Howlin' Wolf's birthday was last week and he and his music are still revered all over the world. He was a giant (literally and figuratively) among his peers. His, Muddy's Willie D's, Jimmy Reed's, to name my favorites, legacies will never be topped. Read on... Their have the Annual Alpine Country Blues Festival this weekend. Chcuk Hall and The Sugar Thieves are headlining. Nice. Just the name of the gig evokes pleasant thoughts of cool temps. This 150 degrees business sucks. Last week I mentioned the Rhythm Room will open on Sept. 4. That's wrong. Bob has slated to open Mecca for Aug. 27. Even better. Get out those high heeled sneakers cause we goin' out. More and more acts are being booked which harkens back to a long time ago. If you have a gig you want posted feel free to email me at jdcrawford@cox.net. I can't get into the Info account for some BS reason. The box is full and I have no idea why I can't access. Oh well. More blues. Y'all, please have a safe week. I'm so thankful they've loosedned the rules and we don't have to go around with our faces covered all the time. Still, take necessary precautions. And, have a week!! Sincerely, Jim Crawford - PBS |
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Out & About
Waiting out the virus: Cold Shott & The Hurricane Horns The Sugar Thieves Gary Zak & The Outbacks Hans Olson Rocket 88s JC& The Rockers Carvin Jones Hoodoo Casters Rhythm Room www.rhythmroom.com Nina Curri Paris James Mother Road Trio Blues Review Band Reverbnationbluesmanmike Mike Eldred www.mikeeldredtrio.com Big Daddy D & The Dynamites Facebook www.bigdaddyd.com Cadillac Assembly Line Facebook Innocent Joe and the Hostile Witnesses Facebook Chuck Hall Facebook Pop Top Facebook Tommy Grills Band Facebook Sweet Baby Ray SweetBabyRaysBlues.com
Acme Blues Band Facebook
Thermal Blues Express thermalbluesexpress.com Thursday, June 17 Mike Eldred Trio, 8 p.m., Kazimiers, Chandler Chjuck Hall (solo), 6 p.m., CheezHeadz, Peoria Carvin Jones, 6 p.m., Opa Greek Life Café, Glendale Blues Review Band, 6:30 p.m., Westside Blues & Jazz. Glendale Hans Olson, 6 p.m., Handlebar, Apache Junction Friday, June 18 Mike Eldred Trio, 10 p.m., Kazimiers, Chandler Big Daddy D & The Dynamites, 8 p.m., TC;s, Gilbert Sugar Thieves Trio, 6 p.m., Kazimiers, Scottsdale Chuck Hall (solo), 6:30 p.m., Mulloy’s Public House, Nutrioso Carvin Jones, 6 p.m., Wicked Brews, Phoenix Leon J, 11 a.m., DA Ranch, Cornville Saturday, June 19 Alpine Music Fest, NOON, Alpine (SEE POSTER) Cold Shott & The Hurricane Horns, 8 p.m., Westside Blues and Jazz, Glendale Carvin Jones, 1 p.m., West Alley BBQ, Chandler Carvin Jones, 8 p.m., Tim Finnegan’s, Glendale Blues Review Band, 6 p.m., Voodoo Daddy’s, Tempe Leon J, 11 a.m., DA Ranch, Cornville Mother Road Trio, 7 p.m., Sound Bites, Sedona Sunday, June 20 Mike Eldred (solo), 4:30 p.m., Belle’s Nashville Kitchen, Scottsdale Monday, May 21 Hooter’s Monday Night Blues Jam, 7 p.m., Bourbon Jacks, Chandler Johnny Miller JAM, 7 p.m., C99p's, Peoria |
| Big Bad Wolf
by Tony Arnold Chester Arthur Burnett was born on 10th June 1910 in West Point, Mississippi. At 13 he moved with his family across the state to Ruleville and began working on the Young and Mara plantation. He became known as a 'difficult child' which earned him the nickname "Howlin' Wolf". Five years later, his father bought him a guitar and he began playing for country functions and also 'busking' on the streets of small local towns. Whilst continuing to also work on farms in Arkansas his travels became more far reaching and, during the early 1930's, he met seasoned blues entertainers including Sonny Boy Williamson II and Robert Johnson. Sonny Boy Williamson later became the Wolf's brother-in-law and taught him to play the harmonica. He also met the legendary Charlie Patton and recalls "It was he who started me off to playing. He took a liking to me, and I asked him would he learn me, and at night, after I'd get off work, I'd go and hang around". During World War II, Wolf was called up for active service and after his return home he returned to a farmers life in Arkansas. However, this was not to last long and by 1948 he had formed his first 'electric' group with the likes of Junior Parker, James Cotton, Matt Murphy, Pat Hare and Willie Johnson. He also began working as a disc jockey and advertising salesman for the radio station KWEM in Memphis where his reputation brought him to the notice of Sam Phillips who organised Wolf's first recording session for Sun Records in 1951. The songs were "Moanin' at Midnight" and "How Many More Years" with Ike Turner playing piano and Willie Johnson on guitar. The songs became big hits on the rhythm 'n' blues charts. Wolf was 41 now and he was recording alongside B.B. King who was at that time in his early twenties and had more interested in the 'modern' blues than the 20's and 30's blues which the Wolf was singing. He was now recording in Memphis with a regular band of Willie Johnson (guitar), Albert Williams (piano) and Willie Steel (piano). In 1953, Wolf moved and settled in Chicago. This brought him in contention with Muddy Waters as they vied for position in Chicago's clubs and at Chess Records. Wolf differed from Muddy as he was reluctant to cast off his southern blues background and at that time, Willie Dixon saw Waters as more suitable for his new compositions "Hoochie Coochie Man" and "I Just Want To Make Love To You". Dixon had said "Muddy is the kind of person you can give any kind of lyric, he's what you call a quick study. Wolf, you can't give him too many words, because he gets 'em all jumbled up. And if he gets 'em right, he still ain't gonna get the right meaning". Wolf was therefore left to play southern blues looking 'backwards to the backwoods'. However, he kept alive in Chicago the sound of the South that many of the city's black residents had grown up with. In 1956, Wolf recorded "Smokestack Lightnin'" with Willie Johnson and Hubert Sumlin on guitars, Hosea Lee Kennard on piano, Willie Dixon on bass and Earl Phillips on drums. Kennard and Sumlin gave Wolf's mid-50's recordings their essential character, Sumlin's guitar playing perfectly matching the contours of Wolf's chants, hollers and howls. Through the 50's and 60's, Wolf was working regularly in the Chicago clubs such as the "708" and "Syvio's Lounge" and was frequently active at Chess recording sessions with great pianists like Otis Spann and Johnny Jones. It was in 1959- ‘60 that the Wolf's songs began to take on new energy and moved with a Rock 'n' Roll pace. "Howlin' For My Baby", "Wang-Dang-Doodle" and "Shake For Me" were songs recorded at this time. In the 1950s Wolf had four songs that qualified as “hits” on the Billboard national R&B charts: “How Many More Years”, his first and biggest hit, made it to #4 in 1951; its flip side, “Moanin’ at Midnight”, made it to #10 the same year; “Smoke Stack Lightning” charted for three weeks in 1956, peaking at #8; and “I Asked For Water” appeared on the charts for one week in 1956, in the #8 position. In 1958, Wolf’s first album, Moanin’ in the Moonlight, a compilation of previously released singles, was released. His 1962 album Howlin’ Wolf is a famous and influential blues album, often referred to as “The Rocking Chair album” because of its cover illustration depicting an acoustic guitar leaning against a rocking chair. This album contained “Wang Dang Doodle“, “Goin’ Down Slow“, “Spoonful“, and “Little Red Rooster“, songs which found their way into the repertoires of British and American bands infatuated with Chicago blues. In 1964 he toured Europe as part of the American Folk Blues Festival tour produced by German promoters Horst Lippmann and Fritz Rau. In 1965 he appeared on the television show Shindig at the insistence of The Rolling Stones, who were scheduled to appear on the same program and who had covered “Little Red Rooster” on an early album. He was often backed on records by bassist and songwriter Willie Dixonwho is credited with such Howlin’ Wolf standards as “Spoonful“, “I Ain’t Superstitious“, “Little Red Rooster”, “Back Door Man“, “Evil“, “Wang Dang Doodle” (later recorded by Koko Taylor), and others. In the sixties, the Wolf began touring not only the States but also Europe, and in 1971 he recorded the "London Sessions" album with Eric Clapton, Stevie Winwood, Ringo Starr, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts, English blues musicians who were almost 40 years his juniors. These musician's had been singing and recording southern blues for some time and in response to the view that they were "merely vampires, sustaining themselves on the stolen essence of other men's lives", Muddy Waters had said "Before the Rolling Stones, people didn't know anything about me and didn't want to know anything. I was making records that were called 'race records'. Then the Rolling Stones and other English bands came along, playing this music, and now the kids are buying my records and listening to them." By 1975 he was tired and ill. He had had several heart attacks at the beginning of the decade and was now suffering from cancer. At the end of 1975 he went into the Veteran Administration Hospital in Illinois and died on 10th January 1976. Sam Phillips, on his first meeting with Howlin' Wolf, was bowled over. "When I heard him, I said, 'This is for me. This is where the soul of man never dies'. He was about six foot six, with the biggest feet I've ever seen on a human being. Big Foot Chester is one name they used to call him. He would sit there with those feet planted wide apart, playing nothing but the French harp, and I tell you, the greatest show you could see today would be Chester Burnett doing one of those sessions in my studio. God, what would it be worth to see the fervor in that man's face when he sang. His eyes would light up and you'd see the veins on his neck, and buddy, there was nothing on his mind but that song. He sang with his damn soul." |
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