Although the former Aucklander has lived in Los Angeles for more than two decades, he draws enthusiastic audiences whenever he returns home. It’s a following he earned, as he said in 2009, after “all those years of shitty pubs and many, many miles up and down the country”. Without apparent effort, Johnson refashioned himself from jazz nightclubs to mainstream concerts, cult artist to radio favourite, tipsy raconteur to observant writer.