Johnny Mannion

Johnny Mannion
Blues Guitarist

Welcome to the official Johnny Mannion website.

Johnny began playing guitar at the age of 10, by the age of fourteen he was under the spell of
"The Blues" and began to take the guitar seriously.
His older brother Tommy brought home a T-Bone Walker album and gave it to him. He was
forever lost to the sounds he heard that night.
Johnny started playing guitar at church, and formed his first band "Cornerstone" with his brother
Tommy Mannion and his childhood friend John Hutter.
In 1985 he was introduced to Texas bluesman, Tom Cat Courtney. Tom Cat invited Johnny down
to sit in with his band one Thursday night at the "Texas Teahouse".
That night after the gig Tom Cat asked him to join his band. He played with Tom Cat for six years.
Johnny left Tom Cat in August of 1991.
In 1994 he joined up with guitarist Joe Norwood and they formed "Delta Storm".
Delta Storm was a very artistically satisfying period . The band became known for the dual guitar
onslaught. Guitar harmonies and trading licks were a regular part of the show.
Issues outside the musical spectrum began to creep into the band and Johnny decided he had
enough.
Delta Storm parted ways in 1996.
In January 1997, slide master Mike "Gonzo" Gonzales called Johnny up and asked him to start a
band with him. Gonzo had a name for the band..."Sweet Blue Onion"
Onion, is Johnny's nickname, and he took an instant liking to the thought of playing guitar with
one of his hero's!
He played with Sweet Blue Onion for almost 9 years .
Johnnys current band features Kevin McPeak on bass guitar and Keithan Carroll on drums. They
are all members of Eastlake Community Church and met playing on the church music team.
Johnny has been watching these two play since 2003 and he dreamed of forming a band with
them.
When the opportunity came up for Johnny to play with Kevin and Keithan he jumped at the
chance.
Kevin introduced Johnny to Greg Bach and when they got together to play "Heaven" by The Los
Lonely Boys... sparkes flew and they each knew this was something they needed to do.
In 2003 Johnny was inducted into the Blues Hall Of Fame®
and in 2006 he was inducted as a solo artsist and namedAmbassador At Large.
Stay tuned for more from these guys!