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THE BiTS INTERVIEW: JOHNNY IGUANA

Brian Berkowitz, known professionally as Johnny Iguana, is

an American Chicago blues pianist, singer and songwriter.
He has recorded albums with Junior Wells, Carey Bell, Koko

Taylor, Lil' Ed Williams, Eddie Shaw, Matthew Skoller, Lurrie

Bell, Carey Bell, Oh My God, and the Claudettes among many

others.

Ian McKenzie spoke to him on the telephone.

JI: Hello.

BiTS: Johnny. Hello. It's Ian McKenzie.

JI: Hi, nice to meet you.

BiTS: Okay, let me tell

you what I want to do. I
want to talk to you
about your background,

first of all, and then
something about the
new record that you've

got out, okay?

JI: Great.

BiTS: Tell me, first of

all, how did the blues
find you?

JI: Well, I think it's probably fairly common, the influence that my uncle had was key.

He grew up loving blues and jazz and actually has worked a long time in the music
business and worked on a lot of jazz greats in particular, and actually he was in Boston
when he was young. He had a house band that would have people like Otis Rush sit

in when he came to Boston. He knew I was into Led Zeppelin and AC/DC and so he
kind of gave me some ‘corrective’ mailings. I actually remember going to see his band
play in Boston when I was a teenager. I think I requested a Led Zeppelin song, so they

played the Willie Dixon song ‘You Shook Me’.

So he mailed me in the US mail, Junior Wells “Hoodoo Man Blues”, Jimmy Smith's
“Organ Grinder Swing” and a cassette tape that he did a mix of, I remember Lonnie