Jontavious Willis

He is one of today's most brilliant bluesmen, heir to an authentic and sincere tradition! The living legend Taj Mahal describes him as ‘Wonderboy’ and ‘the Wunderkind’. Every generation, a young bluesman bursts onto the scene and sends a shockwave through the blues community.

Jontavious Willis could well have that effect on people. The 22-year-old multi-instrumentalist has released a new album, Spectacular Class.

Through original lyrics written by Willis himself, this talented musician delivers a timeless album that features every type of blues: Delta, Piedmont, Texas and Gospel.

Originally from Greenville, Georgia, Willis grew up singing gospel music at Mount Pilgrim Baptist Church with his grandfather. From a very young age, he had the talent and the passion for music.

At the age of 14, he came across a YouTube video of Muddy Waters playing ‘Hoochie Coochie Man’ and was instantly hooked on the blues. The living legend Taj Mahal describes him as ‘Wonderboy’ and ‘the Wunderkind’. In 2015, Mahal asked Willis to join him on stage.

That appearance provoked a roaring response from the audience and led Willis to bigger stages and greater opportunities, including opening for certain dates of the TajMo tour, alongside his musical mentors Taj Mahal and Keb’ Mo’. Many of Willis’s fans regard him as an old soul.

His style of playing the instruments and his voice touch the very roots of country blues. He brings back the true soul of the music. One newspaper headline once described him as ‘a 70-year-old bluesman in a 20-year-old’s body’.

Spectacular Class is the follow-up to his first album, Blue Metamorphosis, released in 2016, which received glowing reviews from magazines such as Living Blues and Blues & Rhythm.