Luther “Guitar Junior” Johnson, a premier blues artist from Chicago’s music scene, will perform at 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 6, at the Calais Middle School during the International Festival week. Doors will open at 7 p.m., and music will begin with the Bangor-based blues band, The Streetwalkers, at 7:30 p.m.

This is the third year a blues festival has been part of International Festival week. In 1991, Bill Tracy Productions of Calais began the festival tradition with top blues talent James Cotton. That successful performance was followed by a performance by the King of Blues, Elvin Bishop. This year, Tracy Productions has tapped Johnson.

Born in Itta Bena, Miss., Johnson arrived in Chicago in the mid-’50s.

At around the same time, the West Side guitar style, a style of playing alternating stinging single-note leaders with powerful distorted chords, was being created mostly by Magic Sam and Otis Rush. Originally developed because their small bands could not afford both lead and rhythm guitar players, this style grew into an important contribution to modern blues and rock, influencing such notables as Eric Clapton and Mark Knopfler.

Johnson served a long sideman apprenticeship with both Magic Sam and Muddy Waters, while he developed into a strong performer in his own right.

In the late 1970s, Johnson released his first two albums for France’s “Black and Blue” label, and in the United States, the Nighthawks featured him on three of their Adelphi albums under the nickname “Guitar Junior.”

His rendition of “Walkin’ the Dog,” included on the Atlantic Records anthology album “Blues Explosion,” and recorded live at the Montreux Festival’s Blues Night, won a Grammy Award in 1984.

Johnson’s first domestic album as leader, “Doin the Sugar Too,” was released soon after on Chicago’s Rooster Blues label. The album was voted number four Contemporary Blues Album of the Year.

His “I want to Groove with You,” was released on the Bullseye Blues-Rounder label in the fall of 1990 to rave reviews.