Tommy Johnson (January 1896 – November 1, 1956)[1] was an American Delta blues musician who recorded in the late 1920s and was known for his eerie falsetto voice and intricate guitar playing.

[5] By 1920, Johnson was an itinerant musician based in Crystal Springs but traveling widely around the South, sometimes accompanied by Papa Charlie McCoy.

A significantly different version of the song appears as "Canned Heat" on the album Big Road Blues by K. C. Douglas.

This resulted in a legal settlement with the Mississippi Sheiks, who had used the melody of Johnson's "Big Road Blues" in their successful "Stop and Listen".

[7] Johnson's recordings established him as the premier Delta blues vocalist of his day, with a powerful voice that could go from a growl to a falsetto.

[3][5] Johnson was a talented composer, blending fragments of folk poetry and personalized lyrics into set guitar accompaniments to craft striking blues compositions such as "Maggie Campbell".

Zion Memorial Fund, a Mississippi nonprofit corporation active in historic African American cemetery preservation since 1989.

[13][14] The Tommy Johnson Blues Festival is held annually in Crystal Springs on the third weekend in October.

The Tommy Johnson character in the film plays a number of songs originally recorded by the blues musician Skip James and accompanies the Soggy Bottom Boys, a band consisting of the film's three main protagonists plus Johnson, on "Man of Constant Sorrow".