John Till

Who is John Till?

John Till is a Canadian musician. Born in Stratford, Ontario, Till played in local bands until the early 1960s when he was picked to play in Ronnie Hawkins band The Hawks, to replace previous members who had left to tour with Bob Dylan. After touring with Hawkins, the members of this band moved to New York City to try to establish themselves as musicians in the larger U.S. market. Till became a studio musician and was doing commercial sessions.

While doing this kind of commercial work, Till also was fortunate enough to be hired as a touring musician, working for Janis Joplin on her Full Tillt Boogie Band, as a side project with Till's fellow Canadian band members. This group had been playing mostly in the local New York Area, but when Janis Joplin's management convinced her to discard Big Brother and the Holding Company as her backing band, her record label put together a new group of musicians for her. This group, The Kozmic Blues Band, was a group of studio musicians that Joplin's label were familiar with, and could depend on to be reliable. This group recorded I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama!, which was released in 1969.