Tom & Diane Johnson
Tom and Diane Johnson have been married nigh on to forty-six years and have been musical partners for the last twenty or so. Both of them enjoy other types of music, but their hearts belong to bluegrass. Diane plays the acoustic “Doghouse” bass and provides either lead or tenor vocals on a lot of the band’s songs. Tom plays mandolin and provides the baritone on most of the three part harmonies. Tom and Diane founded Crossing the Gap along with Mike Hipp about twenty years ago.
Diane is originally from Chicago, where she grew up. She’s well adapted to the South though, so don’t feel bad if you thought she was a spunky southern gal. Tom was born in Walker County, Alabama. When he was about seven, his family moved up north, where he met Diane. They were grammar school friends and high school sweethearts. Eventually he brought her back with him to the South, so Diane has lived here for the past thirty-six years. Diane’s career as a bass player was serendipitous; she wasn’t planning on becoming part of the band and didn’t even own a bass when the group’s then bass player quit one Tuesday. Tom knew of a bass for sale in Springville, Alabama. He drove out to get the bass on Friday. With lots of practice, two weeks later Diane joined the group onstage.
Tom is the group’s mandolin player. In addition to playing the mandolin, Tom has been building them since 1989. He has built “four and a half” so far. One of them, “Killer” is owned by Mike Hipp. Tom named “Killer” for its “Killer” sound. Currently Tom plays a Rattlesnake mandolin; his is #001 – the first ever built.
Tom cites Bill Monroe as his biggest bluegrass influence. At the age of twelve, Tom was buying Bill Monroe records when everyone else was buying Elvis (okay, Tom bought Elvis records, too). Like happens too often, life got busy and he says with a touch of sadness that he “let bluegrass slip away for a while”. It wasn’t until Tom was about forty that he decided it was time to play bluegrass music. He’s mostly taught himself, with the help of some fellow pickers. He’s spent the last twenty -five years picking on banjo player Mike Hipp and trying to keep the band in line to remember what Bill would do when there is a call for tradition.
In addition to Diane and bluegrass, Tom also loves working on hotrods, going to car shows, and watching drag races. If Bill Monroe is Tom’s hero in bluegrass music, then Carroll Shelby, builder of the Shelby Cobras, is his other hero.