In April 2005, Alabama PBS released RICHARD JOHNSTON: HILL COUNTRY TROUBADOUR, a feature documentary produced by Max Shores. The film has been Officially Selected by ten film festivals and has received two 1st place awards and one 2nd place award.
Richard, with Bradd Webb and Tony Ray Adams, recorded a small queue for the 2006 motion picture "Come Early Morning" written and directed by Joey Lauren Adams. Starring: Ashley Judd, Jeffrey Donovan, Stacy Keach, Diane Ladd, Laura Prepon and Tim Blake Nelson. The film was an Official Selection for the 2006 Sundance Film Awards.
He briefly toured as opening act for THE KILLERS in 2005. They contacted him after seeing his street show.
Richard and John Lowe designed an instrument that has made it's way into the hands of stars like Robin Williams and Lyle Lovett. They named it a HILL HARP and, as R.L. Burnside stated in Richard's documentary, "it sounds like a nuclear bomb". Featured on track #5 of Foot Hill Stomp, It's fitting that R.L.'s grandson and drummer, Cedric, accompanied Richard as he introduced the world to this ground-breaking instrument.
Continuing a tradition his father started many years before, Guy Gilchrist, artist and owner of the nationally syndicated comic-strip "Nancy And Sluggo", penned "Foot Hill Stomp" into one edition.
Discography-
Richard Johnston - Foot Hill Stomp - Released in 2002, Handy Nominated and one of the top selling independent blues records in history. Special Guests include: Jessie Mae Hemphill, Cedric Burnside, Mark Simpson, Robert "Nighthawk" Tooms.
Richard Johnston - Official Bootleg ..1 - 7 live recordings (approx. 38 min) from: 2003 Handy Awards Ceremony. 2003 radio performance - NRK - in Trondheim, Norway. 2003 at Humphrey's Bar and Grill - Huntsville, AL. 2003 live session at Young Avenue Sounds.
Cassandra Wilson - Belly Of The Sun - Released in Feb, 2002. Richard plays slide guitar on track #5.
Black Oak Arkansas - The Wild Bunch - background vocals - "Jim Dandy To The Rescue" (1999).
