At Large

Why not cook full-time? “Life’s too short,” he says. At age 52, Johnston is also a versatile musician—moving easily between playing Bartók on viola for the Orchestra of the Eastern Shore and wielding his red Fender Telecaster alongside Shore soul and bluesman Burley Strand—and composer, having produced and performed scores for films and art installations, notably the electronic Korean rap opera Seoul House. He teaches guitar (and cooking) locally and travels frequently. Here at home, most weekdays, he’s out on the bay farming oysters. Set-aside family money keeps Johnston from the yoke of full-time employment, but he stays busy and enjoys his eclectic jobs. After a good night with Strand, he quips, “I don’t write checks.”

The fourth William Allan Johnston, born in Winchester, was educated at the University of Virginia. Only Farm has been in his family since 1947, mostly as a vacation house—hunting, fishing and partying—until 1987, when Johnston returned from Parisian studies and moved in. He didn’t intend to stay, but more than 20 years and many renovations later, he’s still here. With help from his younger brother, Richie, Johnston built an addition to the Wise house—an enormous living room with a Rumford fireplace and window-walls on three sides, overlooking Poplar Cove. “Richie did most of the building,” Johnston explains. “If something started to look fishy, we’d take the afternoon off and go fishing.” One sees in the living room a harpsichord, a piano, a Whirlwind pinball machine, a restored vintage Gibson parlor guitar with liquid gold tone, and several couches and chairs surrounding the fire—a perfect place to retire post-paella.