Tennessee-based singer-songwriter Eagle Johnson will be releasing his upcoming album The Last Gun on July 16th.

The musician’s path to Tennessee involved a “temporary break with reality” on Easter Sunday 2010 that ultimately found him at a state-run mental health facility. While putting the rat race on pause for nearly a year, Eagle was given permission to play guitar and sing as a form of therapy. By the time he was released with a clean bill of health, he’d evolved into a genuine songwriter.

Drawn to blues and American folk music, he headed to Memphis and began playing local shows, attracting the attention of the self-proclaimed “last of the original delta-bluesmen,” Zeke Johnson (1942-2019). Zeke took Eagle under his wing as his mentor, passing on to him some the delta blues that Mississippi Fred McDowell and Furry Lewis had passed on to Zeke years before.

After cutting his teeth in Memphis, Eagle relocated to Nashville and channeled his influences into an expanded sound, playing a brand of redemptive rock & roll that nods to iconic artists of the past while plying a modern nostalgic vibe.

He teamed up with analog-based Bomb Shelter studios and began a recording project called Eagle Johnson & Clean Machine with some of his friends. Their debut album, Tennessee Beach (2017) was well praised by Paste Magazine, Huff Post, and others.

In 2020 they released a single called “Mexico” that attracted the attention of the renowned Lee “Scratch” Perry, who, working remotely from his studio in Sweden, has recently finished mixing the Eagle Johnson & Clean Machine herb anthem “All My Friends”, which came out April 20th.

Eagle Johnson is now preparing to release a self-produced home brew of spiritually and socially charged songs in the form of The Last Gun.

Big Takeover is pleased to host the premiere of the single “One Sun” from the album.

The retro-steeped track reverberates with all sorts of warm-hued instrumentation, from wavering keyboard pulsations, softly shaken percussion, noodling loops of electric guitar, and a swaying wash of drums. Eagle Johnson’s sharply passionate vocals pepper the more mellow sonic flow, as he muses about humanity and universal love.

Eagle Johnson comments, ““One Sun”… It’s another love song about inclusion… left & right… black & white… red & blue… all under one sun, one moon… figuring out how to live with each other… It’s a practice… and this world seems to need some practice… and that’s OK… I honestly thought this song was cheesy at first, but it seems to be a favorite of almost everyone I played The Last Gun record for… so, yeah… love wins again, I suppose.”

“One Sun” LYRICS
You got my heart and soul,
is it true love baby
from above?
I guess time will tell,
if it’s really real,
or some kinda jail,
but I hope it grows,
into part of the show,
for all the people,
in all the rows,
boys and girls,
black and white,
red and blue,
share the night.

I hope tomorrow,
you’ll remember,
to be kind,
you ain’t got to surrender,
together under,
one son,
we might as well,
get to the fun.

You got my heart and soul,
is it true love baby
from above?
I guess time will tell,
if it’s really real,
or some kinda jail,
but I hope it grows,
into part of the show,
for all the people,
in all the rows,
boys and girls,
black and white,
red and blue,
share the night.

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