TEAM DRINK!
Johnny Mullenax, a 27-year-old Tulsa native, grew up in a musical family. He started playing the guitar at age 5, when his mom Janey, who played in a 50’s rock-and-roll cover band, put him on stage to play the Star-Spangled Banner at a 4th of July show. In his teens, he followed his family to the Walnut Valley Festival and Flat-Picking Championship in Winfield, Kansas. In typical Johnny fashion, he showed up with just a guitar and ended up sleeping in a standup base case.
While attending an arts magnet high school in Tulsa, Johnny met other kids from musical families, who he still regularly plays with. They started a jazz band that played a local BBQ joint every Friday night. At 18, he used a friend’s ID to get into a club where he was part of a live hip hop band backing rappers. According to Johnny, “Life is too short to play one style of music, and if you have an opportunity to cut your teeth on something else, then you should give it a shot.”
Claiming wide-ranging influences from AC/DC and The Ramones to John Coltrane and Parliament, Johnny’s style is reminiscent of Billy Strings—a sound he calls a funky country bluegrass good time for working folks.
