John W. Johnson, aka “Reverend Johnson” and “Elder Johnson”
1937 – 2021
John Johnson was the owner of a 1972 Chevy Bluebird school bus that he transformed into what became known as the Blues Bus that he parked at the Maxwell Street Market with bullhorns mounted and blues music blasting. Painted blue with blues musicians’ names scripted on the windows, the Blues Bus became an iconic part of the market streetscape. From beneath a canopy erected on one side, he sold blues recordings from the bus with his wife Marie. John Johnson preached how during the civil unrest of the 1960s, Maxwell Street and its market were a safe haven for him as an African American. He eventually retired the bus to a friend’s junk yard for safe keeping and, in 2004, the Maxwell Street Foundation resurrected the non-operable Blues Bus with his permission and programmed it to celebrate the history of the Maxwell Street Market in an original street theatre piece performed free in front of the bus towed to outdoor Chicago venues. Interpretive exhibition panels mounted on one side provided historic context, and in 2008, the Blues Bus made its debut at the Chicago Blues Festival where it continued an annual presence through 2010 and a final public appearance on Labor Day Sunday that year at the New Maxwell Street Market on DesPlaines St., again manned by the Maxwell Street Foundation in partnership with John Johnson, its owner.
(Please read full writing authored by Alan Mammoser in 2021, Advisory Council, Maxwell Street Foundation)
https://warmearth.us/in-memoriam-rev-john-johnson/
(Please read full writing authored by Lori Grove in 2019, Officer, Maxwell Street Foundation)
https://maxwellstreetfoundation.org/news/dramatic-changes-maxwell-street-blues-bus-2019/