He Was Taught “Crossroads” by Eric Clapton Himself — Now Will Johns Is Writing His Own Legacy

Listen here as we celebrate Guitar Heroes in the month of August.

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There are guests, and then there are guests whose life story sounds like it was invented for a movie. Will Johns is the latter.

His father, Andy Johns, produced Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones. His uncle, Glyn Johns, is one of the most legendary engineers and producers in rock history. His aunt, Pattie Boyd, inspired some of the most famous love songs ever written — for both George Harrison and Eric Clapton. And Clapton himself taught a young Will his first guitar riff, straight off the opening of “Crossroads,” in a home studio nobody else seemed to be using.

But this episode isn’t really about proximity to greatness. It’s about what Will did with it — and, just as interestingly, what he did without it. Before music pulled him back in, he spent years running a charter fishing operation off the south coast of England, navigating shipwrecks in the English Channel and holding strangers’ dreams of the “big catch” in his hands. It took a chance call from a blues journalist — about a song he didn’t even know was getting airplay — to pull him back to the stage.

In our conversation, Will opens up about:

• Growing up around the Beatles-adjacent world of his uncle Glyn, and the deconstructive, ego-stripping production style of his father Andy

• The full story behind learning “Crossroads” from Eric Clapton — and being deliberately left to figure out the rest himself

• His sixth studio album, born from a moment of stark loneliness on top of a volcano in Guatemala, and the song “Loneliest Man on Earth” that came out of it

• A remarkable cast of collaborators on the new record: session legend Steve Ferrone,Willie Dixon’s granddaughter Tomiko Dixon (who duets on “Spoonful”), his own son Charlie Boyd-Jones on guitar, Indian Idol breakout Amritha Rajan, Indiana-based vocalist Lauren Dukes, and the Russian folk group Oyme

• A harrowing car accident in Russia after performing in a maximum-security women’s prison for a Discovery Channel documentary

• Being inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame at Buddy Guy’s Legends in Chicago — and getting a solo alongside Buddy Guy himself

• Why he finally sat down to co-write his autobiography with Marshall Terrell, and what mortality had to do with the timing

• His move from the UK to Florida to take on the American blues scene

And of course, the Dream Walk: who would Will walk with, living or dead? His answer might surprise you — it’s someone a little closer to home than you’d expect.

Listen to the full episode wherever you get your podcasts.