Johnny Madsen is a Danish musician, banjo player and songwriter with a career spanning more than two and a half week. Starting out in the 1970ies in the northernmost areas of the main peninsula, Jutland, in Denmark, he was led astray by American blues music telling him of even greater dread and despair in even more disparate areas in the faraway U.S.

Having contributed with his own material to an album with bluegrass outfit La Porta Band in 1981, he was encouraged to try his luck on his own, leading to his solo debut in 1982, "De tørre er de best ... (men våde er de flest ...)" (en.: The dry ones are the best, but the wet ones are more common - referring to (stealing) N. Jutland delicacy stockfish).

Madsen has been a favorite of the Danish live music audience since his debut and his lyrics enjoy as deep a scrutiny as his concerts enjoy draft beer-drenched celebration (or almost...).

Dude paints, too.

In Danish from johnnymadsen.dk : Johnny Madsen er født den 31. marts 1951 i Thyborøn. Han startede sin musikalske karriere i lokale bands i Thyborøn/Lemvig-området. Midt i 70′erne var han medlem af spillemandsgruppen Rumlekvadrillen, som udsendte tre albums, der i dag betragtes som samlerobjekter. Siden var han med i bluegrass-ensemblet La Porta Band, der udgav en plade i 1981. Madsens sange på denne plade resulterede i, at han blev opfordret til at gå solo, og han debuterede under eget navn i 1982. Siden da er det udelukkende gået fremad for Madsen, og i dag er han blandt de store etablerede navne – ikke mindst på live-scenen. Johnny Madsen har også udgivet sammen med Peter Belli, Nanna og Billy Cross under navnet Hobo Ekspressen, hvor de i 1989 fik et stort hit med “En at bli’ som.” Madsen er endvidere også en respekteret kunstmaler.