Pianist Journeys to New Heights Through Family Wisdom in debut album

Little Red Wagon

Melvin Johnson’s 12-Song Album Meticulously Produced to Travers His Life Story

(Houston, TX / August 15, 2022) In upcoming month of February,

pianist/composer Melvin Johnson will be offering a holiday gift to the world of

his debut album, Little Red Wagon, overflowing with musical narratives on family

love and the life lessons they can provide. Johnson, who once thought of himself as

only a live performer, found a unique hunger for recording and production during

COVID lockdown. Mixed with exposure in multiple genres and styles, his

education and training as a classical pianist forged a fluid and diverse composer

and producer whose time has finally come! Little Red Wagon is an invitation into

the narratives that have forged who Melvin is today, immersing you through sound

and story… overflowing with origins profound and far-reaching.

Little Red Wagon opens with “To Pop: The Explanation,” an homage to his

adopted father Robert Lloyd Parker. “I wanted to open verbalizing something to

bring the listener into my story. One year I went to an all-state competition, played

with phenomenal musicians and made first chair. I called to tell ‘Pop’ but,

unusually, he did not answer. He’d died in the hospital… This track is me having a

final conversation with him.”

Recorded with several hand-picked musicians from Houston, including members

of his band The Electro-Akoustic Trio, Little Red Wagon is filled top to bottom

with autobiographically inspired life gems. The welcoming shifting tempos of

“Perspective” are Melvin’s reflection on the Bible scripture 1 Corinthians 13:11

that begins, “When I was a child, I spoke as a child…” There’s a sizzling

danceable number titled “Black Bacon Funk.” The hypnotic waltz “Beyond the

Glass” was inspired by a summer excursion Melvin and his wife Tamara took their

son Gavin on to the downtown aquarium. Most powerful of all is “Extension,”

inspired by when young Melvin was caught stealing from a department store and

received a punishment oh-so-familiar to those that grew up in Black households.

Reflecting on all he has created here, Melvin Johnson concludes, “These first fully

arranged instrumentals do not belong in any one box, be it Jazz, Classical, Gospel,

Folk, etc. These are real life stories through music that people can connect and feel

because they are real. People recognize Authenticity. Little Red Wagon is a road

map to the next six collections of original music I’m recording in the future.”

(Detailed song by song album bio available)