In the summer of 1996, Johnny was working through a plague of setbacks including a stolen truck, a dead van and the theft of a treasured guitar. He was also recording original material and was optimistic that he’d have an album, titled “Puttin’ on the Road," out by Labor Day of that year.

No such luck. With the album partially recorded, various partnerships and plans fell apart. Over the next few years he searched for a friendly studio where he could finish the project on the same kind of equipment he'd started it on.

As things panned out he ended up buying the necessary gear from a colleague and setting up his own home studio. By December of 2003, Barbato was finally putting the finishing touches on the album.

It was worth the wait. Eleven tunes featuring great vocals, electric blues guitar lead, and acoustic guitar accompaniment with some harmonica and keyboard sprinkled into the mix. This is toe-tapping, shake your booty music that will have you grinnin' and sayin'.....Yeah, Go Johnny Go!

Johnny Barbato is a regular at the infamous Flora-Bama Lounge which is in the process of rebuilding after receiving heavy damage from Hurricane Ivan.

Portions of the above taken from a Mobile Register interview in March, 2004.
Johnny's website is at www.johnnybarbato.com.
The Flora-Bama has a website at www.florabama.com.

Tunes on Johnny Barbato & The Lucky Dogs
1) Baby, Baby
2) Angeline
3) If It Ain't One Thing
4) Down To The River
5) Baby's Gone
6) Just For You
7) Puttin' You On The Road
8) In Time Of Need
9) Runnin' Back To You
10) Loan Me A Dime
11) Instrumental
12) On The Run