Johnston was born in
Visalia, California. His greatest musical influences during his youth included
Little Richard,
Bo Diddley,
Elvis Presley,
James Brown, and other
rhythm and blues artists featured on the radio in the 1950s. After brief school stints with the saxophone and clarinet, at the age of twelve Johnston took up guitar. He said, "I started out [on] the clarinet at seven, and I played that for eight years. I also played the saxophone for three years, drums for a year and a half, and took up the guitar when I was in the seventh grade. That was pretty much of a rebellion/image trip. But I felt at home on the guitar. I loved the saxophone and played tenor and baritone. But unfortunately, when I hung the clarinet up, I hung up all the reed instruments and just started playing guitar, and I never touched them again. I taught myself guitar and a little piano at home. I played piano on the first album
The Doobie Brothers, and a little harmonica on a few others." In his early career he played in a variety of bands, including a Mexican wedding band that played half soul and half Latin music. His interest in rhythm and blues led to his singing in a soul group from a neighboring town and, eventually, his own blues band. Johnston moved to
San Jose to finish college and started playing in bands around town. It was there that he met
Skip Spence, a former drummer with
Jefferson Airplane, and guitarist/founding member of a group that had a major influence on the Doobie Brothers –
Moby Grape. Spence introduced Johnston to
John Hartman. Johnston was a graphic design art major at
San José State University and wound up living at 285 South 12th Street, which was a musical center for San Jose at the time. == Career ==