bridge
Think it's time that I rearrange
All that I know is I'm tired of all this change
I get the feeling that I'm not alone
No one there's gonna know my name
But I know when I step down off this train
I'll be feeling right at home
*Wurli Solo*
CHORUS (repeat)
credits
released September 3, 2014
Songwriting: Phyllis Johnson (music/lyrics)/Stefan Johnson (lyrics)
Phyllis Johnson: Vocals, Wurlitzer, electric guitar, maracas, tambourine
Stefan Johnson: electric guitar, harp
Matt Weaver: drums
Bouncy, jangly power pop with a slash of acidic shadow, as the very best twee always has. From Boston, they met at band camp (not Bandcamp). Bandcamp New & Notable Jul 2, 2019
An ambitious pop song cycle about human loneliness and fear, thick with harmonies and buoyed by tight musicianship. Bandcamp New & Notable Jun 27, 2018
Johanna Samuels writes introspective and empathetic songs that explore authenticity with lovely, low-key pop melodies. Bandcamp New & Notable May 20, 2021
