This came out in 2000 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
As the story goes, former Mississippi cabbie and semi-trucker James Johnson earned his supremely fowl nickname for his speed behind the wheel.
Well, he may have given up the workaday road for a musical one, but as his sleek, winning sophomore CD shows, he’s kept on trucking. What you get on What You See are 10 sides of southern-fried country-blues, with Johnson laying down groove after groove of funky, soulful R&B, topped by his slick, skillful guitar lines and wild, freewheeling vocals. Sometimes he’s as clean and clear as Otis Redding; at other times he’s more like Andre Williams or Screamin’ Jay Hawkins jamming with John Lee Hooker in a New Orleans bordello during Mardi Gras. Either way, this is one funky chikan.
