Merl Johnson






     Merl Johnson is a multi-instrumentalist from Woodbridge, Virginia - a town in the the shadow of our Nation's Capitol where a large portion our music’s history was written. As a child he attended many bluegrass festivals with his family, soaking in the music of legends firsthand. Merl received his very first guitar lesson before he had taken his first breath, when his father was teaching his mother with little Merl still in her belly.

    He has obviously learned a lot since those first moments as he has traveled all over the country and abroad playing with such legends and emerging greats as: Dave Evans, James King, Frank Wakefield, Charlie Waller, The Stoneman sisters, The Gillis Brothers, Junior Sisk, Don Stover, Joe Meadows, Bobby Hicks, Buzz Busby and Bill Harrel.
 
   Merl started playing and singing with his dad, Bob Johnson, and his jamming buddies as a little boy - playing his first radio show at the ripe old age of six. His dad always wanted a boy who played the fiddle and Merl has done his old man proud. The advantage of growing up in the Washington D.C. area around the legends and rich heritage of the bluegrass epicenter has helped to shape the outlook of this young man, perhaps one of the most prolific multi instrumentalists around today.

   He is now a huge asset to Avery County, making his home in Asheville, North Carolina.