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 BUDDYGUY
A Man dnd the Bhes
TEIS1968release
markedGuy's
debutasa solo
artist.He is in
characteristically
over-the-top

L form, singingand wailing the

blueson his Stratwith equal
fervor.A frenziedmasterpiece.

EARL
HOOKER
CTARENCE
"GATEMOUTI{" TwoBugs&ARoach
BROWN JoIn\ LEE"Scousin
TheOriginalPeacock Recordings is ofle of the true
THESE EARLYFIFTIESsesslons unsungtreasures
capflrrethe Texasglitarist in oftheblues. His
his swingingprime,particulaily Chicago peers
on suchclassicsas"Okie Dokie widelyregarded
Stomp"and "DepressionBlues." him asthe mostwell-rounded
Jazzmeetsblueswhen Gate'son guitaristonthe bluesscene.This
the gig. collectionis a fine introduction.

AtBERTCOttINS JOI{N
IETHOOKER
The U ltimdte Collection
ALL OF AIBDRT'S THIS IS AN
Alligator sessions excellent
are markedby collection that
his signature lives up to its
intensity,but billing. lt's
this-his first- probably all the
burctswith the energyofa great John Lee Hooker you'll ever
talent suppressed for too long. need,and it mal<esan invaluable
His first albumin sevenyears, guideto the stacksand stacksof
-IcePicl.in'markedthe beginning his availablediscs.
of Collins're-emergence as
a contemporarybluesguitar
powerhouse.It washis finest
studio date.

ALBERTCOIIINS,
ROEERT
CRAYAND
JOHNNYCOPELAND

mt
THIS LOOSE,
freewheelingjam
sessionfeatures
Cray'smost
llotsunr
UttERE
r0Btolt
0t00tt0
tililIltE
Bttlr$?
to date.It's also
a careerhighlight for longtime Imt rrumill$l{0-Z
Lt$T
0tiltsTltruE ETMOREJAIIES
King of the Slide Guitar
bluesjourneymanCopeland,
while Collinsis in his usualfine
form. Sho1,down is an excellent
rc0u$Tt8
ril0
EtEctntc
Bt|Jt$
REc0R0lil0$. THESE SLIDDPOWERED
tunesculled from 1959to'63
demonstratehow far one man
startingpoint for novicesof the cango with an electrifuingtone,a
Texassound, ROMSTORESHELVESto online retailers of CDs classicriffand a lot ofhysteria.It
and MP3s,there is no shortageofplaces from includesno! onebut two inspired
GUITARSTIM which to discoverclassicbluesguitaristsandtheir renditionsof "Dust MyBroom,"
Sufferin' Mind aswell as"The SLf?Is Crying,"
EDDIE "GI'ITAR music. That's great, but the wealth of material
"ShakeYour Moneymaker"and
Slim" Joneswas available can be dauntins for the uninitiated. "DoneSomebodyWrong."
a major influence Which ofthe 200 or soavailableJohn LeeHooker titles
on guitarists is best?And which version of Elmore James'.Dust My ATBERT
KII{G
ranging from
Buddycuy Broom ' is the right one to buy? The Ultim ate C ollection
I.El[ BLUES
to Jimi Hendrix. His crazed, Well, take a load off. We've compiled this guide players have
slashingguitar work was rooted to the finest electric and acoustic blues Euitar had as profound
in the Texasjumpbluesof musiceverrecorded,to help you navigatethEdeep an impact on
T-BoneWalker and catemouth
Brown,but itwas uniqueand
and wild river they call the blues. Read it and take rock guitarists
it to heart-for as any blues guitarist will tell you, as King. This
utterly original.This discincludes two-CD collectionoffersup
the bluesstandard"The ThingsI it pays to be prepared. reamsof macho,aggressive
Usedto Do." overbendingand makesa fine
career overview. sRV devotees RIED
JIMMY vicious machil,Ie gun b]ues witl'r "GUITAR'WATSON
JOHNNY
should so check onirrv€ wir€l Spedk the Llrics to Me, Mamd Reed a cuild starfire and sang with 3 Hours PdstMidnipht
ITEEDWAS a great r mawelous rage. This live EXTRXMELY
songwriter, whil€ perforrrance, r'ecorded in thc intense and wild,
his longtilne late Seventies, captures Seals at
partner Eddie h i s f e r o c i o u sb e s t . major influence on
Taylol helped Jlml ilenonx. 50rt
write the book
on Chicago blues g!itar. This extroverted Gatemouth Brow11.
c o l l e c t i o n i n c l u d e st h e b l u e s
standards "Baby What You Want
Me to Do," "BigBoss MaD" and
*
(:u/* - ----L

"Bright Lights, BigCity," as well

as 22 other stellar examples of
Reed's mellow boogie beats.
$fM{ .
c-t.gfff6.w
B,B.
KING
Live ot the Regal
FENTON
ROEINSON
SomebodyLoan Me a Dime
UNDERXATED
."S
THIS DIsc DoCUMENTS a legendarl
1964 perfommnce by a legendary
artist. The King puts his $eat v-oice,
throughouihis
career, Robinson
c o l o r sh i s j a z z -
MY VAUGI{AN
STEVIE
ANDDOUBTETROUBTE
M,\x
sw€€t ton€ and signature vibmto tinged pla)'ing InStep
to work on such staples as "It's My with all lnallncr srE\.tE RAY'SFINAI-AI-BUMwitll MUDDYWATERS
Own Faul!" "Every Day I Have the ofdynan1icsubtleties.This is his DoubleTrouble was alsohis Ihe ChessBoir
Blues" and "Sweet Little Angel." It's bestalbum,and the title track is a fi nest,featuringconsistently THISTHREE-CDsET is a box of
a treasure trove ofsophisticated, yet bonafide masterpiece. scaldingg!itar work-the solos biuesgold.waters' association
down-horne, blues. in "Crossfir€"and "Tightrope" i{ith Chesslastedfor 25years,
RusH
oTts are hot enoughto trigger smoke andthis collectionincludesthe
B.B.
KING Cobrd Recordings,1956 1958 detectorsall acrossTexas.with crean ofa very extensivecrop
The Bestof B.8. King,vol. one THIS AIBUM In Step,Valrghanjoined the of recordings.They'reall here-
FILLED WITH THE features classic tirree Kings,Albert Collins and Muddy'sslideclassics('Honey
licks that inspired Otis Rushtunes Buddy cuy in the pantheonof 3ee,""Rollin'andTumblin''),
thousands like "AllYour modernbluesgleats. his hits ("HoochieCoochie
ofwould-be Love," which gave Man," "I'm Read,v") andhis later
Kings,this cel.tain British triumphs("You Can'tLosewhat
reissuefeatures glita sts somethirg to practice, v^,' Ain r Nawpr H,r,l ')

B.R.'searlywork, which makes and "Double Trouble," which gave

it v€ry grert, indeed.Among JOHNNYWINTER
the treasurcsare the origiDal Cobra label's heavily leverberated Johnn! winter
versionsof"You Upset Me treatn1entof Rush's vocal THE WHITE
Baby,""ThreeO'ClockBlues" histrionics and passionatesoloing tornado blew
and "s Long Years." make these tracks amongthe most outofTexas and
telrifl,ing in all bluesdom. into the national
FREDDIE
I(ING spotlight with
Hide A\\'d!:'L'he Best of MAGIC
SAM this album ofjaw-
Freddy King WestSideSou? droppir'Ig,ligh intensityblues.It's
THIS ANTHOLOGY THE I-ATE MAGIC morefocusedandlessrock-oriented
includesstellar Sam Maghctt JOEIOUIS
WATKER thm anlthing that followed.
vocaltrackslike fully lived up to BIU€.Soul
"Have You Ever his nickname THIS Is PERIIAPSthe finest album
on this 1968 by one ofcontemporary blues'
but the lighlights album, castiDg an finest g!itar.ists. It includes
arc the instrunlentals-including exuberantspellwith his soaring grooi'ing R&B ("Ain't Nothin'
the original "Hide Away"-which vocalsand rapid,clean-toned coing on"), biting acoustic
have elough tasty blues licks to g!itar lines. slide ("I'll cet to Heaven on
satisly even the nost ravenous My Own") and crazed, searing
dffmongers. Eric Clapton fans arc overdrivel slow blues i la Buddy
adviscd tocheck this one out. cuy ("city ofAngels").

JOHNMAYALT
WITH T-BONEWATKER
ERIC
CtAPTOt{ Lorr-DownBlues l. I
BluesBreakers WAIKERS
E.C. PI-AYS beautifully HowuN'wot
F
Chicagostyle Modnitl in theMootllight/
with impressively sophisticated Howlin'Wolf
precocious playirg had a THTS T1ryO-AI-BUMS-IN.ONE-CD
alrthoity on this decisive impact collectionoffersan excellenr
E album,which on B.B.King, Buddy Guy and samplingof Hubert Sumlin's
turnedcountlessrock fanson to their bluesyilk, *-hile it also masterftrlguitar u,ork. lt's
the blues.It's Clapton's most plrdst SON
SEALS madeits mark on Chuck Berry maximum grungeby the
albun ard thc work that inspired Lire andBurning and rheworld of rockguitarisrs. guitarist who influenceda
so many to declare him "god." In his prime, SonSealsplayed This is his peakstuft generationof rockers-8[
$ 1
b^
 INE YEARSAFTERHIS DEATH, StevieRayVaughan's
influence only continues to grow It can be heard in
cl$T
0F
cl|tntcttn
$wlt naYYtucl t{ lGtmsrnEfltl
barrooms and arenasaround the globe, in the playingof 8omorlobor 3,1954 0allas, losllrbluos
singeri
taughl
everyonefrom prot6g6slike Kenr.ryWayne Shepherdto Iexas,
Died Aognst2Zlgg0, Slorlo'Texas
llood"
mentors like Buddy Guy to younger rockers like Mike fastTroy,Wisconsin. All weGunI
quolosf,ilhinlrkenlron
McCready and Kirk Hammett. It can be seenin the tusringuitrd.twhoDLy8d
rE! popularity ofvintage gear and straight-forward, ear-ringing ouitarWorrdinleryiews, bassi[ andco-faont€d
H lho
Jtf rEvtucflfll TdpleThreatRovuowilh
tone, both of which were considered passebefore Stevieoroved that SloYh
nay's older
broth€r
and St€vhandsligorlouAm
there rvasplent-voflife left in Stratocisters and tube arnpi. Ddmaryguihrinlloonc6 Eanon
DoYlatmfiflrlt clrRtsltw0ra
Sonprilingpainorand ooublo Trorbl€
drunmer
But pcrhaps rhe most tcllingstrtement about ,ll/lNllEVAUGHAI{I went strright for the blues,
ste\ie\ ,',,rrirLred lonSlino
tfioidandbandmate B0I EI Tt
rele.an,r'. rhrr hi: music because that's what sou nd ed best to me;I can't
s t i l l s p e a k sl ' o l u m e s t o m i l l i o n s o f l i s t e n e r s . tell,vou why.lt spoke to me more than colrntry, T0 [YSN tX0t Slidegoilar
diva
and closo
Somevoices are stilled bydearh, buthis has only $ihich was the othef thing I heardallthe trmc. bassplayer
ooutloTroubl€ lriondofSnV
gr orvn louder. A lot of lry relrtives were country musicians, IIEIIIIYff,TENAil ERIGCLAPIOII
"Urrfortunrtel,v, ]'ou [ever flrlly grasp and I nevef even h ied to play country. All mv Guitafi
st,followoallas Bdri6i gritargroat
bluos
someone'sgr-eatressor i m portancc u ntil thev're lelatives looked at mc like, What in thc r-orld mtiveandbandnaloof fricnd and
adtdrur
olSRV
gon€,"sa,vsB.B.King.'And I think thet's truc \,!iih are you doing? but Ijust saicl,"I like riis." And I bolhSloYioandJin|niB !IGI(IYBEITS
Stevic.As thevears go by and he's not here, itlust never thought about itagair. Dt. J0lll oultarlst/liontnan
lor0reat
becomesrnor-cand morc clear how specirl he *,as, sRv When \r,e stated ofl I kne{, how Jimmy lletvodoanshlmspianktSoolhom, andfornfiAlliran
and how nluch he's missed:' Reed sounded, but I couldn't plat' it right. And and$ilarist,andSRVffiond Bmtherc Bend$itafist
\ l i s . e J . u r r r u .h r \ r r h u n g r l i a l s , r g n r h . r w a i r
J i m m i e w o u l d s e t m c s t r a i g h t .A l o t o f t h e h r n e ,
rcws of"lost" SRVtracks discoveredin thc vaults, I just watched hinl pla,v.Jimrnie turned lne on
B.8.t0xG IEESEWYI IS
crossirgtheir fi ngerswith thc hope rhata mother KiIIgohhebluos.aod 0oubloTrooble loyboardisr
to a lot of differenr stuff. I r-ernember set,eral
godlathorh allblues
lode of unreleased material sits u,aiting to be different things: him bringing honre records by
guilasls
Jr[ G tts
unearthed and aired. H c r d r i : \ . B u d d \ 'd u \ . M u d dy u l t e r : . t s t s .K i n g h Sfopprcducor
Atlcast some ofthese praler.s rvere ansrvcred The firstrecord I everboLrghtwas "\ /han1,"by MYflfltXtG IUOOYGUY
on March 23, 1999,$'hen Sory legrcy released Lonnie Mack, fiom t963, [rrhicfi] \r!as I great 0wn€r otHoafloll6xas Chlc4oblmsgrirarlegondi
Stevie'sfburstudio albums with Double Trouble rccord. I played it so rnany times, nry dad gor nusic shoni
sold StsYio
his ftl€rdot andhoroto,SRV
(Texas flood, Couldn't Stand the Weather, Soul
'l{unbor0i€'Strat
lrad andbroke itlWhcn I didn'r think it coutd
to Soul fl1d In Step), cach of thenupdatcdwlth be arv louder, I $'ent and bo r-r-orved somebouy s
four bonus tr-acksrecordedin the sarre rime 6 ane Shufe Vocal M$ter PA., putnlics in ffont ofthe t h e o t h e r d i r e c t i o D . Iw a l k e d d o n ' n t h e h a l l a n d a
astheoriginal- stereo speakers, and turned the PA. upl It u,as bedroom doorrvas alittle ajar I looked andther.c
To understand whxt n1adeStevic tick, to get loud in mv roon. lvas this little skinny 12 )'ear-old kid sitting or
t h r u - r , ' - er o r r o f t l r r r r r r h e l - ' n dr h e n r u s i ru, e ,lrtMrEvAUGHAI{ When wc werc Ieal lit!le, n1ydad the bed, playing J€ ff Beck's 'Jeff's Boogie." As
turned to his closestconfidantes,the people r4ro had ajob which requiled him to travelaround soon as he sa\\.n1e,he stopped pla)'ingerd I saici,
k n e w h i l 1 1 b e sat n d m i s sh i l 1 l t h e n o s t . c i v e n t h e t h e S o u t h ,a n d w e n l l t r a i l e d a r o u n d . I t $ ' a s r e a l "Don't stop." He gave n1ethis shr little sn leard
opportunitr to tell St€vie'stale, they opeled up, tough goingto schools for two weeks at atime, : r . J . H i . I m S r e r ' e .a n d | . a r L l . " H I' .n . D o ) l < .
levealingthings they'd ncvcr-rcvealedbeforc.The alwrys uprooting. In a way,it wrs perfect trainrng Keep ph!'ing. You're verygood." Thirlv seconds
resultis a portrairolan arlistcomplerely dedicated forthe lilc we eventu alll. liv€d rs musicians, on l r t e r , J i m m i e r a n u p a n d s a i d ," L e t ' s g o . "
to his craft, and ofa man who had *'resrled with the road all the time. Then rvc settled back in rofMY sHAI{t{ot ln 1969, I was playirS wrflr
his demons and cmerged \,ictofious, with a new D a l l a s ,w h e n I $ a s i n f i $ t g r a d e , i n O a k C l i f f , J o r r v U i r . t e rJ. i d \ u u . 1 . r o cIk d e \ e r \ r h i n g .
leasc on life and a rcdedicated passion for his which u,as a real rough place. Pretty much wher \,!c broke up,I flewback to Dallas nnd one
life's work. Stevie Ra)' *.as undoubtedl,v making ever_vonc1,r,e g1ew up with is cither dead of in jail. da)' dropped by this club called the trog, u'here
I h e ' r e 5 r I n u . i , , , l l - ' . l i r e * h r r r l r c d i p dr r a g e And I think \'|,clatched onto the guitar as a lr,ay I had met Johnny.I walked in and heard thrs
35. This is his stoq.,astoldbyhis best fricnds md out pretty early on. The $itar took Stevic ar.ound unbelio.able guitar player. A burch of people
biggestheroes-ar, d the ol1esoul best qu alified to the world. It introduced lim to his heroes.lt r!as \I,eretalkingiome and I justigr1oredthcm tause
doso:himscli his irlstrumcnt of liberatior, his magic sword. I w a \ l o o l i r r l jr , , - c u h o u r . n r a k i r r gr ' r i . h i g
You kno\,r,the music. Now mcctthe man. T rm e a n r e \ , _ y rh i n g : I c i n l r \ . r f r t \ o m S r e \i e s o u n d . I l o o k e d u p a D ds a w t h i s s c f a w n y l i t t i e
without a guitar. It rllowed hil]l to erpress l,l or ls-year-old kid just $ ailing a$'ay. It wes

InrtttBrumnn
STEvrE ray vauc8at I got lnv first €iuiter whcn I
lvas seven.lt was one o f fiose Roy Rogersguitars;
iihadpicturesofcowbovs andcowson it,some
r o p e . I h a d a b l a n k e t t h a t h a d t h e s a m es h i t o n i t ,
too. Whcn I \\-asrealvoulg, [rvesrernsu,ingban{
the Texas Plal'bors hungout atoufhouse rllthc
time. M)'parcrts played "+u " [dominoes], al1d $ r e l l , I d i d a n d h c d i d .
thet'tl come over end liet drunk. Those guys hung
around a lot, they'd do some playing, and we'cl
hear their stuff N{ainl!,,we'd hear.them talkir,g
i b ' u r ' t . T h e r r u r r c r l o r o l c l r n , a r ' r , r . h r r g i n g could drive and he couldn't, and I rvould go by
around. Evely once in a *.hile, nry dad would
yel I fajtcts fi ear,-vrural ?e.rdsdccentl, "He),,J im,
Stcve, come out hcre and shou' thcm rvhat you
can do!"Andrvervcrelirtle midgets,with guirars
hangin' on us that \\,erc this bigl
hirnself iike never bcfore, to have ar identit\'.
When Stevie played, his guitar literally talked.
I f v o u l i s t c n ,y o u c a n h e e r i t . Y o u c a n h e a r h i m
speaking through his guitar. I showcd him the
u.ayinitially, but he found his voice himself
5iv Jirnmie showed nlc a lot ofstuff, but there
u ' a s a l s oa t i m e . ! ( ' h e nh e w a r D e d , , , I f y o ua s k m c
t o s h o u ' v o u a n ] ' t h i n ga g a i n , l ' l l k i c k , v o u r a s s . "
DoYLI BIA||HAII JiNnie ard I \\.ere ir a band
called thc Chessmen together when \i e wcre
teenagers in Dallns. He !r,asl5 and I u,as 1Z so I
r n L lp i ,\ r r i r nu p .O n er i n r r t h i . $ l s . o n r e r i r n , . r
1 9 6 6 - h e \ r ' a s n ' t r c a d y s oh e n a v e d n e i n . I w a s
. i t r i n p i n r h e i \ ' r g f o o - n .w a i r i n g J. n d J i n r n i e
walked ifom the back bedroom to thc kitchen
and I heard this $ritar playing going ot frorn
Stevic.He1,!asrealawk\relcl alrdsh_vand looking
u Dr t t h e b i ! F r r y \ x r o u n J h i r , r .f r l l l ) i l l l i m i d d r e J .
In f|ct, he said once in an inten iewthatlwas the
ollly one rvho rvouitl talk to him, and I told him
thc truth. I said, "You'rc already better than all
lhesegu] s-"He gave me abigsnil€ andu,e made
friencls rightthen and there.
Dl iY ritlrial| Jimmie and Stevic were both
b c t t e r t h a n n r o s t p c o p l €e v e f g e t t h e f i r s t t i m e I
heard thcm plav-$'hen thcyrvere t6 or i7
BRAMHAL TT h , f c u . r ' r e a l l l u n l ) n n e p l a c ei n
Dallas, the Cellar, whcr-eyou could plat' t4Lrdclv
Waters on 10. So in about 1970, Jimmie al,ld I
and a bunch ofother guys decided to move to
Austin, where thcre were more places to play
al1d it 1,!as cheaper to liv€- It was like a lrttle
S a n F r a n c i s c o ; y o uc o u l d c o m e d o w n h e r . ea n d
express yourself, and people leftvou alone to do
 v o u r t h i D g .$ J c s t a r t c d h r v i n g a l i f t l c s c e n e . : r n d b i g \ , r ' o r l dU. n f o rt u n r t e l y ,h o w e ! e r ,m u s i ct o o k e evcrything,and wc wouldjust sit alound for
! b o u t u y e a r l r t e r , s t c v i e m o r . e dt h c l c w i t h h i s b a c k s c a tn ) d r i n k i n g r n d d l u g g i n g e s p e c i : r l l , v hourstrlkingaboutmusic.
b a n d ,B l n c k b i r d . l o r r n c . . " , J r l r u . 1 i . ' r , . *1' r r , c , ' , . 1r r r, i . . laY HE illG I ve oir!D€d r g1litaf store siDce 1960
I \r'as siill ph,\rnrg\r.ith Jimmie, doinli mostlv it wrs prerty nruch i:r n1ess,and I g.Llessthe a n d h a r . cs c c n a l o t o f g r c a t n u s i c i a n s . b u i t
straisht blLrcs,trut Stcvic and I both \rrnred to lab€l hated ir. so rve ended up back in Ausnn don't belicve l've evel corte ircr'ossanyone half
b|rnch out a little mole. ore. \{re $,crc listeriDg listeniDc to rc . r n d L t c c i d c di o k c e p t h e b a n d t o g e d r e r ,a s t h e a s o b s e s s e di v i t h t h e g u i t a r ! r s s t e v i e \ r , i s . I I e

'til]|til
u s e d t o h a n g o u t i n m , vs t o r e ,j u s t n o o d l i n g o n
guit:rrs all thc timc.I would sa,vthathc \r'xs onc

]|tln0'PRl[t
ililJ0Y'
011
THE
Rl0l0,rsnr
ofnl!bcst custolncrs, cxccpt he didn't havc any
nolev he rvrs br'oke all tlre tine so he never'
p r i c l f o I a n l , t h i n g i r t h o s ed a ) s . I I e u s e dt o c o n r e

llltuu,ntl
$TiI|E
RilIt|J0l|rlr
s|lr0Lrflilr0r0Ly
BR0|J0l|r
0|JrilR'
ilr0 byon his rv:r1'to agigand:rsk fofafxck ofstrings.
l'd toss him onc and hc'd sa)',"Hc), if t lnake anv

BtUt${RlElllE0
ilU$|C
BlCl( -0rcrry
I0l]|tiltfilftTPll0t,'8rils
peoplc likc Nlarvil1cayc an.l Sl! Sronexnd \r,anted
r " i l c o r l u r ; L . . u r r " f r l r . s | , I f t | | | r .' '| | | n . | . i .
s o S t e ! i ea D dI f o u n d e u c ho t h e I g e t t i n g t o g e t h c r -
n l ( ) l co f t en . l n l a t c ' 7 2 ,h e c n l l e dn r e u pa n d t o l cnl r e
thrthe h|d goftcr a phonc call from l,lafc Bcnno.
r f i o h . r dr c l e a l u , i t hA & M a n d a b i g f o L r r l i r r e d up,
a n d n c e d e d t o p u r t o g e r h e r - aT e r e s b l u e s l o c k
belrd to do it. \\'c $cntoutto L.A. to record, anLlir
!r,.rs,rnes, kick lorus justtobc outof :ttxas. Othcr
t h r n l i t t l e t f i p s t o O k l a h o n l ao r l - o u i s i a D a ,dl o n ' t
t h i n k a n v o f u s h : r de v e nl e f t t h e s t i t e .
, Wc were irlL.A. for two \r'ccks, riding around
I i n I i n o s e n d I i r i n g L i k cr o c k s t a r s .w e f c c o r d c d
' D i r t ) , l , o o l , "w h r c h s a s
- s€vensongs including
: thc first soDg Stclic xnLl I u,rote logether and
: thfee of then .tle .rctuailygood, and should
: be herrd. Ther u,e went on ir short rour lrrrn
! U " ' " t r l " P i e i n d t h e J . c e i l s T l a n d .\
( r r c i g h t g i g s
Ie praveo
: s l r v c n i D p h c e s l i k e D e t r o i t ,C h i c a g o
P ard Ne$ Yofk, ind it lvas our filsttirlc olrr rn rne
N i s h t c r ! r \ \ ' l e r sT. h a t I a s t e dr w h i L e ,r n d r v h e n
i t f c l l a p a r t ,S t e v i el v e n t b r c l i t o C r l i f o r n i x I o r : r
$4rile, thcn canc back andjonrcd Paul Ral and
l h e C o b r a s ,w i t h l ) e n r i ] l r e e n a n .
F n t E f i A r I ! r , a st h e C o b r e s ' s o l e g u i t N r p l r v e r
b c f o r c S t c v i cj o i n c d , s o i t r v a sa l i n l e t o u g h t o
havchh jonr. But it\ras ilso rcalh crcitingto
phy r';11,1',t,',,.
D R .i o H S t e v i eh a d l h i s r e r l b o v i s h c h a r ' n . H e
k c p t t h i s v e r ! a p p e r l i m gc h i l c l h o o di n n o c e n c e
abouthirrr cl.cnr-hcn hc l asn't innocent at ail.
B.B.|(l c fle femin.led mc oflnv sons when thev
w e r c r b o u t s e v e no r e i g b t y e a l so l d . H e j u s t h a c l
s o m a r y q u c s t i o n s ,a n d n o u l d j u s t f o l l o n m e
a r o u n d ,h r p p v a n d s m i l i n g a n d e a g r r t o p l c a s c .
FtEtMAN Ste!ie rlmost didn't telk ebout
. ' r \ . l r i r l i . \ . e f , S I i r : r r .l l " I | , i . H e s r . j l | . l
colnplctclvobscsscd rvith it, and so\\'as i. Those
*,ere just fun, exciting dals bccausc r-c v'crc
j u s t d i s c o v e r i n gs t u f T! n d q ' e r e e x c i t e d j r b o u t
n o n e l ' t o n i g h t , I ' l l p l y ) o u . " A n d h e l v o u l d .I l e n t
I i r r . r r ' t r - .r l , h , , i n p . H . J r " l e r r o r r ' ^ . r
t c c k o l t n r r ,t h c n b l i n g t h c m b a c k .
(he dav ir'7.1, hc trroushtback a nicc Strat he
hrd becnborxr$nr. and *'as looknrgthlough lll
t h e i n s t r u n e n t sw h e r rh e c a m et u h i s o l ' b e N t e II I e
picLed irup and must ha\.eplayed around l ith it
tur half an hour.just makingcholds, tLrrningitover',
lookirrg.rtit,s eighingit,bef0r'ehe.rskedif hecoultl
' S u r e ,b u t i i s u r e i s
flug it in. I said, u g l ) ' . "s o h e
plLrggcdin ard pla_vcdft)r xn houfor so ihcn t(td
rrlc he wrntcd it, and askcd ilhe could su'ap it firr
t h e o n e h e h r d j u s t r e t u r n e d .I s . l i d ," w t l l , ) o l 1 1 e
r''tp' rg rnur''el'nfi Tlrl' hr- g^r rn be c\ee-ie'r
stmt I'\'c cvcr ifadcd for.It's rxggcdl-asscd xnd
beatto dedth. \'\'hdr do vou lv.rnt it fbr?'He said,
"It jLlstfeelsgood, Ra).Itleels real goocl."I fi gufecl
h c d b r i r g i t b a c L i n a d n ) o f t u ( ) ,b u t h o n c v c rd n l .
Ihatbecame lis 'Number Orc 'Strat.
TffiIRITTilRtIIRIIUIjoined
FRrEriA Stcvic$'rs alfcxd)'g"rc:rl\l.hcnhc
t h c C o b r i s . l r f a c t .o u r d n r n n l e r j u s t s e n t m e a
tape ofsome sideswe cut, and his leadplaying
soundsfantastic andimmediatelyidentifiable
asStevie.He maybewasn't asstronga rhlthm
playerashewould become,anddidn'tunderstrnd
chordchanges thatwellyec,buthisleadplaying
was ther€.When he decidedto leaveand t'ronr
his own band, which becameTriple Threat
Rewe, itwasn'tsurp si[g. He wasready,ancllt
was obviousto all ofus that he had somesoII
ofdestiny.
At{cllA STtEHllI was doing "TexasFlood" for
years.And when he decided to start a group, to
becomeafrontman,he knew that he reallyshould
besinging.And he cameto me,saidthat he always
liked "TexasFlood,"and askedif I could teach
him the words, which I did. He neededsome
encouragement to sing;hewasstill alittle scared.
But he took the songand madeit so associated
with him that I quit doing it, because,after a
while, everyonethoughtI wasimitatinghim.
wCClAt( I wasworkingat McMorris Ford asa
mechanic,andSteviekeptcomingbyandtelling
me thathe'ddecidedto putabandtogetherand
tharheneeded meroplaybass. I wasn\looking
for agig,becauseI wasgetting asteadypaychech
andrelaxingfora change, burhelepl peslering
me.lhadseen himaroundalot,andIknewhow
unique he was-how cleana tone he had,how
nastyand lowdo#n he could be,how he could
playlicks exactlylike ChuckBerry,Albert King
and B.B.King. I knew he was for real,that he
was a seeker,a warrior. And that's why I not
only agteedtojoin his band,but to playbassfor
him, eventhoughI hadgivenupthe instrument
to focus on guitar. I really had no interest in
playingbassaglin.bur Sre\ie had sucha fire,
and I was so impressedby how much he had
alreadyimproved,that I wantedto seewhere
he could take it. So I joined what becamethe
I nple I nrearKevlew
or.roB My fiiend DocPomus[composer o/such
R&B classics as"ThisMagicMoment"ana"Saye
the LastDancefor Mel kept telling me about
this Texasguitar playerI had to cometo seeat
the Lone Star Cafe in Manhattan.Steviewas
still playingwith Lou Ann [Bd,"ton]and he was
a hell ofa goodguitar player,but \.vasn'treally
specialyet. He was just playing in a Houston
stylei la Pat Hare,WayneBennettand Albert
Collins.A year or so later,I sawhim againand
noticedhow much this kid had blossomed.He
hadgottenthiswholeAlbertKingbendingthing
down stonecold and his playinghadjust taken
off.I thoughtanyonewho improvedsomuch so
fasthadsomethinggoingon.
lAyIoI I startedplayingwith Stevieright after
wC Clarkleftthebandin'78.Thebandwasno
longer a "triple threat,"so Steviechangedthe
name to Double Trouble,after the Otis Rush
song.The next fall we got boohedto play at the
SanFranciscoBluesFestival.I helpedbook all
thesegigsaroundthat, and none ofthem paid
morethan2O0 bucks.Wehadonlyenoughmoney
to buy gasfor the van and loavesofbread and
bologna.Wecouldn'taffordio eata squaremenl,
butitwas alotof fun.WeplayedtheFestival,and
we did a live radiobroadcaston KFAG,in Palo
Alto,wherewe openedup for RobertCray,who
wasstartingtohaveabignameonthecircuitout
there.Webecamegoodfiiendswithhim, andwe
startedto makea namefor ourselves, get a litde
buzz,becauseanyoDewhosawSteviewondered
whothe hellhewas.Aboutayearlater,LouAnn
left andwebecamejustatrio with me andJackie
NewhouseplayingbehindStevie.
IHAI Oi ln Decembert980,I was living in
Houstonandwent to seeDoubleTroublewhen
theywerein town;itwas likea revelation.I said,
"That'swhere I belong,right there:' He called
meup tojam,andsoonafteraskedmeifl wanted
tojoin. His guitar playinghadcomea long way,
andhe had crossedthegapfrom straightbiues,
incorporatingsome rock androll,someHendrix.
Hewasalittlescaredtostepoutof theblues,and
I reallyencouraged him. He got someshit from
the bluespuristsfor thar.but whocares?Being
apurist is like beingareligiousfundamentalist.
It'sreallylimiting,andifyou can'tseebeyond the
little circle you draw aroundyoursell how are
you gonnamove out of it?And aflyhow,he never
everabandoned rheblues:hejust advanced ir,
took itto anotherlevel.
DR.roHiSteviestartedreallyblowingme away
onenightwhenwe washangingarhispad.He
puton sometrippy,difficultHendrix albumand
startedplayingalongwith it, which impressed
me.Thenhe startedplayingoffi! gettingdown,
improvising,and I thought, Man, this kid is
jammingwith Jimi Hendrix.That'swhen I saw
somelhingrealuniquein whrt he was going
for, and realizedthat this g]ly was something
altogetherdifferent.
8ot{[lr nArrr Just when you thought there
wasn't any other way to make this stuffyour
o
own, he came along and blew that theory to
bits.Soulisanoverusedword, butthe fire and -
passionwithwhich he investedeverythinghe
: rouched$ a5jusrastounding. aswasrhewayin
w h i c h h e s y n t h e s i z e dh i s i n f l u e n c e s
rnd tLirncd ihcm irilo somcthing so
fiercelt pclsonal. I rlas emazed
from the fir'sttime I sa$,him, but
I h r d a L e a e l , vh e a r d a l l a b o u t h i m
frorrr guvs like Albeft Collins ald
tsudd) cu), lvho kept running into
him andbeingblorvn au,.rv.
!AyTol Slevie neveffailed to impress,
and that finally starred to pav off in
a tangiblc naf in latc'lll. First, our
narlager s0mehos'got r video of a
show to N,Iick Jaglier, and the next
thing u'c kncu, \r'c u,erc playil]g a
priYate partv fbr the Rolling Stores
in Ne\,' \bfk. That was a gas. Then
Lou Ann Barton had a solo record
coming out on a nrajor label and u'e
p1a-vedatthe biglelease party at ih€
C o n t i n c n t a lc l u b . I V e t e i ? n A & Rm a n
dndproducerl Jerri, n?x ler, u ho had
signed her, u-as there, and he reall,v
liked us and callcd up his fricnd,
Clgude Nobs, at the Montreux Jazz
lestivaI and got us booked there. we
u ' e r e s u p p o s e d l yt h e f i f s ! u n s i g n e d
b a n d t o e v e rp l a i i r , a n d l o t s o f g o o d
t h i n g s h a p p c n c d a sa r c s u l t .
D r v i d B o Mi e w a s l n t h e r u d i e n c e
and he u'as blo{,n an'ay by Ste\'ie,
called him the best urban blues
p l a v e rh e ' dc v c r h c a r d .H c c a m e b a c k
to the hotel and \r'e all hung out in
the bar with him for an hour. He
told stevie that he wrs going to be
d o i n g a h l u c s l r ' c c o l da n d r s k c d h i n r
if hetl like to be on it. Stcvie said,
' ' s u r e , g i ! e l n e N c ! 1 1 . "\ , { e a l r w h i l e ,
r h c n o x r n i g b t w c b o o k e c lo u r s e l v e s
into that same bar. wc played all
n i g h t , r n d J r c k s 0 n t s r o u , n er n d h i s
u , h o l eb r n d c a m er r d s a t i n v ' i t h u s .\ \ : ej ! n r m e d the phonc frng ir oLnrpaltnent, and this 4r1 it \,r'nsn't$4rerc hc w.ls hexded end Stevie couro
u n t i l s e v e n . r . r r .a, n c lt h e n J a c k s o ns a i dh e h a d I w i r h a n E n g l i s hr c c e n t r s k e d f o f s t c v i c .I s a i dh c rot do lvhlt he di!ln't lo!,e.
p r e - pr o d L r c t i o ns t ud i o i n L . A - ,D o $ n T o \ r , n , a n d u,as slecpnrg:rnd askcd \rho it w.rs. 'lr's D.tvid !AYIotl I u'eso't surprised \r'hen Slevio quit,but I
thatrnt timc \r'c{.antcd to comc rccold somc tso\\'ic," hc said, "and I'd likc to spe.rk to hirrl if sure n cs hrpp1,.TcouJiln'rbclicvc thatjust\\,her
t f a c k s f f e e o f c h e r g e , \ , e \ \ , e r ew e l c o l n e , p o s s i b l e . "I g o t S l e v i eu p r n d B o u , i ea s k e dh i m s r, e ! e
s . r r r r , , l t , , r . r r ,. r l l r l r . r r u n r e r r t . r . n
i f h e u , r D t e ! lt o c o n r et o N c w Y o r k a n d c u t s o r r e \r'as going to be gooe for lrt lecst r yexr, nravbc
t r a c k sf o l h i s n c w l c c o r d . n o . , \ \ . h i . l ' \ ' o r le , l . o I t d r n g e tr . ,t r r r rp i r . .
III[TTLUUU sHAf,t{OtrSte\.ie \\'ent and did it and enjoyed w h e f € i t s c c n r c dl i k c s o m c t h i n g w a s g o i n g t . )
L A Y r o [ I d o n ' t t h i n k J a c k s o n e x p c c t e L lu s t o i t , a r d s a i L ln o $ ' i e w r s a r e a l g e n t l e n r : r u .T h e h a p p c n , t h a r I j u s t l i g r r e d t h a t , s o m e h o $ ' .t h e
t r k e h i m u p o n h i s o f f e r , b u t s t e v i e c : r l l e dh r n r feelings\\,ereobviouslymutu:rlbccauschc askcd s , h o l et h i n g i v o u l d n o r c o n r ct o p a s s .T h c n , s r nc
nr thc {a11,and hc agccd to givc us 72 hours of : . , a i r , ,j , , , l i . h . . , ,l f , , : rs u l , i t u u r . s L c , i r e n o u g h ,t e i o u n do u t t h a t . k t r n H a m r r r o n d r c a l l )
free tirne ovcl I'hanksgiYiig \\.eekend '82. we
w e r t u p t h e r e ,j u s t h o l r i n g t h e t m r y b e w e r v e r ' c
n r . r k i n gn d e m o t h e t \ v r u l c l a c t u a l l i b e l i s t e n e c i 'l|t
to b! r rcal fecofd conlpan! ll tumcd oLrtih:rt,
withoutkno\\.ingit, r'er.erc recordingouf debur
rlbuln, Tc-lldsFldod- \ Jejust rolled in. The guys
$EE]r|[0 c}|lllll[L.
T0Btill0Pill rur
trusrr
-tRIc
s , , \ r s t l . e r u r r r i l . l l r , 'r , r ,r . d l r r r r r ' r
rvas ThanksgiYirrg rr'eckcnd, and n'e werc likc,
JUSI
PO|JRED
I}IROlJOl|
t|I[I.
IIIO
II IIEIEfi UP.' CTIPTOI
DRIEO
''Irle]..uh, lou gu\'s got anv tepe?' Thev
Eiaveus
s o m eu s e r ls t u f f ; u e a c r u r l l v r c c o l c l c do v c r s o n r e
ofJackson's dcmos fol td$',ycrs tu lolc. fin:rlll agrecd becauso hc {.:rs gctting a lot of l i k c d o u r t a p c .a n d \ \ , a sp u s h i n g t o g e t u s s i g n e d
SHAN oN Do\rr T{r\r'n \r'as rcally jLrst a trig p r c s s u l cf r o m a L r t o f p c o p l c .S t c v i e! v a ss o i n g k , b i C o l u m h i . r . A l l o f r s u c l d e n .n ' c h a t l a d c a l
\\'!rehouse with concrete lloors and some rugs J , i t l l ' r " r ' <r. r . l c r h c n ' or e ' - r J t . I r . t ^ k ' e t with Epic rnd thc)'\\'cfc goingto release :lc:rds
r L | 1 , r r rd , s " . \ , r el n r l l , l . l , r r l " , o n r c - . . e r r r , r t h e b a n c lt o g e t h e r .T h e n h e r s k e d B o w i c i f w c -Flood.Andwe itc'tnlore rttentjon beceusepeople
a circie ltxrking ar a11dlistcningto cach othcr aDd c o u l d o p c n s o l n c d a t c s ,r n d t h a t \ a a s s u p p o s e d u rntecl to knou'rvho rhis u n l{no\rr gui'rl ho told
plaved like Nlive band. w'e di.ln't reaily do .rn)thil1g t ' , h r f p q r r .r h c n t < | ' l , r o r g \ \ n J I \ e r 5 F \ " D a v i d B o w i c t o t i k e a h i k c u a s .A l l d h i s p l a l h g
the first de]', then u,e cr.rttwo sonlls the second g , e sr o l d t h e t b e c o u l c l n ' tm e n t i o n h i s o r v ub a n d on rea srdn.€got Lreolrle s i r t t e n t r o n ,t o o ,
dayand cight tho thifd. Thc lasttLurc $.c cuiwas o r m u s i c i n i r t e r v i c \ r ' s ,a D dt h a t $ a s i t . H c q u i t E R l c a ! A F T5 Or ( \ . " - : " r r r o f l r ' . e o r ' f o u _ r I.rr
''l'cxas Fl(xxl," rightbcf(rrc our-tirnc r-enout. t h e n i g h t L r c f o r e i h ct ( ) L r N
r e s s u p p o s e dt o s t a r t . v,hoI heard iDdhxdtokno\r'\l'lnr itwxs.rightthcn.
LAYToil Wc stiycd in L.,A.. and plaved a ferv Hu,r.r . "r'Jl J.. \, , it u :.r' r s r 'r\e I u',N drivingind "Lcfs Danc{r"camconthc radio.
".r.c
J c r . . . ' r r J o n , r r ; \ ' ' r r h c c i r r l r er r , r ' r r g l o ! ' e dp h y i n g . I I e l i k e d D : r v i dr n d h i s m u s i c ,h u r I srqrycd n!crrand s.rir],'t haveto krou \\ ho this
glitar player is today. Not tomorrow, but today:'
584[ O ferds Flood came out and we started
touring behinJ r. Wp could .lou lt le.i rhings
changing, the crowds slowly getting biggcr. and
bigger Thenwe got rid ofthe milktuckwe had beer
driving around in and got a bus. lt was a really shitty
bus, but we wer-ein heaven dding around in it.
l a Y T o t {W e r o u r e d r h e u h o l e c o u n r n . p l r y i n g
every 11ight,sellingout 5O0-seatclubs,with 20O
people stardingoutside tryingto get in. And all
ofa sudden, "Pride and Joy" was bcingplayed
on MTY and it wasjust unreal.
DI(KEYtErls When I heard "Pride and Joy" on
the radio,I said "Hallelujah!" StevicRay Vaughan
single-handedlybrought guitar- and blues-oriented
musicbacktothe marketplace.He wasjustso good
and strongthat he would notbe denied.
ClullnI
$Trr0
rttE
[rrrilEn
/ Sottt
toSottr
lAYtO Wc went to Ne\l' York to record our
second album and itwas a kick,bccausewewere
stayingat the Mayflower Hoteland recordinfiat
the Power Stalion, produced byJohn Hanmond,
who had discovered everyone fronr Charlic
Christian to Bruc€ springsteer and Bob Dylan.
And we had a real budget to work with for the
first tim€. We were all doing our fair share of
drugs andpafiying, but it wasn't huring us yet.
we were prettygood at rll ofit aboutthat time.
lf,v We ran into Clapton on a tour ofAustralia.
He was leaving the hotel and I wenroutto talkto
h i m . h a n g o rc - r n d a l l . H e u a ' ofcour"e,
"ober,
and reallycalnrvhile Isatthere downinfi two or
three shots ofCrown Royal. And he just sort of
looked at me wiseJy and said, "Well, sometimes
you have to go through that, don'tcha?" IfI had
beell readytostop, he would havegone ontothc
next part blrt he understood thatl wasn't.
Another time we were doing a show with
Albert King, and hewalked backstage and said,
"we gonna have a little heirrt ro heart. I be€D
watchingyou wrestle with the bottle ihree, four
times already.I tell youwhat, man: llike to drink
a little bit when I'm home. Bur the gig ain't no
timetogethigh." He was tryingto tellmetotakc
careofbusiness, give myself abreak,but I did my
usual deal oftryingto acr like I haditall together:
- H e ) .r i n r
n u r h i n w r o n g , m a n , lr n l e a J i n g I h e carry evel.thing. we had actuall]' addcd another
life," and all thatbullshit.
SXAI O By the time we got to recording Soul
lo Sodl in'85, itwasgettingprettybad. we were
paying for the studio time and spendinghours
upon hours playing ping pong waiting for our
cocaine to arrive before we'd pla],. I think Soul
toSo&l is a good record but you call kind ofrell
thatwe're a little out ofsorts.
R€I5ErvYxA[t When they were recording SouI
fo Soul, Stevie called and said they wanted me
to come add some keyboards. They wanted me
l o p l a y a c o u r | ' i r ' p i a r no n _ L o o k
a r L r r rl c s i . r e r , bar:ktogethetandhelovedtojusttrycrazystufl
but itdidn'treally workbccause they had such
a strange setup. The studio was set up like a
live performance, with an entire P.A. and all
the amps and mics running through it. lt rvas
screamingloLrdandyou could nothear a piano, so
I suggestedthatwetryaHammondorgan,where
I could isolate the cabinet. we played "Change
It" and the instrun1ertals, and itwentgreat. we
e n d c dr r pr e c n r di n g u n r i l { r e n i r I h e m o r ni n g those thi ngs would actually r.r'ork.
a n d rh e ya . k e d m e r o c o m e b a c k t h ( n e \ r n i g h r .
The guys told me they were glad I cane ovct
b e c r u s er h e yh a d b e e nh a \ i n S r h r r d ' i m e g e t r i n g
the projectofftheground. TherStevie asked me
i f I w a n t e dt o j o i n t h e b a n d .
l,AYTof,We were in abit ofa drugand alcohol fenzy
by then, and when you go into the studio you have to
confront whatyou really sound like.You can'tjust
walk offthe stageand have it over and donewithj
you're under a microscope.SoulfoSoulcame out
well, but it was very difficult to make, and I think
that had a lot to do with askingReesetojoin. lt was
like, "We need some help here,"somebody to help
€iuitarist, Derek O'B en, who's just wonderful,
for a few shows, but our manager felt that took
the spotlight away from Stevie. AId n lot ofpeople
were urging us to keep the trio thing, but we really
needed a new pcrspectire. We had beer on an
endlessthree-yeartour purctuatedby dme in the
studio, and we u€re gettingburllt-
ButStevicwas continuingto stretch out, trying
differenttonesandweirdstuflweusedtocalllim
"Modern Man" becausehc loved to fool around
with clectronics, take things aparl and put them
o
Like on 'Ain't Gol1e'n' Give Up On Love," Stevic a
tookasix-stringbassandputpapcrmatchesunder 5
r h e b r i d g es a d J l er n r r u f f l e r h e s o u n , l r n d r h : r ' s .
r a \ r t y o uh e a r o nr h e l i n ) e s r r u m ot n hedownberr.,
wewouldgetcrazyideasafter-u'ehadbeerruptoo !
longand ourminds were racing. Suddenly,you go, ?
"I wonderwhatl would get if I putahalf cut Coke
"-
c r n u n d e rm ' b r r s d r u r r p e d a l .A n d " o m c r i n r c . I
i
 w Y N A N sL l L r s i n e s\s. i s r . I \ . r s j L r s ts h o c l . o r lb r
\ h,r $ rs goingon \rirh thcm ofnotgo;rllron.
'l'hcv
l crc so l s a l . r n c i .I u s s L r r r r e t l
"ucccs"firl
t h c i r b u s i n c s s I . r " i n o l t l e r . l l u r r h e \ L l i c l nt
$ r n k n o r l r r r r r n L r c hr n o n o \ t h c l h r d . A n d t h c
dlugging \\'ls gctting so b.rdthrt I r'.rs rclllv
s c r l c d f o l t h c g L r ls h c . r l t h . s L c \i c $ r r st L r s ts o
w o l n d r r w n ,h c o b v i o L r s l rn c c r l : t l r l e s L ,b r r t i t s
h u r r i t o s t r 4 .s o r l i , r g r h c r r r o u l i n c l o u t \ ' o u ' r ' c
i r l h i S d e b Ls. o r \ e s t , r \ c do L r t h c f c r n d i l o t \ ! { ) r s c
rnd l'olsc lrd prrn rbll rex(hed sofr ol r l,r$'
p o i n t r t v ) n r c o f t h c \ h r r v s u ' c u o to t c ' c o r t i n g
t R r E m A NI \ \ : r s r t t h r g i g s t h c ! f r r i ) f ( l c d | t f h c
A L r s t i nO t c r . r H o L r s ef . / u / rl t & / 8 . 1 i ) . ' l 6 Il .i r r c | r ' t o u t o f c o n n o l r r h c u r r c d i d t l r o s c O p c f . rH o L r s e
s e c Dr h e r r ri , r l r \ l ri l e ,r n d I r e r l l r r r r s d i s r L u b c d s h o r v s ,. u r t ii n r a sg r t t i n g r r u r \ ' . l l r e f i r s t \ e N r I
b \ ' s h N rI s r $ . I r h o u g h t . lh i s i s : rn r u s i c r l m c s s , r r s i n i h c t r r n d , I i L \ p e o p l e$ h o \ e l e . r b L r s r r g
b e c . r L r steh e v * o L r l dg o i n t o t h e s c c h . r o t i cj u l s
$ i t h D oc o n t r o l . I d i d n t k n o $ \ ' 1 ) x l e \ r ( 1 1 \ $ r s
g o i n g o n . L . L rIt \ . r s c o r c e l | e ! 1 .
: b r c l r r )i r . l l u t h c \ \ l s s c f i o u sa. n c l d c d i c a t e rdn. L it r e
a R A l r l I \ \ . r : p l r v i r r g i r 1\ t l : r n t r : r t t l r r c n d o f h i s
S H A N N o IN r c n r c m l ) r r s i r t i n s b r c l . : s r r g ca t t h e
O f c r . r H o u s r l D ( i s r \ i r i - tt o r ) L r r l r n x g c r . r \ l e x
I l ( x l i r - t t .s r e \ j c r l l d I r f c ' h e r d c d l i , r r h r i c k u r l l . '
l s r \ i r c r i n r i r g , l ) u tn ! i t h c r o f u s c o L r l ds t o p u d
w c t f i c d . s t c v i r k r c r h c N , r s i n t r 1 ) u b i c .t o o .
b c t u u s eN c q e | c r c r l l r g c t L i r r gI i l l c t i c .
s R v I h r d b e e n t n ' i n l t t o p L r l ln r \ ' s l l l L r pb v t h c
b o o r s t r ' . r p sb. u r r h c l u c r - c b r r r k c n . I v o L r l d
r i r k c L r pr r t l m z z l c s o D r c t h i n s j.L r l t n , s c l f i d
o f t h c p r r i n I r ' u s i c e l i r t g .\ \ h i r k e \ . h e c r '\, ri r ir r .
u ' l r r r c \ ! f \ \ . r s h : r n L l \I:t g o r t i ) t h c f o i n t l v h c r c i f
l L lh . r t o s . r \ ' ' F I i r o s o m c b o d r I \ \ 1 , L r l jcLl r s tl u l l
n f x r t c f r i n s - .l r s r r s1 j l ( . . . s r n l dd r x r n .
w Y N A i l tS t e \i e r l r d T o u r n r \\ \ c f e i u s t c o n r p l c t c l v
s L r L r r ( r n c cLsr. n tr l s o $ e r e r ) n t ( ) l o l i t n r u s i r l l l v .
{' L'.r ,|1 | r'.' $. , r-, ,}
1.,. rlrr l. . . r ' l : t , r , . ' . " . 1' ' r r , t r "
} r 1 x !h i n r \ e 1 1 i n nc) o f n c r s : r n dn o t k n o l v h o s t i l c
h c l l h e \ \ ' . r sg o i n g t r )g c t o L r i .
s R v( i o c l ,I $ . r s n ' t i n \ ' r , r ' rg o o c ls h e p e $ t e n t c
fc(ordcd thlt.,\t the time, I didn't fcalizc hon
brd rrshrpe I rr as in. Thcrc l ere more fix
i t i o h s L l o n co n t h c . r l b u m t h r r I r r r u l c l h a l c
I i k c d . T h e l c r . e r e s o n r eg o o d n i g h t s . r n ds o n c
goocl gigs. but it \'.rs rrofe hafh.rzxrd thrn
ur: s ould h.rlc likcd.somc ofthc gigsu clc
o k r v , b u t s o m c o f t h c m s o L r n dl i l e t h e ! 1 1e f c
thc r olk of hrll tlrrd people. Of coufsc. m!
r h i n k i n g s . r s . I ] o r , L l o r s n ' t t h a t s o L r n di { o o ( l l
. \ n L l t h r f c $ c r c s o D r cg r c r t l l ( ) f c s ! h r r c r r r r c
o u t . b L r tl i u s t \ ! l s n t i n ( o r ) t f o l r n o b o d r \ \ ' a s .
\ v e s e r ' er l l e \ 1 ] . r L r s t e L l .
LAYToN l , l l r ' . 1- , ' . " r ' I J r .\ \ ' $ . f i , . l
t n r l g i n g r i o n g , r l o n t l c r i n g i l u , c u . o u l , .m 1 .rle it
L r n r itlh c i l f t c I 1 1 o ( ) n . l t N ul isk c b e i l r g i nt h e n r i d d l e
o f t h c d c s e l t .u r r n d e l i r g i f r h € r e \ t s t c p $ ' o u l d t r c
t h e r t n e\ . l r e f e s e j u s t f e l l o l c r r n d d i c d .
t H A N n o NS t c r i c r d I a h \ ' r \ ' s h r d . r d j o i n i i g f o o m s
onthcroad,.rndNcilleNvcthedoorbe|\\ccnus
o p e n s o i l $ r s l i k c o n e b i g r o o n r .\ \ ' c \ \ ' c n i o n a
Eufopern t(ruf, :urd \\crc ai r hotcl in Cerm.rnr..
I $ : r s h ' i n g o n m y b c d . s i c k r s . r d o g ,. n d I c o u l L l
s c c s t c v i c r o l l i n g r r o L r n dh i s b e d m u r r t b l i n g s h i r .
i n d j u s t s t i c k i r r s h i s h e r do e l r n d l o n r i t n r g L r L x x l
l l l o v e I t h e l l o o r : t o o $ e r 1 it o g c i L r pa n d \ v r l k t o
t h e l ) . r t h r o o u rT. h c f e \ \ ' a s nr m u c h l c o t r l dt o d 0
t o h c l p h i m b c c . r u s eI r \ r r s o s i c l n r ) s e l f .b l r t I
s c n r o ! e r . H c w l r s ! ! r . l \ 's. o I c : r l l e di n i n n r L r l : u 1 c c
urd lhe\ crnrernd gorhinr.
raYrol Thrfc \\'crc ill thcse glr\'s ir Nhite llelrch
. !.I I r f I ' ' | 1 | l ' r , r. t - r ' c : r ! l \ . . ' r ' r '
S t c ! i f i i t n ' a s r c l l l \ s ( r r ' ! .I I e | \ e u r t o d r c h o s t i t a l
rnd rhcr)$. $enr to Zufich, sr|itzcflanLl,.rnd
f e f l i r f n r c L l t h r n c x t n i g h t , b L r ts t c l i e s o L r r r d c d
s c : r i r ,L r o t hr " . r p l u c r u n r l a p e l s o n . I c . r l l c ' colu r '
nrrn.rgcrflrd srid, \\ic hrle t(r do sonrething. \\rc
$ efeor ouf \\,r\ nr Iindrncl.so I sulscstcdih.lt!r'e
c l l l 1 l f .l J l o o n ru. h o h r L lh c l p e d l ' e t e l b w i s I e r r c l
. l l l dt r r i c ( l h p n ) n i n s i n i l r r s ; l o r t i o i r s .S t e !i e \ r ' c n t
thcrc tol ,r lis rlli s of rest, rlier u,hich rvc ilid
n \ 1 ) s h { ) ss i r r l - o u d o n .B e l o r c t h c s c c o n c n l ight
c n c o f e .s ' h e r 1s e \ e f e \ r l l l { i n g b r c k f t) t h e s t r g c ,
s t c \ ' i e N r l k c d o n t o r h i s g o o f \ .g . r f g p l r r r r k. r t t h e
I ' a c k c o r n c r o f t h e s r u g t r r n dl c l l o l f i t . T h a t \ r x s
t h c s t r . r s r h N ( b f o k r t h e c : r m c ls b r c l { ,r n d h c j u s t
s r i d , l l n n r ) t i r c c l . In c c d l c s t r n i l l I c c d c h u r g e . "
S o $ ' c c : u r c c l l c .tlh c r c s r o f t h e t u u r r r r d h e \ r ' t n t
t i ) . r f c h i l b ( l i n i c i n A t l r r l t . r .T t s r s l f e l i o f ,r e r l h :
I f c m c I n b e f r l r i r r l i n g ,T h r n h i r l N i n L l h l s f i n r l l v
ltoppcd.,\nrlu r'fc iln'c.
w v r r A N 9S ( n r l r t h i n gh x d t o g i | c , a r d \ \ h . r t g r r \c
$ rs str!ic. Hc ju5thrLlr bfcxkdo$ n, rrr!tir N rs
.rhugc Icliel knon illg th.rthe r|rs going to gct
somchclp.
sHAt{tloNStcvic \\'cnt to ihc Chrflcr Lrlre
t | L - , t r , , r r r r. li ! r ' r \ r l r r ' r ' r : r ' . tr .t ' i r ' r . ' r ' i
A L r r t i n \. \ c $ e f c b o t h r h e r el S d i l ' s . : r n dt h a t u ' . r s
j L r s tt I e b e g i n n i n go f t h c d a \ t o L l a \ ' L r f o c c s s .
ltlril/{lEVAUGHA{lt di(ln t cve!1occ$ nr nrc rhet
: r , r i r , ' r l. r r r . r . l ' " l t r r . . l r r . ''r l 1 . r . r
d o h i s 3 0 ( l n y sn ) s c r e \ c | r ' o n c ' o f f h i s b a c ht h, c n g o
s h o w c dt i r c r ' . 1 i o r m c , . u l l r I r t o f o t h e r p e o p l o .
f c h f b s t . r \ ,r n d h c c i m c t o s r c m c . I i r 1 \ . i t c dh 1 n 1
o n s r r g o ,r s r i . cw r m l d . r l r \ r l s d o f a f o n e i n o t h e r .
I ti)und our lutc| thrt he r'.ts rerllt' rcnous
b c c a L r - ci t s r s h i s l i f s t r i D r ct h | i n g s o l r e r .F L r t
h e p 1 , r 1 c dg r c r t , . r n . td r c r - cr r c n t m r l a s t e r c u s e
| ) f r r l l tg c t | i n g s o t ) c r .
tRvThe music has bccome really important lsincc
i'rebeconesober]. Music js awaytorench outand
holdon to one anotherinareall,vhealthyway Ir's
h c l p e d m e t o o p e n u p n o r . e a n d t a k ea c h a n c e o n
lovirUpeople. It's a r-hole new world for me.Morc
s o t h a n e v e r ,i f I d o n ' t p l a y t h eb e s tI p o s s i b l y c a n ,
a n d r e e l l y t r y t o p l a , v b e t t e r t h a ndl r i n k I c a n , t h e n
I'vcwasted it. BccauseT'm playing on borr.ou,ed
!ime. Lcftto m) own devices,I would have killed
myself. tsut fof some reason I'm notdcad.
lnsH
raYro lt \r'assort ofa crucl iron,vthairilcAli1,e
camc out right $.hcn Tomlny and Steviegot out of
treatmcnt. Oneofthc first times wc got rogether
again was to make avicleo lor "Supcrstition.,' So
:
i:.
f. t'
e\.er),one$,as clearhearlcciancl healthy ancl ue
r v e r e t r y i n g t o p l a y a l o n g t o t h i s d o p ea n d b o o z e -
laden tune. It !v.lslike. "cod, can't\\€cutthissong
:rgain?"ltwas r \reifd conh est, but irwas a $eat
fcelingto har.ccr,eryonereallyinto iragain, rcndv
t . p L r r l e u h u , r l r i | l g h . . ct", , ! . t r e - .l r $ : r . r l ) F
stalt of something rcal goocl.
wyrarr St€\.ie\4'asrcr'\.ousrbout plai'ing h is lir.st
s ^ h e f . h , ' $ . h u r $ < l , i r | , , . r " g eJ n . l i , u j J . r
".
magicrl. \ rithir thfee nights, he conpletel!.hir
his stlide anclrvas playingbetter fhan :rnyofu s had
ever heanl hinr. Ile rvasplaying rhe way he rlu al,s
wanted to and wasjust ecstatic. Everv sorg\ras
exciting, and ide.rs\r.ef€constaDtlt,popp ing up.
ClAPtoN He seernedto be an opel channel. I'hc
m u s i cj u s t p o u r e dd r r o u g h h i m .r n d i t n c v c r d r . i e d
up.
BRAMHAq T lL, \ i r 1 r . l I e u . n v p r h c r r , ' r f i r (
s o r l g sf o r h i s n e w a l b u m , $ , h r t b c c a m e I n S t e p ,
anddid $fiatwealways did: spendafovdays
j u s t h a n g i n g o u t t a l k i n g r n d c a t c h i n g u p ,u , h r c h
\ v o u l d p o i n t u s i n t h e d i r e c t i o n \ ' " - eu ' e r e g o i n g
ro h< rJ.\ e h1J hurl *,hpred Lf $ ithir .nul
m o r t h s , e n d w e k n e $ , t h a t u , a ss o m e t h i l 1 gu e
ha.lto dealwith. trwas important for us to talk
about and write about our expcriences',r,ith
: r d J : ciIu r . u c \ v - I f L lr ,' d : r p c r l !c u r t o n I r h e
i s s u e st h a t s u r l o u n d e d o u r d i u g r n d a l c o h o l
d a 1 ' sr, . h i c h l e d t o s o n g s l i k e " W a l l o f D e n j a l , '
and "Tightrope."
srv I lras afraid that l'd turn people ofl bur
s ' n c s l - < r Lr l u r r r t \ F s a \ r l r : r , l r i r r r r r c l r s .
It secms realimpofianrto me to s,ritc about that
s t u f f . I h a d s p e n ts o l o n g $ ' i t h t h i s i m a $ o i " I m
c o o l e r t h a n s o a n d s o b e c a u s eI g e t h i g h c r . t h a n
h e d o e s . "A n d i r ' s j u s rn o t t N € -
LAYIoNYe \\.cnt to Memphis to staft recoidingln : t i m e s , b u t i t s o u n d e dI i k e l t u z a k c o I 1 1 p a r . ctdo
r ( p | ] . l r ef i r o i b b . : ,r d i r r r . ' e r t r . . 1 , ^ u . r r , l - * r : t i r a t f i r s t , n 1 a g i c i lv e r s i o n .
T l e - e $ r ' . o . r er r e i . J - l r , " r l \ e c J u - eu . k r F u i .
u asou r proying grou ncl,fiat u.c had ro sho$ that
r c , , , r r l dn r a l c r . . d c c o - . r . ' \ i t h u u rr n \ n n e o Li r j
high.l know Srevielcltthe doubt.I think itenueo
Lrpproducir€i rhe tightest band pefomrances oi
our career,buiwe really worked arit.
tHAxirot Stevic u,ould do al1'rhing to gct
n e $ . J i f l e r e n ro r F , r t c f - n L r t r , l t5f .) i g I n N i f c
different amps together or u'hatevef. and he
s c c m e dt o s p e n da l o t o f t i m e m e s s i n g $ i t h s t u l f
onJnSrcp.Buthis.rctxal pla)ingjustfl o\i edonce
he got do{,n ro it.
Jt|/lCArf,r5Stcrie told lneLchad an instrumcntal
called 'Rivicra Paraclise"hc \r,anteclto tr\,, and
I s a i d t h r t I o n l v h a d n i n e m i n u t e s o f t a p el e f t .
He said, "Don't $orrl It's onh folrr ninutcs
iong." $ie dimmed the lights alld they strrted
p l a t . i D gt h i s g o r g e o u s s o n g , r v h i c h w e n t o n
to slx nlrrutcsj seven mmutcs. seven and il
h a l l . . T h e s o n g i s a b s o l u t e l vi r c r c d i b l e , t o t a l l y
inspirecl,drippingrvithemotion andhL'rewe
\ l ' e r e ,a b o u t r o r l r r o u t o f t a p e . I u a s j u m p l r g
up and dos r, u-avingnr arms, but evertonc
n r a ss o i r r r r p p e du p i n t h e i f p l . r y i n gt h l r t n o o r c
rl,is pa] ing rre any miDd- I finalll gor Chris'
rttenrion and crrphrticalll gave him thc cut
sirlr. He stlrfted tryingto flali do\rr Stevie,lruthe
\ v a sh u n c h e d o ! e r h i s g r i t a f w i t h h i s h c n d b e n t
d o u , n . F i n a l l y .h e l o o k e d u p , a n d t h e y b r . o u g h t
thc songd - o r v nj u s t i n t i m e . l t c n c l e dn n d , I f c w
s e c o n d sl a t e r ! h e t a p c f i n i s h e d . l n d t h € s t u d i o
u,assi lcnt ercep t for th€ sou nd ofthe empr,t reel
: s p i n n i n g a | o u n c l .W c c u t t h e s o n g I f c * , n r o r e
JHAIIgI{ We flnishcd thc fecord and\r'cre reallv
h,rppy with it. Then u.c $.cnt brck Lrnthc road,
a n d i t $ ' a s a \ r . h o l en e r r ' q o r k l - T h e r T r u s i r* , a s
great, we had a lir-orr orgrnizatiur, I €jreat road
lnanager, Skip Rickcrt. a €ireat crc\r-. We werc
a l l i u , t r e , ,l r l r : p r ' . . r . s r p ! i c . \ r . \ , ! r p , r , i r
r r r . j u s r [ r i . - l r r ,r i g I I l L \ r r r , , r . e J r u p l : r \ i r E
with Stevie. I ncvcf took it for gfxntecl. it was
like, "Oka1.,rvhere the hcll is he going tonight
bec:ruseI gor i{r follorv." Stevie never s,rid, "Now
pla]' this." He.iustplayed antl u e follo$ ecl,and it
o n l ] g o t m o r er n d n o r c e x c i t i n g .
IAYIo \4ttour€ddtroughthe$,interof '90, then
took a break for Stevie to Ij{) recofd lhnrily.Sr.,,1c
withJimmie.
S H A t l o { S t e v i er e a l l y e n j o y e d c u t t i n g F d m i l _ r , been a bullhor'l into ny ear'.Then ive all u'ent Mdrid in G," and I doD't know it in any ke} So I
srJ/e and spending all that t;me u'ith his b a c k t o m y l o o m , a n d J i m m i e w a s t h e l e ,a n d r v e j u s t s t o p p e da n d l e t h i n l s i n g a c a p p e l l aa, n d o n c e
b r o t h e r .H c s a i d i t w a s l i k c c o m i n g h o m c . A f t c r rverc all a wreck, sobbirrg and dazcd.ltu,as thc I wasn'tplaying,I got really awnre."Man,I'm with
t h c v d i d t h a t h e t o o k a l i t t 1 c v a c a t i on a n d t h e n nost holliblc nomcnt irr my lifc.l'1lner,er iuvc his coffin," and rventinto that zonc, $hcre it*,as
$ e g o f b a c k t o g e ( h e rl o I ' u i . l r . o m s r 6 u . ; n g . an,vthinghult that bad :rgain,ever. a1lhittingme like gangbusters.Beingin tha!litde
we ended the summel tour with the tu o sho$ s rAyrox I felt like a crr had fallen on me or church xnd realizingthatStevie's feetwer€ justa
a t A l p i n c V a l l c y , o u t s i d c C h i c a g o .l t i r v o h , e d sonethirg. I felt like a bab,v,just completcly fc*'fect away from lne was so damllhearl'Icould
playing with Clxpton .rrd Robert crs], and helpless. Then we renernbered that the leu's hardlybreathe.
J i m m i e a n d B u d d , vG u ] ' c a m e u p t o b e s p e c i a l r e p o r r - . a i d t h J r s t e r ; e . l n J f i i sb a n d s e r . l , . l l e J . FREEltaiYou know, sirlce Stevie died, he's been
guests.I t $'as j ust great fun, feallyexciting. sort llnd I realizedthatl had to getaholdof m,vfrmil,v e l e v r t e dr o . r i n r h o o d .l r - o u r d . . r . . r r g p ,\ u r i r
of the culmillation of all thc good timcs \.e'd and tcllthcm that I was still alivc. So rve spent a a wcird way i think it dintuishes hh, because
been having for the last yelrr or two. And, rs bunchoftime callingourfamilies, and justsortof Stevie wasn't a saiit, He was a pcrson, al1d he
g o o d a s r v e h a d b e e n p l a y i n g ,t h o s e t r v o s h o n ' s lioin€i on autopilot. Becauseif I started thinking h a d f a u l t s ,b u t h e * a s s u ' e e t a n d f u n n y a n d a
about it, 11,',ouldn'tbc able to tunciion. u n n d e r n r gl u r t o h r n g u i r h i n r d d i ri o n r . b e : r g
,rM,rirEvaucltAr Stcvic just srnole.l. lt \r'xs one of DR.roH l played at his fu[elal nfiich *'as really an exc eptio11altalel]t.
those gigs lvhere vou see someone play and )ou $lFwrench ing. I played everl h! mn I knerv,then ,lMltlEVAUGHAilThe $,or1dmisseshis music, but
can't belie\'e $ hat you're hearing. They're just Stevie wonder came up cnd said to me, "Ald ImissmyblotherBt
wailingand happyandnakingithappen, mising
itanothcrnotch.That'sivhrtit .aslikethatnight
J r A l p i n ( \ a l l c \ .r t ( r , r $ r . u I r ( r l . H c $ r r i L ' r
o n a n o t h e r p l a n e ,a n d M , ea l l k n e w i t .
RAIITThe first ni€iht at AlpineValley I u.|ls therc
justtowatc[ anditwas justt'rcattosec c\.Lryone.
I reall),think that Stevie\.as perhapsthe greatest
Euitariste\er, and hejustshowed it that night.
IUDDY GUYMan, first of a]l, Stevie rvas one of
the best e\.er. Period. B t those nights, he \l'as
just somethirg clsc. And I remember standing
n,ith hirnontheside ofthestagewhile Eric was

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fingeIing alongu'ith what Efic played. After he
d i e d ,f o r s o m er e a s o nI k e p t t h i n k i n g o f t h a t , h i m
standing there pla_vingphantom rotcs.
rHA rox'fhe first iight I stuck ar'ound for the
jam at the end, but the second night I rvanted to
get back to Chicago, so I took a helicopter Lrack
$ i r f R c , \ ' . I u c n r r u J r c p r r r ds u t r r o k . r u p b y . r
pl, one call from ourtour manager at 6:301.^r,He
said that we had to lTave a nreeting in my room
r i g h ra s r v . | . a i d . - l ' . ^ : J 0 i r . l - e n o r n i n g .n o r i n ' e
for a meeting. Whatthc hcll isgoingon?"Andhe
seid, "It's very i portant." I started feelirltj\.ery
t r n e a . 1r. n d a f e s r n i n u - e . l r t e f I g o r a c a l l f r o n r
ourman4ter,Alex Hodges, savingthat one ofthe
hclicoptels had gone dorvland Stcvic was on it,
and there rvere no survivors. In the blink of al
e v en ' r l i f e w a - r r k e r r u i ! I n m n e . | $ a . . i n i n g
on thebed, crynrg. and Chdscame into my room,
asking$4rai was goil]gon. t sait, "Stevie'sdcad,"
erd Lejust lostittoo.
lAYToil I was in denlai, didn't belie\,e it at ell, so
I c r ' ' e J . e c u ' i r ) J r d I f n r c e Jr h e n r n l e r n e i n t o
s . , " : r ' . r , ' , r n .I f , J 1 ) r h u u S l r l r ' J b , r h , r , s 1 c, p i l i , .
but *'hen the,\'opeied the door',thebed was still
nade end Ijustrealized, "Mycod, it's true."
5HA[t{ot{ Stevie's coat u'as laic] out on the bed
' r r J . o J J r 1 .r h ec l o c l r u d i ow - . p h \ i n g l h a r E r g l e .
s o n g t h a t g o e s , ' A n dI m a v n e v e r s e e y o ua g a i n . "
Itwas playingleal softly,but itmightasu.ellhave

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LTHOUGH HE DIED But guitarists owe it to themselvesto

nearly two decades put asidethe myth, go directly to the
beforethe birth of rock sourceand prepareto be humbled.
androll,RobertJohnson
possessed the enorrnous
talent and sexappealof
modernrock stars,plus
llr$t0nt
il0lfft|Jilcr$
LrKE MANY AFRICAN-AMERTCAN chil-
lwo factorsessentialto dren of the early 2oth century Jim Crcw
popular myth making: south,Johnsonenteredinto acomplicated
a very short life and a controversial world.Bom in 1911 in Hazelhurst,Missis-
death.In fact the story ofJohnson'slife sippi,he spenthis childhoodmovingliom
is more shadowythan that of anyother placeto placeandfather to stepfather.He
influentialbluesplayer,basedas it is wasraisedasRobertSpencerbut changed
on sketchybiographicalinformation, a his surnamewhile in his teensafter his
modestbody ofrecordings (41uacks,of mother, Julia, revealedthe identity of his
which 12are alternatetahes)and pre- true father, Noah Johnson.
cisely t\,voknown photographs.In the As poor as his circumstanceswere,
absenceof substantiaidetails,John- Johnson grew up in a musically rich
son'speersfab catedatale repletewith world. The massproductionof78 rpm s
midnight meetingsat the crossroads,a records-still a fairly recent innova,
dealwith the devil and hellhoundsthat tion-meant that for the first time in ;
relentlesslyfollowedthe doomedgui- history, musicianscould learn from
ta st's trail. Yet the legendsellshim oneanotherata distance. As an aspiring
shortby suggesting that his brilliance player,RobeftJohnsonhad awealth of
wasjust a musicalprize in Satan,s lot- musicat his fingertipsandshowedagift ;
tery.Rather,it wasthe resultofveq, real for absorbingnewmaterialon the spot,
humaneffort andan uncarny talent for from pianistLeroyCa.r's 1928smash, T
selectingand integratingthe musical "How Long,Ho\{' Long Blues" to hill-
elementsthat madeup his artistry. billy tunesandevenpolkas. I
ln fact,RobertJolmsonwasasophis- While recordsallowed Johnson to
ticated musicianby any standard.whatever native explorefar andwide,hewasalsofortunate to be sur-
talentsonepossesses, no onegetsto bethat goodand roundedbymusiciarxwhocouldta.kehim deeper.Gui 9
that consistentlyb lliant without a lot ofhard work tarist Willie Brown,wholivednear:Johnson'steenage
and cdtical listening.Many an aspiringbluesguitar- homeofRobinsonville, Mississippi,wasanestablished
isCsegohasbeenbrokenon the wheelofJohnson,s performerwho occasionally worked the localjuke
brilliant playing on "Teraplane Blues,"never mind joints with fiiend and protoq?ical Delta bluesman
the singing,compositionandfiesh, off-the-cuffspirit Charlie Patton.Brown reportedly showed Johnson
ofthe performance. his fingeringar1dchordingtechniques,and the young
To the public, the nameRobert Johnsonmay guitaris! alsomadea point of studying Patton,whose 6
represent a ghostly embodiment of Delta mys- rawr ocalr.pou.r{ul guitarandlegendaryperforming
tery more than a still-vital musical inspiration. acrobaticsleft astrongimpressionofhim.
FIGURE'I
(,?= I'i)
snume
FIGURE2
snume(,? = .f'l)
But it was another friend of Brown's, SonHouse,
who would becomeJohnson'sprime inspiration.
Althoughnol yet30 himsell Housewasar experi-
encedperformer with recordingsunder his belt anda
fully formed,emotionallyintenseplayingand singing
style. Johnsonwatched him on every possibleocca-
sion, absorbingsongs,licks and attitude that would
affecthim for the rest of his own short life.
At the ageof 19,Robert Johruon found himself at
a junction in his personaland musical life. Married,
endwiuhachildon rheway.hefehrhemourringpres-
sure to serdedown and work on (he farm,A careerin
music must haveseemeda long shot, at best.But the
suddendeath of his 16-year-oldwife and their baby
during childbirth threw all assumptionsaboutJohn-
son'stuture to the wind. Not long afterward, he Ieft
Robinsonvilleand returned to his boyhood home of
Hazelhurst,looking for a new start.
what he found there was a guitar mentor-Ike
zinneman-who did for Johnson'smusicianship
what SonHousehad donefor his spirit.within the
spanof asingleyear,Johnsondevelopedsodramati-
cally that the legend aroseof a midnight handshake
with the devil. rhe likely truth is more prosaic-that
he simply playedguitar nonstop,linlingup ttre musr-
calfragmentsthat for yea$ had beenlooselyfloating
below the surface.Under Zinneman'stutelage,he
tightened up his arrangementsand begln to main-
tain a logbookoflyricsandideas.The next time Son
Houseandwillie BrownheardRobertJohnso8the
tablesofinspirationhadbeentumed.
By the time Johnsonbecamea professionalblues
musician,in the earl] Thirties.rhe Depressionwas
underway,and southernblackswere hit especially
hard. Where there were paychecks,there was mon-
ey to be spent on musicians,and lile dozerc of oth-
ers Johnson took to the mad in pursuit of his share.
He headedfor Helena,Arkansas,home to a thriving
music scene,andthere Johnsonmet and playedwith
the creamof the Delta crop-Sonny Boy williamson
II, Robert Nighthawk, Elmore James,Howliri Woll
MemDhisSlimandmanvothers.
Johnson'sregionalreputationwasgrowingbut to i
to melodicphases that functioned aspart
of eachsongisfabric.Wherever two tales
of the samesongexist the versionsare
almostidentical,the alternatetales being
essentiallybackupcopiesrecordedin the
eventthe mastertake was darnaged,
Johnson playedboth standardfinger-
styleguitar and slide.He usedstandard
tuning whenever he was not playing
slide, although on some recordingshe
may have tuned the whole guitar down
a halfstep oow to high, E* Ab Db cb Bb
Eb) or up a half step (ow to high, Ef A*
n* c$ sl r*), perhapsusingacapowhen
raisingthe pitch. when he playedslide,
he used either open G tuning (low to
high, D G D G B D), ason "Comeon in
My Kitchen" and "CrossRoadBlues,"or
openE tuning oow to high, E B E Gf B
E), ason "Rambling on My Mind." Agsin,
somerecordingsinodd keysare capoed
ortuned to a higher pitch.
His rhythms were undoubtedly piano
influenced.One in particular, adapted
from a typical left-hand piano boogie-
woogie figure (FIGUREr), becamethe
basisof so mary guitar players' blues
rhlthm stylesthat it's like having the pat-
ent on dift. The qpical embellishmentat
reachthe next levelhe had to makerecords.An audi- the end ofbar I showsthat he was think-
tion for alocalmusicstoreo\(ner resultedin ani ,rta- ing a cut abovehis contemporaries,even
tion to travel to SanAntonio, Texas,where Johnson when pounding out the beat. Johnson
had his first recordingsessionin November1936.In used a thumb pick and bare fingers, but
a hotel room before a single microphone, he began this tlpe ofphrasecanalsobeplayedusing
laying down what would becomethe most famous a "hybrid" pickingapproach@assnotes
recordings in the history of Delta blues.After three playedwith flagick held betweenthumb
sessionsheld over the courseofa few days,followed and index finger, and high notesplucked
by two more in Dallas lessthan a year latet Robert with baresecondandthird fingers).John
Johnsorfsentire musicallegarywas in the can. sonusedthis Ope of rhlthm pattern,with
The only "hic' to comeout of thesesessions was variations,on manyofhis songs,including
"TerraplaneBlues."The record sold a few thousand "SweetHome Chicago"and "I Believel'll
copies,a respectablenumber by Depressron-era DustMy Broom."
"race record" standards.Togetherwith his other Probably the single lick that most
releases-ll in total-it boostedJohnsoris reputation quickly evokesJohnson'sguitar style is
and put some money in his pocket. It also attracted a figure that he used as an intro, ending
the attention ofJohn Haryunond,a New York-based andtumaround on many ofhis recordings
columbia Recordsexecutivewith alegendaryear for (llGUREr). He playeda number ofvaria-
talenr.(Hammondis credired with "discovering'- tions on this phrase,adding rhlthmic or
amongothers-Count Basie,Billie Holidat BobDylan melodic embellishmentsto customize it
and Bruce Springsteen)Hammond was assembling for agiventune.Again,apick-and-fingers,
the lineup for the 1938"spirituals to Swing"con- or fingerpicking approachis necessary.
cert, a majorshowcaseof Afiican-Americanmusrc
presentedin New ) ork Ciq/s CirnegieHall.and he
wantedJohnsonto appearasthe finest contemporary 0iln
representativeofDelta blues.The word went out, but THE TWO KNOWN PHOTOGRA?HSOf
unknown to Hammond,RobertJohnsonwas already Robert Jobnson show him with two dif
dead.On August 16,1938,poisonedwhiskey poured ferentround-hole,fl attopsl.(-stdngguitars.
by ajealoushusbandhad laid him down. Undoubtedlytheywere stnmgwid heaw-
gaugestrings(the onlygpe availableatdnt
time), and he is shownwith a thumb pick.
sffirrillrcililr0|Jr
ASWITH ANY GREATA.RTIST,the geniusof Robet
Hisbotdeneck(not in thephotos)wasprob-
ablyfashionedfrom an actualbotde,since
Jobnson'swork is in the totality- Othershaveplayed custom-madeaccessoiesdidn't exist. No
his guitar parts to perfection, or sungthe words, or reverb,no amp,no distortion-the effects
matchedthe vocalsnotefor note.But ifs the sumof all areentirely emotional.
thesepartsandmore tiat ma}eshis recordssoundso
alivemorethan 60 yearsafterthey were recorded.
As aguitarist,Johnsonknockedout his contempo-
raies with his ability to play tull, driving rhlthm with
$tr.rclE0Lr$ilrIs
JOHNSON'S CATALOG IS SO SLIM that
athurnb pick while simultaneouslypicking out melo- it fits on one CD: Tfte Complete Recoril-
diesonthe high stringswiti hisbarefingers.He didnt ings.A1129 songs and 12 alternate takes
recordmanyimprovisedsolospersqinstead,hestuck i are included.Bl
*>
/- /.-

wr
'i;3
q { t }"'
-'qu
,t:'j " j

i{ffi;*
lv v\\ - v . i- v w
 cuy cut somesidesfor rival labelCobrr,Chess ers in it or a SearsRoebuck,"Buddyadds. one of the greatestand most influcntial blues
signedhimon,iD1960,ard herecordedthele for KEYPLAYER willic Dixon (19151992)wrote the recordilgs ofalltime; belovedby Jimny Page
severalyearsasa side an,aspartofacelebrated songand playedbasson the date.This was the and manyothers
duo with singer,/h-arpistJunior Wells,and asa first of manyBuddycuy recordingsthatwould STUDIO Che.\ Records. )1205. \4ichigrnAve..
featuredartist in his own right. bepenned b1 Diyo,r. rheblue-ou n cole Po"ref. chicagotnow a historiclalldmark
cuy becameone ofthe stars ofthe Sixties' Irving Berlin and william Shakespeare rolled BACKSTORY After two singlesonArtistic,Buddy
blues sceneand finished out the decadewith in!oone.Dixon'ssongswererecordedbyMuddy easilymadethe jump !o Chess,where he went
the albumruddJ cuy & Junior wells Play thc waters, Howlin'woll lhe RollingStones,Led on to cut a seriesofsinglesand servedasa ses-
Blues.Featuringperformances by Eric Clap- Zeppelinand many others.Buddy still vividly sionguitaristto immortalslike Muddy waters
ton, Dr. John aDdthe J. Geils Bard, and co- rcmernbcrs hisnf5tnreeting $ irhWillie.rrr irn andHo$lin wolf. _Youd ger$3Ulor nlakinga
producedby Clapton,the albumwas supposed posinglylargemanwho dwarfedthe bigupright session,"Buddy recalls."And that was lhe best
to launchcuy and wells into the big time. But bassthatwashis signrtuleinstrument: moneyyoucould makein Chicago.wolkingin
the Sixties'blu€sboomwasover,aDdCuyspeDt "willic Dixor comeandgot lne and told n1e clubsyou'do ynake,four,fiveorsixdollarsa
tht lcxt cwuJc,:adt'in thc rilderncsr. hewasgonnatake metodinnef.Ifigured,Ijust night.Even Muddy was only making$12."
His fortuneschangedin l99l afterClaptonre- gotherefromLouisiana;I don'thaveaneduca- Buddy'sprcducers rd bossesat his new la-
questedthat Guy takepart in hjs 24 Nights iil- tion; now's my time to just be cool watch and bcl wcre the b.othersPlil and LeonardChess.
starbiuesguitarextravaganza atLondon'sRoyal learn.so we walksinto this barbecuejoiit and PolishinmigTantsend former liquor salesmen,
Albert Hall. culs star was again sing,and he Willieorder.c r holefucl,irr' chicken.I m llg! the chessbrothersbuilt the chessand checker
signedto SilvertoneRecords.He subsequently rin' we gon' take a fork and knife, carveup the labelsinto a bluesempire,releasingclassicdiscs
releasedthe besFsellingrecordingofhis career, chicken,andrneandhim would eatit. Butwhen by Muddy,woll Little walter, SonnyBoy wil-
Damtl RightI've Got theBlues,which featuled r h ec l r i c l e rcro m co u r . l r ep : c k ri r u p .b f e a L si r liamson,ElmoreJamesand Jinnny Rogers,not
cameosfiom Clapton,Beck,MarkKnopflerand in halfwith his barehandsand start to eat the to mentionseminalearly rock and roll sidesby
the MemphisHorns.But perhapsthe finestgen1 whole fuckin' thing himself.He looksat me Chuck Berr],and Bo Diddley.Buddy didn't al-
in Guy'srecentoutput is his 2001release, Sweet like, whatyou gon' have?" waysseccyeto eyewith the Chessbrothers,but
Iea, in which he rcinventcdhimselfin thc vern POSTSCRIPT Shotly aftcr this scssion,Buddy's the entrepreneurialsiblings nonethelesspro-
of North Mississippibluesrnen. He changed
gearsonceagainin2005 with the soul-inflected
I GocDredins,in *'hich his put his distinctive 'CotRt
stampon tracksby legendslike wilson Pickett, ult$
RtutRusJUst
t ctn0[Rt0E,
iilil,BUT
TI|IT'$
wilERt
EddieFloyd andJohnnyTaylor.
In mattersofblues history,Buddypossesses
a readyandvivid memory.He seemsto feelthe
lw[$
BEITtil'ttttT
RttL yotl
sotllntttln
0ltum RtcnRD."
bitternessofeach ripoffand the glory of each -oil ilro
Rtcon0tto'il
cny
[iltBtl|$|"
musicaltfiulnph asiftheyhappenedyesterday.
As he reflectson someof his greates!record-
ings, ftom the lale Fifties to the present day,
- the r€collectionscomefloodingback,inftrsing duced some of his finest
; the hallowedgrooveswith the livil1gtruththel' recordings and played
I call"theblues." an important role in de-

; '$nncnr
veloping rnany ofhis key

;
[ru0rursl'
DATE1958
stylistic tradenrarks.
rHE TRACK A chilling
blues allegory, "The
! wHY tT GoUNTSBuddy'svery first single. trirst Time I Met the
; sruDto CobraRecords,Chicago."There was a Blues" recounts a fate
! 1ittle record store in front with 45s and 78s," f u l c r o s s r o a d se n c o u n -
; Buddy lecalls. "You walked througtr to some ter wirh the blues itself,
i o1dgaragein the back,and that was CobraRe here personified as al
i colds. Just a car garage,man,but that'swhere omirous manifesta
; I was gettir' that real soundyou herr on that tion of all life's suffer-
S record," ings. Buddy's plaintive
B A C X S T O R YB u d d y l e f t l T i s n a t i v e L o u i s i a n a vocal is under-scored
and arrived in Chicago on Septen'rber25, 1957, by sone of the most
o hoping to land a contract with premiere blues stinging g!itar playing
a l r l r e l t h e , s R e c o r d \ .I n i r i J l l \ . C f p \ s t l s \ e d . ever committed to tapel
b u t r i v a l l a b e l C o b r a , h e a d e d b - vE l i T o s c a ! o , frenzied bursts of pent-
eager)y signed the new arrival to jts subsidiary up emotion delivered
imprint, Artistic. with a razor-thin tone
THE TRACKA slow, mour[fu] blues lreditatiol that cuts like a suicide's
in G, punctuatedby lachrymose saxdrones and arterial slash.
skitteling piano. Buddv's unrestrained vocal P R O D U G T I O NI { O T E S
stylc is ahcady vel}' nuch irtact on this debut Speakingof razorblades,
release,ald the expressive guitar'lines and the Chessbrothers were
clean,concise12 bar solo ably serve ascoun LesPaulwasstolenfiom tlle bandstandata club by no means averse to slicing a mnster tape to
rerpol'1r. u.herehewaspla,ving. CobraRecordsdidn't last suit length requirements or other comnercial
PRoDUcTIoN NoTEs The song's slightly un- much longer either. "I think Eli Toscanogot exigencies. Deft tape editing produced the ee-
usual chord structure audibly confoulds the killed ordrownedorsonetling," Budd-\7says."l rily powerful opening to "The First Time I Met
b a c k i n g b a n d a t p o i n t s , e s p e c i a l l yw h e n t h e y hearda lot ofdifferentstoriesaboutthat." the Blues." There is no instrumental prelude of
hir tlrebridge. Buddr mrke' r .r'nng shorving any sort. we're plunged straight into Buddy's
nonetheless. 'lflt agonized vocal, immersed in the nrlrativ€ be-
E BUDDy'scEARA GibsonLes?aulcoldtop, pur : F|R$t
ltiltlilil ilt BLU[$' fore *'e knorv what's hit us. "There originally
g chasedon installment backin Louisiana."The I DAIERecordedMarch 6. t960 was an intro," Budd]' rcveals. "I could never
ts ampwas either a little cibson with two speak- i wxy tt coultts luddy's first singtefor Chess; start in singing like I did on that track without
 an intro. I had to get into it first. But I had a
badhabit backthen:someofmy introsweretoo
long.Sothey'dcut'em out."
The Cheis siblings also suggestedthe
keening,high-pitched\.ocalregisterBuddy
e m p l o \) o n t h e r r a c l a n d w h i c h w o u l d b e -
come a signatureelementofhis singingstyle.
"Little Brother Montgomety lwho wrote the
songlhad madea hit of'The first Time I Met
the Blues' lin ]9J6l," Buddy remembers."The
Chessbrotherstold me I could do the songin a
higher voice.Theywere kind oftrying to lead
me in the directionofB.B.King.Ain'tbut one
of them. But they want me to sing it kind of
high. It's one ofthe most talked-aboutsongsI
ever did for Chess."
BUDDY'S GEARThis is perhapsthe earlrest
track to featureBuddy'sSunburst1957Fender
Stratocaster, one ofthe nost sacredartifactsin
allofblues history.The g!itar waspurchased-
just barely-shortly after the theft of Buddy's
LesPaulin'58.
"I had to get down on my kneesandbegthis
lady at this famousbluesclub calledTheresa's
Lounge at 48th and lndiana," he remembers.
"And shefinally loanedme the moneyfor that
Strat. I think it was $149or $150,with case,
strapand eveqthing."
Buddy chosea Stratocasterbecauseit was
the instrumentofchoicefor his ax hero,Gui-
tar Slim, whose highly theatrical stageper
formancesinspired the styleofshowmanship
that Buddy would lat€r passon to Jimi Hen-
drix. Buddy'smuch-battered'57 Stratwashis
main guitar until 1976,when it too was stolen.
Before then, it was most often mated with a
'59 FenderBassmanamp.Thesetwo pieces
of
gear are very much the sound ofearly Buddy
Guy recordings. Buddy quickllr got into the
habit ofcrankingthe Bassmanto the max and
usifig the Strat'svolume and tone cofltrols to
achievethe rich tonal variations heard in his

"when I would record with Muddy and

them, we used to drink wine, beer and whis-
key and set it on the amp.So all the control
knobson my amp had frozenwith dirt, booze,
cigarettebutts and allthat. Butthatwas okay,
'causeI didn't needto movethem anymore.
All I had that worked on that amplifier was
the on-and-off switch."
KEYPLAYEnS "The First Time I Metthe Blues"
was the first of many Buddy Guy sessionsto
feature the redoubtableJack Meyers on elec-
tric bass,still a relativelynew instrumentwhen
the record was made.(The first commercially
availableelectric bass,the trenderPrecisron,
was introducedin 1951.)"When the fender
bassfirst camealong I rememberseeingthls
kid Jack Meyers play ir with kxitdrisfl Earl
Hooker'sband,"Buddy r€counts.'/lHookerac-
tually ownedthe bass,sothe only time thatboy
could play, he had to work with Earl Hooker.
But I found outthatWillie Dixon had a Fender
bassthat he'd pawned at a place on 47th and
State.SoI told that boy,'lfyou wannaplaywith
rnc. I ll go get thar Fenderour of prwn irom
Dixon.' And I gaveit to Jack, 'causeh€ was a
goodlittle bassplayer."
On Buddy'srecords,Meyerwasoftenpaired
with aceChesssession drummerFred Below
(pronouncedBr-E lou), who here poundsthe
toms like somelost soul condemnedto play
the strip clubs of Helt for all eternity.Appar
ently,Belowwasa bit ofa cutupin the studio.
" T h e yf i n a l l lh r d t o b u i l da p e n r r o u n dh i m .
like a cardboardbox," Buddyrecalls,"so he
couldnt mes\wi(h an\bodv.
"iltJ|0ilE
l$lxTflE
0tLTl'
trilultr
rrms
DATERecorded in September,1963
WHYlT CoUNTSHistoric pairingofBuddy cuy
with bluesicon Muddy waters on a track that
marksMuddy'sretum to his MississippiDelta
folk bluesroots
STUDIO ChessRecords,2l2OS.MichiganAve.
BAcKSToRY The mid-Sixtiesfolk boomcreated
an enthusiasticinte.est in rural blues among
predominantlywhite collegeyouths.Eagerto
reachthisnewaudience,the Chessbrothersde-
cidedto "reposition"Muddy Waters-then the
quintessentialsharp-dressed, smooth-talking
urbanbluesman-asa humbleDeltasharecrop-
per.Thus,the classicMudd!WatersFo[k Singer
albumwasborn.
"Chess heard about the college kids buy-
ing folk rrusic," Buddyrecalls,"so they called
Muddy in and theywantedto rush one ofthose
recordsouton him. Theygavehimatrain ticket
and told him to go down Southand find some
ofthose olderguyswho play that kind of stuff.
And Muddy said,'Setthe fuckin' sessionup for
E
tomorrow. I got it.' They thought Muddy was
gonnacall someold-timegly and put him on a
train.When leonard Chesscamein that morr
ingandsawmesittingthere,thatguycalledme a
'motherfuckeisomanytimes,Ialmostcdedand
left the studio.But Muddy told him, 'Shut the
fuck up and listen.'After we got done playing,
they stoodtherewith their mouthswide open.
 All they could.;y to rre wa., Vorherfucker.
how'd you know that?"'
THETRAcxWith Clifton Jameson the drunr
kit, this is hardly authenticDeltafolk blues.
But waters' compositionreceivesan elo-
quently understatedacousticreading,sen-
sitivelysupportedby willie Dixon'ssupple
stand-upbass.with Muddy playingmostly
single-noteleads and embellishmentson
slide,Buddy is essentiallythe main g!itar-
ist on the track. He provesa confidentand
resourceful interpreter of the acousticblues
idiom. Checkthat graceful riff somewhatin
the manner of Robert Junior Lockwood o!
the V chord of the secondverse.As Buddy
KEY PLAYERMcKinley Morganfield,a.k.a.
Muddywaters (19I5-1983), really did grow up
Heworkedon a planrarion
in rurrl \4is.issippi.
and wasrecordedby folklo stAlanLomaxbe-
fore he travelednorth in 1943and becamethe
pdncipalarchitectandundisputedkingofChi
cagoblues.Muddyhad a hugeinfluenceon the
Rolling Stones,who took their nameftom one
of his songs,and countlessother rock and roll-
erswho havefound their heartsin the blues.
POSTSCRIPT The folkblues crazewasnotcon-
fined ro bookishwhite kid. in Ameficajrheir
European counterparts were arg!ably even
more fanatical.And so Buddy first toured Eu
ropein 1965aspart ofthe AmedcanFolk Biues
needle,he'd takea stickpin-a pieceofjewelry
fol.securinga necktie hold it in his teeth and
placeit on the re|ord.l.ning Hooker'sdrir ing
rhythmsresonatein his skull.And on one fate
tul morningin BadenBadenin 1965,Buddycuy
finally camefaceto facewith his hero although
he didn't realizeit wasHookerat first.
"Everybody was heavy drinkers back
then," Buddy says."And when I went down
t o b r e a l l a s ti n t h e m o f n i n gr h e yh a d w h i s -
key eggs.I sat in the corner with an acoustic
g u i r r r r n d \ r a r r e dp l a y i n B o o g i eC h i l l e n.
which was the first thing I'd learned how to
play by myself. AlId this guy comes up. He
wasdrinkin' and stutterin'bad:'Y-y-y-yout
t-t-tryin' to play J-J-J-ohnny...' I say,'Yeah,
I guessso. I'm just trying to figure out who
the fuck you are,stutterin' so.'FinallyFred
Below said,'That's John Lee Hooker right
therel'AndHookerjuststartedto laugh.Boy,
he laughedso hard he cried. \Ve becamebest
friendsfrom that day till the day he died. I
wasat his funeral."

llu 0rllmUmm'
rr&J00r
ulfi,tfiron
ftN
DATERecordedin October,19To
wHY lT coUNTsA stapleof the Buddy Guy
repertoireand one of Buddys own compo.i-
tions; his first significant collaboration wrth
Eric clapton
sTUDloCriteria Recording,1755NE l49th St.,

aacKsToRYBuddyfirst reamedup u iLhhar-

monica ace Junior Wells in the mid Sixtles.
They becamea popular live act and by 1970
had landed a high-visibility opening spot on
the Rolling stones tour. During this period,
Eric Claptonwasjusr finishingoff his classic
Derekandthe Dominos alb|umLdlla analother
AssorfedtoveSonSswhile getting deeperand
deeperinto what would becomea debilitating
heroin addiction.Clapton was an avid Buddy
Guy fan and backin'65 had slept in a van with
other membersofthe Yardbirds to be among
the frst in a venuewhereBuddywasplayingon
his maidenvoyageto Europe.Five yearslarer,
as final mixes ofrayla were underway, Eric
Clapton decidedhe wanted to make a record
with Buddy cuy.
"Ahmet Ertegun lhead of Derek and the
Dominoes' Idbel, Atlantic Records] was
h a n g i no u r w i r h C l a p r o n , B u d d ye r p l a i n s .
"At this time [Atldntic recoriling artistl Are-
tha Franllin $ as poppin and everyrhing
'[Rtc Erteguntouchedwas turningto gold. Clapton

Cltptoil
lot0
ittttE
tttnuty
Ettil
RttEtBER$
t'tttflilo
Ttttt
REcoRn. told him, 'I don't know why you want to re-
cord me. The best guitar player in the world

[|tutsHt0H
ILL -ortrlnilillt
IllETlilt.' fl]tfr,Itil'llrlrusnil
himselfsays, "I know how to back Muddy up
on that shit, mm."
PRoDUcTIONt{OTESSessionphotos depict avery
minimal recordirgsetup, with just one mic for
a
waters, cuy and Dixon.As a result, the track has
; averyopen, ambient feel-the sound ofthat hal-
lowed room at2120 S. MichiganAvenue.
BUDDY'SGEAR At the time of this recording,
Buddydidn'teven own an acousticguitar. Muddy
Waters lenthim one ofhis archtops for the date.
ilEil,lts
is touring with the RollingStonesright now.'
So they grabbeda plane,flew to Paris and
watched mc and Junior wells open the show
forthe Stonesthat night. Afterward [Erfegrn]
justwalksup and says,'I'llmakea fuckin'hit
Festival,a packagetour organizedby cerman record on you. when you get off this tour
promotersHorst Lippmannand Fritz Rau and with the Stones,come straight to Miami and
featuringgeatslikeMississippiFredMcDowell, record an album for Atlantic Records.'we
Big MamaThornton,EddieBoydandRoosevelt went down there,andEric told me lateron he
Sykes.It was on Germansoil, ironically, that hardly even remembersmaking that record.
Buddyfirst met oneofhis greatestblues
heroes: He was high all the tine."
John Lee Hooker.crowing up in Lettsworth, IHE TRAGK An uptempofunk soulworkout that
Louiiiana,Buddyhadjust aboutwornout acopy marriesan insistentc7 guitar riff to a wicked,
of Hooker'sclassic"BoogieChillen'."when syncopatedbassline. Buddy busts loose as a
Buddy'sparents confiscatedtire phonograph soul-preachin' loverman."l waslisteningto alot
, , 1 ( ' , i . R e J Jr r u r . r l r , , . r g u r .u h u ' r u r r r r . 1 6
.r lot of rccords then," he rccalls of his inspif rtr(nl
1 o r\ l r i t i n g t h c t u n e . " C r u s e b a c k t h c n ,j u s t l i k e
non', you cal makc dre best blues record in the
world, but it won'rgrt no airphy."
The slippery, open endcd grlove pr.ovides
r t J e r l . r l r ' l , f n - . n n e . l r h ' n r u . rt r ' r t . : r . " . 1
mirric soloirgcvcr-to issue fi ol11the fingcr-srnd
i+ritrr of Budd_vLluy. Ycah, he flubs a fcw rotcs,
but thc rvhole thing berutifulll encapsulrtes
the blcczy u-i1denergl ofthrt hastily organized
date dos,n in Mirmi.
P R O D U C T I O N O T E ST h c r e \ r e r e n o r e h c a rs
: r l . , , " I ' r ' 'p r o d u c o n . \ \ r ' , r \ ' , r . I c r r : - J l " e ( L )
much what Budd,v ancl rhe b.url thlcu, riou'n
i n t h e s t u d i o . l h e $ 4 1 o l er h i n g - w a sa l i t t l c t o o
ronch:rlant for Aiiartic, u'ho initilrllv shelvcrl
thcproject.It w asn't until nvo yea|s Iater, ivhen
Ituddv recoltlecl ru,o extfa songs r.ith the J.
ceils Itrnd. that the label iinally had \r'hat it
d o c m e dw a s r n e n t i r c a l b u n ro f r e l e a s e w o r - t h !
l n . t t e f i a l -" M a n o f N , h n y W o r d s " b e c a m e t h e
lead track orl l972's llx.ldy Guy andJwtior Wclls
Pldy tlle Blues. ,1"
SUDDY'SGEARHis '57 Strat anLlBassmatlurlr
K E YP L A Y E RFSr ' ( c l r L , r ' | l i . , , r , . p c n r J g Li ( r i .
Nerv Orlcans keyboard legend Df..Iohn (Mrc
R e h c n r r r r ' Ls ', , r f i . ' r ' , I h L f l r \ r h r , . , . r i n l
f c a r u r e s l l e r e k a l 1 dt h e D o m i n o s b a s s i s tC a f l
R a L l l cr n L i d l u m n r e r J i m c o r d o n a n a l l s t a r
crst crpturcLl on trpe by enginccring legend
Torn Dowd.
tt
"iltl$ttilB
$[Lf f ir.
D A T E1 9 9 I
lvHY lT couNTs Historic priring oftsuddy alld
his fcllorv guitrl legtnd Jeff Beck on BLrddy's
"coneback' elbum, Donrn R+tfi. I Got r/re

STuDlo Ilatter)' Studios, l,l/16 Chrplin Rd.,

B A c K S T o R YT h e S e v e n t i e sd n d E i g h t i e s u , e r e
ern 1e.r. luI BIJ,I\ Cu\. U irh U qIrcri.xn
r . , o _ Ji u g . o I r r r , r . l - c ' " _ e 1 e o r b r r r ' 1 ' r i . i r g
his past tliurrphs for-various Dln.ope.rr labcls.
His ltrck changedwhen E c Clapton invited him
to take paft ir the rll-slar 24 Nights concefts et
L o n d o n ' sR o ) ' e lA l t r c r t H x l l i n l 9 9 0 . r n d ' 9 1 .T h i s
led to r contrrct with Silvcrtone Recor.ds still
Buddy's labcltoda,v-rnd a major comebacl
"This tsritish !'u)' comes ulr to mc brckstcge
l r l , , R o \ l l A l b r1 1H . rl . n . r . J J . .I u . , r ' : r . i g l
v l r u t o d o r h i s . r l b u l l r . ' I ' m s a y i n ' ,O k a y t s u d d y ,
a
this is British glr)'s r1o\\..Hcre s your Johnnv,
conre-lrter Jitrri Hondri:t ch.ncc. facnilrr-r rr,as
"discorrrcd" 6y !]n,,llish rrdnd.gcr Cids (lhdn, T
d1tr.l You c:rn do youl o!r'n thing now. I wcnr i
to Bettery Studios in F.ngland,cut Ddrrn Rryht
l Gor tfie ltlucs,:rnd that w,rs the biggcst record

T H E T R A C KA s t o m p i n g . u p t o w n r e n d i t i o r o f
lhe R&B chssic niade famous by \\rilson Pick-
e t t . i l u d d v C u v ' s ' N { u s t a n g "b o a s t sr b i g h o r n
scction, soul sistcr b:rcking vocals aDd, or
c o u r - s cl,h e o v e r t h c t o p g u i t a r s r y l i n g so f J e f f
B e c k , r ' h o s c e l e c t r i l y i n g L e a d sg o l i n e f o r l i n c i
rvith Buddy's b1.ashvocal. Beck is another Strar =
h r . r rr B r i , i . h- o , ( r r i r . r c ^ , 1 $ h u L . ur , r j , , l
inspirati(D \rhen Buddy laldcd in Erghnd ill
z
'65.Ilefe
he rctulns rhe frvor.
P R O D U C T I O N O T E S B e c k l l l 1 dI a r e t h e b e s t
o f f r i e n d s , "s . t v sB u d d l . " F I e c o n l e i n t h c s t u d i o
afier $,e cut the basic track and thct plugged
his guitar through the ergineer loom [i.e. con
a r o l r o o r r l . I w a s i n t h e e n g i n e e rr o o m w h e n h e
put that guitar track (m there. Man, that $ry
can Play."
B U D D Y ' SG E A RF o r m o s t o f t h e , d r l n R r 8 t r f ,
I ' v c c o t r h c B l u c s s e s s i o n s ,B u d d y p l a y e d a n
Eric Clapton Signatufe Model Fender strat,
proculcd flom a Londol mLrsicshop. Hc liked
the guitar so nuch that it became the basis for
f € n d e r ' s B u d d , vc u y S i l i n a t u r e M o d e l S t r e t ,
f i r s t r c l c a s c dc o m t n c r c i a l l yi n 1 9 9 s .
K E Y P L A Y E R St s e c k a n d t s u d d y a r e n o r e t h a l
enough talent for any track,bul the massi!el)r
solid backbcat on this recording r-as provided
by Little !-eat drumlller Richie Hairvald.
PosTscRlPT Accofding to Buddy's g!itar tech
N , I a r kM e s s n e r , t h e g u i t a r i s t c u r r e n t l y o w n s
s c v e np o l k a - d o t S t r a t s ,m a n y o f t h e m e q u i p p e d
\,',ith thcsamcbuilt ir preamp found in the Eric
clap!on signature stfat. Four oftsud.ly's polka
dot stfats wefe nnde bv the trender Custom
Shop, rvith pickups ranlging from Lace sensors
to Texas Specials.'l hc rernainingthlce are pro
d u c t i o n l i n e I u d d y c u y S i g n a t u l em o d e l sf f o m
F e n d e i s m a n u f a c t u r i n gf a c i l i t - vi n M e x i c o . O n e
o f t h e s e i n s t r L r m e n t si s e q u i p p e dw i t h ' 5 9 h u m -
buckers and anothel has vintagc noisclcss prck
ups. Buddyoflen uses the larterguitar rvhen he
p l a , v sa t h i s l e g e n d s c l u b , w h i c h h a s s i g n i f ic a n t
buzz issucs, accolding to Mcssrcr'.
Most recentl!, Buddy has takento playinga
'
) T e l e c : r 5 r en_e l u \ e o n c r a g eH. i . l i v e r n r p f i g
' ' n n . r : l : o l J I e . l d e r J q r e r . : l r e6 " . . n " n L T D ,
:r\ribraverb xnd :rn EiChries IIafsh:rll JCM800
head through a Tonc Tubb,v lx12 cube. The lrt-
ter is isolated and niked oilstage.
, "Bmt
PLttst
[otTlrntilt'
D A T E2 O O I
W H Y l T C O U N T SB L r d d yG u y f i n d s t h e n 1 i s s i n g
l i n k b e n v e e nb l u e s a n d p u n k
S T U D I OS w e c t T c a , O x f o r d , X { i s s i s s i p p i
BAGKSToRY Bv lhe start ofthe 2lstcertury, Bud
d) Cuy u r. rprd\ Io reir!e,r hinr.ellorce
"gairr.
For his 200l album,Swcet Ted,r'ecord producer
D e n n i . H e r r i r r gr Lc n , r J l t i m r p u i t h r . u r r l i ,
o f younger-players fron lhe world ofpost punk
a n d a l t c r n a t i v e r o c k , i n c l u ! l i n € iS q u i r r e l N u l
Zippers/Knockdo\r'n society gritarist Jimbo
Matllus and El\.is Costcllo's lhlthm scction con-
sisting ofbassist Davey Faragher and drunmer
P e t e T h o m a s . I n t b e c o z y c o n f i n e so f H e r r i n g ' s
Sweet Tca studio, locatcd in the pictufesque
s m a l l t o l v n o f O x f o f d , M i s s i s s l p p i ,a u d d y a n d
his neu,backup mr.rsiciansdug into a selection of
songs dla*-l principally from the rcpertoires of
North Mississippibluesnlen Junior Kirnbrough
and T Model Ford. Both a|tists lecord fLrr Fai
'l
Po..un Record\ he nrr\ericl rr* hlue, irn
print, distributedby L.A. punk hbel Epiraph,
has been responsible for tulning a u'holc ncw
generalion ofpunk rockers on !o the blues.
"\\'hen I first came to Chicago, I found the
woli Otis Rush, Otis Span and all those guys,"
saysBuddy. "I thoLrghtI rloDerlrrgup evervthi11g
there is.But when I u,ent down lhefe lto Mis
3T BIUTS
LEOEIOS
s/ssrppr'1,Dennis Herril]g started brirgirg up
this.Iunior Kimbrough sruff. He's a gu\'never
hardly dict lcave Mississippi. I snid,'wou,, man.
I didn't dig deep enough.'It goes to sho$,,,vou
never get too old to learn,"
T H E T R A C KA s l o r v , b f o o d i n g , s e v e n m i n u t e
r ' r . r r i l r, ' ' f r H F r . l - i \ l i l e $ r ' r : r l
riffand a gra y, subsonic bass that never ven-
tures too far fron thc toric. Liberatcd ftorn thc
r2-bxr grid, Buddy soars irllo the stratosphere.
Fanciful,full-blown lock production values
flang,v, echoed vocals and a soaking {-et, sus-
t a i n i n g l e a d t o n e - b r i n g o u t a s p e c t so f B u d d y ' s
prodigious talent never quite captured bv the
more docurnentary approach ofhis rccordings
from the Nineties and earlief.
P R O D U C T I O N O T E S" I c u t r h e t r e c o r d i n t h e
h a l l o f S $ . e e tT e a , " s a y sB u d d y . " T h e b : r n dr v a s
set up ir ihc studio.I could see'em through a
glass door. But I \\-as in the hall \r'iih all thcsc
a m p s . D e n n i s I { e r r i n g l Ta s a 1 o t o f t l , e s e g r e a t
o l d a m p s .A l o t o f t h o s e l s r i t a l s o u n d sy o u h e e f
on that record hacl somcthing to do \rith hin1.
I{e's €iotone of them old fnri-rinll boalds that he
got oul of L.A. someu'here. Tt's as close as you
can get io the old studios.'
x E Y P L A Y E RA l \ . o r t L e . e , . i o r . r r e . r h e
d r u m m e r S p a n 1 v, e t e r r n o f m a r y F a t P o s s u n
recordings.Although he had suffered a mild
s t r ' , , 1 r .r p . r n n r r r r r g , e dt o i n t r F " B u d d ) .
who told hinr, "Shit, if I rvoulda sarvyou bc-
f o r e y ' ' o uh a d t h e s t r o k e , I p r o b a b l y w o u l d a
moved do*,n here to Mississippi just to play
rvith you." B[
 E --JOIINLET-
--9
l|00rEn
TttE
|fins
nrruBnnm
RUIEO
TttE
BLUEs
roR
ilORE
TttIil
ttILF
I cIITllRY.
BytflTl|
tllil
VER THE YEARS, Hooker created a crude instrument
any number of blues upon which he beganto emulate the
guitarists have been styleofMoore and his friends.
able to lay claim to As Hooker grew into his teens,his
a personal style, but mother and stepfather differed over
scantfew could ght- the wisdom of his musical pursuits.
fully claim possession His mothe/s continued resistance
of an entire musical finally drove Hooker out ofthe house
attitude. John Lee and offto Memphis,where the Beale
Hookercould-he was Streetmusic scenewasthriving. After
the original ploprietor of the groove spendinga few yeals working asa mov-
known as boogre.More than just a ie usher and playingfor sparechange
rhlthmic feel, boogie is an attitude- inw.C. Handy Park(wherehe rubbed
one ofsex combinedwith danger,of shoulde$ with avery young B.B.King),
life on the edgein a world that's raw, Hooker was ready for another move,
down and extremely difty, And it this time to Cincinnati.
permeatesHooker'smusicno matter Sevenyealslater,anotherrelocation
what dre setting or style. producedthe payoffhe needed.Hooker
In the 50yearsduring which Hook- landedin Detroit in 1943,attractedby
er maderecords,he exploredthe blues the prospectsofwell-payingwork on a
in its variousforms both on acoustic wartime assemblyijne and new musi-
and electric guitar. While words like calopportunitiesir the jumping Hast-
"organic," "earthy' and eve[ "pdmi- ings Streetnightclubs."A lot ofblues
tive" have frequently been used to playemwent to Chicago,"Hooker said.
describehistalenton both instrumeds, "I went to Detroit becausethere was
the guitarist himself remainedmodest lesscompetition."
on the subjectofhis abilities."I believe lrl It was while performins in the clubs
I wasbom with the gift C.odgaveme," /I that he beganto play elechic guitar, try-
he oncesaid."ButI hadtodevelopit.', ing to make himself heard above the
I
I noiseofthe patrons.The new insrumenr

llnronrmnltruzuts
HE WASBORNin 1920into a large,
sharecroppingfamily in Clarksdale,Mississippi,
the heartofDeltabluescountry.Inspirationfor his
earliest musical explorations camefrom his stepfa-
ther, Will Moo.e, a preacherand musicianwhose
home provided a stopoverfor someofthe era,s
travelingblueslegends,includingCharleypatton,
Blind Blake and Blind Lemon Jefferson.Lack-
ing cashor the meansto get it, Hooker followed
the time-honored,country poor-boytraditio[ of
fashioninga "guitar" from availablematerials.Bv
stretchingslrips ofold innertubesto a barndooi,
!
Z
put a solid, electric kick into his boogie,
muchto tle deliehtofhis audience.
Hooker plugpd away at the Dehoit
clubs,building his chopsand a hard-won reputation.
His persistencefinally paid off in 1948when a talent
scoutbroughtHookerto the attentionofBemard Bes-
mar! ownerofunited SoundStudio.In hisfrst session
for Besman,Hookerplayedawill Moore-inspired
guitarboogieoverwhich he sangan autobiogaphical -
descriptionofa youngmusician's family stilggles. The ;
resultingrecor4 'tsoogieChillen',"wasan instant hit, ;
l
and it put Hooke/s nameon the musicalmap i
Hooker continuedto turn out hit recordsat an
astonishingpace."Crawling King Snake Blues"
FIGUREI Oper A Tuitrs (ow aohi8h, tr A E A Cl E)
{A)
FIGURE 2 Shndrrd toniDg MediumShutne ff: = ,l
N.C.(E)
FIGUBE3 Slardsd tming M€dhrmShume
N.C.(E4
(basedon a themeextendingbackevenbeyondBlind
Lemon Jefferson),"John L's HouseRent Boogie"
and "I'm in the Mood" (a very oblique referenceto
clenn Miller's swing chestnut"In the Mood") are
just three ofhis titles that madethe chafts in the next
few years.Hooker, it seemed,would record anpime,
any place,for any label and under practicallyany
name,includingJohnLeeBooker,JohnLeeCooker,
Johnny Lee,Johnny Williams and Birningham Sam
and His Magic cuitar.
Like his Chicago contemporary Muddy Waters,
Hookerservedup anunpretentious,down-homestyle
that resonatedwith displacedsouthemerswho had
packedthe big northem citiesduringandafterthe war.
Whether playing acousticor electric,he could evoke
timespastandpresenqandlocationsfrom the Deltato
Detoi! with just his guitar,voice and fooL The force
ofhis deliveryshonetlrough evensuchrather bizane
experimentsas1952's'nvaking the Boogie,"with its
multi-tacked vocalsand sped-upguitar overdubs.
In the mid fifties, Hookerbeganworkingmore
frequentlywithbandsthat includedvery ablegui
taristssuchasEddieTavlor (tetterLnown asJim-
my Reed'spartner) and Eddie Kirkland. What's
more,his recordingsfrom this period for the Vee-
Jay label helped extend his influence overseas.
Tuneslike "Dimples"and "Boom Boom" made
Hooker a virtual icon amongyoung B tish musi-
cians and inspired severalsuccessfulblues rocl
shumct.? = i'll
M€dium
'll
bands,includingthe Animals and theYardbirds.
As the musicbusinessshifted its production ftorn
78 rpm recordsto singlesand albums,Hookercon-
tinued to crank out material for various labels right
through the sixties, introducing standardslike the
Muddy waters-inspired "Big Legs,Tight skirt'' and
"OneBourbon,OneScotch,OneBeer."His 1970col-
laboration with CannedHeat Hool.,er& Heat, came
at the high-water mark ofthe bluesrock era andwas
a big seller acrossAmerica. Even during the Seven-
ties and Eighties, after the blues lost its commercial
appeal,John Lee Hooker recordscould still be found
in suburbanrecordstoresnext to thoseofotler peren-
nial sellers,lile B.B.Khg and Jirnmy Reed.
Remarkably,Hookeis careerenjoyedanew wave
of success,beginningin 1989wilh TheHealer, a col-
laborationbetweenHooker and a crew ofhis dis-
ciplesthat includedCarlossantana,BonnieRaitt,
Robert Cray, Los Lobos and ceorge Thorogood. It
was followed by the aptly namedMr -Lucftyand sev-
eralotherrecordingsmadein thesarneall-srarvejn.
Hookerlivedour his finalyearsin SanFiarcisco.
where he openeda club calledJohn Lee Hoole/s
Boom Boom Room.He becameill prior to a 2001
European tour and died shortly after at the age of
83."I've had a goodtime," Hooker saidin late life,
reflectingon his career."I got two generationsoi
peoplelisteningtomy music,andmaybeI'll get me
a third." Most certainlvhe will.
$rurrr0T[Hril0|Jr
JoHN LEEGAVEfull props to his step-
father,will Moore,when it cameto the
origins ofthe boogie.Moore and other
practitioners of what Muddy waters
called "deep blues" stripped music
right to the bone, creating a trance-
like atmospherein which repetition,
surrounded by empty space,focused
the listener on the feeling behind the
music. Next to a propulsive rhythm,
unadornedlyrics and no-bullshit vocal
delivery,elementslike chord changes,
melodiesandguitar solosbecomeorna-
mental rather than essential.
By the standardsof modern guitar
technique,Hooker hangsby the slimmest
ofthreads.Regularbar length,predictable
changesand repeatablephrasesfall by
the wayside, and the voice ald message
becomethe guidingfactors.In Hooker's
music,thereareno mistakesper sebecause
the goal is not to play the sameway every
timq the goal is to capture"tle moment"
FIGUREI is the shu{fle phrase that
defines"boogie."It's notatedin openA
tuniflg 0ow to high, E A E A C# E), the
sametuning Hooker uses.The phrase
is pluckedwith the thumb on the fifth
string,andthe index fingeris usedon all
other strings.Play the ffiplets with one
finger, sliding from fret to fret up the fifth
string. This rhlthm hasbeen a sourceof
inspiration for countlessartists, from
Slim Harpo to CannedH eatto ZZ "top.
Though Hooker is forever linked to
boogie,he recordedin many styles,and
most of his biggesthits were more hadi-
tional shuff1es. Oneofthese,"Dimples,"
is built around a unison guitar/vocal lick
similarto that shownin FIGURE 2,while
anot}}er,"BoomBoom,"featuresadistinc-
tive call-and-response arrangementof
vocalandguitar like that sho\rn in FIGURE
3 Goth examplesare played in standard
tuning). These two phrasesform part of
the basicvocabularyofblues guitar.
0rtn
HOOKER'S SOUNDwAS molded by the
forceofhis personalstyle,notbyhis gear.
He alwayssoundedlike himself, whether
playinga varietyofacousticsor a selec-
tion of cibson and Epiphone electrics,
including a Les Paul Goldtopwiih P90
"soapba/'pickupsand,in his final years,
ES-335andES-345semihollowelectrics.
He usedboth openA and standardtun-
ings.Beyo[d that his setupbasicallycon-
sisted of a cord plugged into an amp.
$rn0rr0tl$rEilr0
MUCII oF HooKER'sDIVERSEcatalog
is stillin print. Someofthe bestincludel
The UltimdteCollectionon Rhino,Jofin
Lee Hooker Pldys dnd Sings the Blues
and The Healer, a modern production
with an all-star cast.8L
 "I reallylearned alot about guitar playingjust makeslight ofit, on somelevelhe surelyknew Avenue E"4.t storredJ'azzand R&B corridor) in
by watchingand headngB.B. play," saysBumett, that this might bethe lastalbumhe'd ever record, the Fifties and Sixties with larran3erl n4a-rwell
himself a well-regarded arman. "I learned a lot andhewants to sharesomeofthe songsthat have Davis.causel still loverhoserecords. Theyre
about heedom, ease and grace. And I learned a lot impaited meaningto his long and rich life. classicalmusic, really.SoI definitetywantedthis
{iom Dr. John about communication. I learned a 'nvhen I was younger I never thought about atbumto be like that.I thinkthat's where B.B.'s
lot about the way blues is orchestrated and the death,"he says."But now, at my age,sometimesI soundwls invented."
way it grew in the first It was King's man-
place.It's through com agementwho put him
municationamongmusi- together with Burnett.
ciansthat itgrew intothis The two men met face-
thingwe call the blues." to-face for the first time in
And on ahotsumme/s Atlantic City, New Jersey.
day in Reno, Nevada, "T-Bone said,'I would
severalmonthsafter ses- like to do somethingthat
sions we.e completed, would put you back in
B.B. King finally heard the early parts of your
the finished product- career,'" King recalls, "
edited,mixed andspiked nvould you mind that?' I
with deeplysympathetic said,'No,Idontmind,but
brassarangementsover- myvoice is not like itwas
dubbedby longtimeBur- then.' He said,'No, I just
nett cohortDarrellLeon- meant somewhat in the
ard. The disc had been contextofwhat you were
in King's possessionfor doing then and how you
about two weeks nt this were doing it.' I told him,
point.He just hadn'tgot- 'No, I don't mind. The
ten aroundto listeningto only thing I do mind is I
it. The man tours relent- wanna be myself.I don't
lessly(somehavespecu wantyou to try and make
latedthat touringis what me into somethingelse.'
keeps him alive), and He said,'Ohno, B-B.,be
entertainingaudiences yourself'Isaid,'Ifyoudo
like the casino crowd that, w€ got it.' "
he'd face later that eve- Producer and artist
ning in Renois everybit worked together on the
asimportantto him asan selection of material for
album that has had crit- the album, culling the
ics,journalistsand blues choicest tunes from the
aficionadosdoing back vast ocean of blues rep-
flips ever since the first ertoire. "T-Bone made
advancecopies became up a list of songsthat he
available. thought would be good,"
"Oh, they makin' a saysKing, "and he asked
big'do out of it," King me to make up a list of
drawls. "It's okay. I songsI thoughtwould be
haven't heard some of good. So we did. And-
the things everybody wot d you believeit?-we
else seemsto hear in both comeup with almost
it. But one thing I can the sametunes."
admit is we had a good Burnett had a very vivid
producer.And we had
terrific musicians.And I think the songswas
okay, 'causethey've been recorded by some
ofthe best blues players.But to hook it all up
andhearwhatsomefolks is hearin',wellI ain,t
heardit yet. But then I didjust heardit for rhe
IilERt
_"lF tsttoTnER
ulRL[,
t$$littillttilttRE
t$,
first time today.I ain't lyin' to you.',
Part of what males One Kincl Fayor so com
pelling is the senseof mortalitythat permeates
IUllillll
]|IUE
ltl l'lY
PIRI$
UlllH
ilt!'
the album.The lead track is Blind Lemon Jef-
ferson'ssombermeditationon death,,'SeeThat do.I even found a place whcre I'd like to bc bur- idea ofthe sonic ambience he wanted to create.
My GraveIs KeptClean."The requestis the,.one i e d ,b a c k i n m y h o m e t o l v ni n I n d i a n o l a ,M i s s i s - "In the movie souDdtracks I've done, I've been
kind favor"askedby the bluesman,who goeson sippi. I had a lot ofthoughts earlier that I wanted working in different time periods," he explarns.
to visualizehis internment in vivid detail:the to be cremated. But no, I don't think so now. "And I always ay to male it sound not like some
diggingofthegnve, the funeralprocession with 'Cause if there jmpersonation of a period. I always try to put
is another world, as some think
two white horsesthat bear the coffin to its final there is-I'm a believer, but I never believed in myselfback in that time and say, 'What would
restingplace.Othertracks,like Howlin, Wolfs that I wanna have all my parts vrith met" this havc soundedlike iflhad actuallybeen in the
"How Many More Years,"alsospeakofthe grave. T-Bone Burnett was also keenly aware of the room with it?' Try to do it with a sense of realiry
It's a chilling experienceto hear this material trust thathadbeen placed in his hands. "t knew like thar The kind ofroom Iwas imaginingB.B. in ;
feelinglyinterpretedby King so near the end fairly quickly the kind of record I wanted to make u asa rrnm where I d secn him play in cheSir.tics,
of man'susualnaturallifespan.The emotional with 8.8.," says the producer, "which was the called the Central I orest Ballroom, in Dallas, Tex-
effectconfersa retrospective, ifnot downngnr kind ofrecords he made when I first started lis- as. It was just a beautiful dancehall, a big boomy,
posthumous,mood to the album.While King teningto him: the things he did back on Central wild place. I wanted this album to have some of
 t h e s e n s eo f t h a t k i n d o l r o o m i n i t . "
SoB rnettbookcd thc bigstudio atthc Villrge
Recorders iD L.A., aformer Masonic Temple and
historjc phce in its own right. And he filled thar
room with a coterie of handpicked phyers. "The
$ J \ l p r u d u , r L rl h r " r ( " ' ' r ,ils u f l l l { r u p i n r
smrll circle with everybody lookingat elrch oth
er," says tsumett. "And I just sat right between
B . B .a n d D r . J o h n . T h e v w e r e o n e i t h e r s i d e o f
mc, about two or thrcc fcct away. I could hcar
thc u,holc band really we11,but I could cspecially
h e a r B . B .. l n d n I r c . A n d I k n e w t h a t ; f t h e t w o o f
them were killin'ir, th€n itwas killed."
"Had nobody bccn thcrc but me and Dr.
John, we still would\.e madc thc rccord," B.B.
c o n f i r n 1 s ". ' C r u s e I l o v e t h e w . l y h e p l a y s .I ' v e
madc seveml LPsw;th him before."
Kins had also u'orked rvith Nrthrn East on
Eric Chpton sessions and dates .rnd with (lne
dindldroJ'drummer Jim Keitner, a seasonedvct
who's playcd u,ith cvcryonc from Dylan to Len-
non. tsut tsurnett did an intercstirgthingwith the
fhythm sect'on. On most trrcks, he teamed East
, r n i c , r \ l i . h r : . $ i r h \ 4 i l < ef l i z o r J o o n e l e c r r i c
bass.And Kcltncr is co-dlummingn'ith Jay Bel-
lcrose, all playinglivc nr thc shrdio.
"You know there's two drunn1ers on a lot of
ihose M u,ell Davis tracks, for strrters," Bur
i n ( n ( ' \ D l . r , n s-. A l . u . I r , ; r , , n n u . r n o f l ' . r . \ -
heat blues shuffles. It's been so overdone. And
j itgot collified into one thing, wherers reellv the
swingis so complicated. So Jim anLlJa]' are r\r,o
greet dmmmers who know howto blurcach oth-
er:r little bit. So you don't know cxactly what's
g o i n g o n r h y t h m i c r l l y . T h c f s a l w a v sw h a t w e
u,ere goin€i ior, to make it so you can't exactly
tell what'sgoingon."
Irue enough. Most of our currcnt sense of
the blues derives from the mid Fifties Chicago
blues sound ofCh€ss Records, as rppropriated
by the RollingStoncs and other British Invade$
and perpetuated by present day labels like Alli
llator. But On€ l{ind Fdyol steeps us in more of
a Forties-based R&B s€nsibility, a more suave,
urbarre vcin with big horn charts aDd a morc
relaxed rhythmic sensibility. Lonnie Johnson
0 8 9 . 1 1 9 7 0 )a n d T - B o n e w a l k e r 0 9 0 9 - 1 9 7 5 )
wcrc two guitarist/vocalists who crossed from
R&B into the domain ofjazz. This has al$rys
been an imporiant musical migration for King,
who prides himsclfon having recorded with the
P - e a ri a r z h r n d l e a l e f D u k e L l l i n g r o nr n J h r ! i n g
played at numerousjazz clubs and festivals.
But at thc samc timc, Onc (ind Fdvor prys
homage to the rural folk blucs of artists likc
B l i n d L e m o n J e f f e r s o n ( 1 8 9 7 - 1 9 3 0 ) ,B i g B i l l
B r o o n z y ( 1 8 9 7 1 S 5 8 )a n d t h € M i s s i s s i p p i
S h e i k s ,w h o f l o u r i s h e d i n t h c T w c n t i c s a n d
Thirties. But the disc also includcs thc Clcss
legacy, as represented by the mighty Howlin'
wolf (i910 1976),rnd gives a nod to John Lee
Hooker (1920 2o01), KinCs gr)od fri€nd aDd an
arlist perhaps more wcll known to present day
rock and rollers than some of the other blues-
mcn whon Kingcovcrs. So not only is onerind
Fdror a brilliant recording in its own right but
a l s o a f i r s t - r a t e e d u c a t i o n i n t h e b 1 u e s ,e d i f y
i n g f o - n e w c o m e r . . l i f e : ' f i r ' n - i n gf o r l o n g i r n e
devotces and high],v cntertaining for all.
For the One Kird,Fdvor sessiolls,Kingplayed
o n e o f h i s r e c e r l - j g n J L u r em o d e l G i b s o nE S J 5 5
"Lucille" guitars. He seems both perplexed and
amused when askcd if he brought out somc of
his older instruments for nore ofa vintagc tonc.
- u h y ? l r e c h u c k l e \ .' l m n o r \ o g o o d
thir I cin
play five or six guitars, or eight or 10, like I see
some oftheseguys do.l'vc gotmanyoftha samc
l i . r . m d , r yJ 5 5 sa n d J J S S l b , ur onlv o|lc rhar l rn
playingnow, and that's the one I like."
Kingbrought his cibson nmp into the studio,
which Burnctt supplcmcnted with a couplc of
vintage tweed FenderDeluxe amps. The rh)'thm
guitarists who played on some of the tracks
were Johnny Lee Schelland StephenBruton,
with Neil Larson on Hammond B-3 rounding
out the lineup for th€ basic tracks.
"l've known both Steve and Johnny Lce for
a l o n g t i m e , " s a y sB u r n e t t , " a n d I k n e w t h e y ' d
be the right guitar players for this. I wanted it
t o s u u n d r u u l : h .\ a e d i L I nt h J c r r 1 t r r r . i s
tors on this record. I just wanted it to sound
c o a r s ea n d b e a u t i f u l . A n d J o h n n y k n o w s h o w
to do that. So docs Steve. I didn't want any of
those modern kind ofpickups or alry ofthat.
P 90s-those are good."
Therewere no advance rehearsals.Theband
would run through asongafewtimes in thestu-
dio, find an arra[gement and go for atake.Amaz
ingly, all ofKin€is vocals and guitar solos ivere
cutliv€ with th€ basic tracks. The sessionsrerlly
brought out thc best in him. He digs dcepcr and
plays with moreconvjction than he has ina long
time. I!'s a particular delight to hear things like
the diminished scale runs in the beautiful R&B
ballad "waitilg for Your Call." But again, cgs-
 head analyscs like these secm a comedic wasre
ofbreath t0 thc Kingofthe tslucs.
"U/fihh, thet'sjusfthe way I cut it," he demurs
wheD prcssed for details re$rdingthe solo. "we
didn't do ell firsttakes. We dicl some ofrhen rwo
or tht ee times. Butitwas enjoyable,bccauseeach
one of those glys is a terrific musician. When
t h e y g c t a n i d e ao f w h a t y o u ' r e r r y i n g t o d o , t h e y
helpyou to do ir."
The ar.lngcmcnt of "See That My (;rave ts
Kcpt Clcan" is p.rrticularly inspircd. Its New
Orleans rhumba feel is rnitcs fiom Blind Lcmon's
original recording, and most other covers ofthc
songforthrt nattcr. But thatsecorcl line rnder
tow, a rh).thnl derived liom New Orlcnns srree!
tuir.rrl". sui'" 'hs .u[g'\.uhjecl manrr rr i t uri-
ously joyous andjaunty way.
"R.8. has used that kind of rhythm befor.c,"
Burnett points out. "'Woke Up I'his Morning,
stafts oftwith that kind of rhumba bcat aDd then
goes irto on€ of ihose big band shuffles, a Coun r
Basie kind ofchorus. And with Kclhrer and Jay
w . $ c r e g e r r i n gi n r ,' r l l s o f l i o f ; n h , N i " . n r i n r e ,
diffcrcnt degrees of shuffle. So *,ho knou,sr
R R s r a n , L l. i | g i n g i r . l h L h r n d . r r . r e J p l i n g
it, and that was it. Once it got stared, I diclr't
stop rhem.'I'hat's what beinga producer is. tou
J , ' n r w r n r t o r i u r n y l r i n g r o h r e r l , r l r Ls p e l l .T h r r
song,by theway, was thc second to l.lst onc that
we recorded- And the very last was 'Tonrolrow
Nighr,' which wound up beilg the last sorrs or
thc album. So by that time, B.B. had the lr.rmc.
I thinL h. cut rhor ru,' sn|le\ :r. rhc hcFi|lninr,
and end ofthe rccord."
At fhe sanrc rime that One l{ind Favor tyas
relersed, the B.B. King Muscum nnd Delra Intcr
pretive Center was opcnin€t its doors in King,s
homc tou,n oflndianola, MS. f-scesidcbdrl Thc
$15nillid, 18,o00-square foot iacility ispacked
with B.B. memorrbil;a and exhibits elucid.rtirg
other :rspectsof Delri blues cultur-c.
"lt might sound like I'm bragging, bur I
t h i n k i t ' s j u s t s u p e r t o h a v c s o m e r h i n gl i k c t h a t
i n m y h o n o r , " s a y sB . B ." l b c l i e v e i ( ' s o n c o f t h e
thingsthatu-ill be left herc when I'm gone thrt
people will cnjoy for yerrs and years. I lruiy
bclicve that." i
S p ,r d i r s ' i n r r $ i r h B B l ( i n gi . l r k i l , o i b i n
ihe company of r venerablc old grrndfathcr or
tribal elder. He's lived in a rvorlcl thatl,ou'll ncvcr -
know a better world in some o,ays,a far worse
one in otheIls,particul.rrly for AfricmAmcficans.
But there arc no straight paths back ro thatworld.
;
o
Ask r qucstirD about r gxit or r song rnd you
might get u story about how ts.B. learned to fly
an airplane in thc ealJy Sixt;es, or how one ofhis
m r n \ r \ w i v e sh u f n r J l l l - . . 1 ' tl o v e dp " s r . . i n r
d u r i n g ! n a s t _dvi v o r c e .A s k a b o u t I b l u e s n a n o f
yorc and you rlight lerrn.rbout B.B-'srcceDt
rcadings in natural history: "At onc tiDre,rhc
snakc got lc$i, )'ou knolv."
But whcrcvcr the journcy lerds, if's always !
well worth the ride.

cUE rwOttrDHowold were you when yuu first

heard Blind Lenon Jcfferson's r.ccordingof ..Sec
:
That My Cirlve Is Kcpt Clcrn"?
8 . 8 . ( l N GI w a s a b o y . l d o n ' t f c m e m b e r c x a c t
ly, but I had to bc somewherearound nine or
lO. l'vc always liked Blind Lenlor, and "see ;
T h a t M y C i r a \ . eI s K e p t C l € a n " h . r p p c r c d r o
b€ one thaf I thought it was time to do ugain. I
air't heard anybod),lately do it not th€ \a,.ryI
{.anted to do ir. The kind favor is you're.rsking
solncore io scc that y(]ur grave b€ kept clexn.
It's sort of ftrnny, 'cause where n1,vmothcr ls
blrried at, I go up there tryin'to fiDd the grave
bui ncver could find it. Until receorlysome guy
foLrndit, ald he kecps it. So\,',heneverI docome
there, I kno\r,\\'here it is.
Gw Listening to vour interpletetion of the
: n r g . I r p r l i z e d .o r t e r l . r p . r e - r e . r l i z e Jr h r r . h e I .
that's a gospel chord proglession.
K t r { c\ \ e l l . I s r r n r J , , r . rp 1 . ' 1 i r ' g , ^ p c l . { s o s -
p e l s i n g e r i s w h a t I w a n t e dt o b e ,b u t h e r e ' sw h a t
h r f f , r , d . S i r r i rg o r r l - e . r - e e r c o r r r e r :f l . . y i r ) g .
people uould ask c io plar''agospel sorg. Ani:l
u \ e r I J i , l r h c r ' J Lo n r p l . n r r n Ln r r . l - r . rr r r r r r i p
m e . A l d t h e p e o p l e r v h o a s k e dm e t o p l a ya b l u e s
sorgnlwa,vs tipped. Atthat time, my mid teens I
guess,I rvas d|iving a trndor. Out ofnine tractor
dfivers,I was about number thrcc. I was maknlg
ebout 22-arrd-a-halfdollars a week. The way the
economy \rrs in lhe area at that time, that $,as
prctty good moncy for farmin'. BLrtI'd €iolo lown
sometimes and lneke :10or 50 dollars just sitting
n ' r t h e c o r n e r f r l a t r g r u . i c I I n a J cr . h . g h I , a
hundred dollnrs sometimes. So you crn see$'hat
rlotivatcd me lo phv the blLres.
Gw On this nlbum you pay tribure to one of
!oLrr great heroes, Lonnic Johnsor. What was
it thetlirabbed you about his pleying? Wrs it lrN
pioneering use of single-nore leads?
K c I car't rcally lell you, 'causeif l could tell
!ou lhat I coLrldplay like hiln. Now I'm 82, and
I've stillneverbeen able to do that. tsut rll those
guys lho influenced me had somethingthat was
s i r n i l a f ,m c a D i n g t h a ta l o t o f t i m e s i t s e e m e dt o
be like a guy rvith a sword thar (,ent straight
through n1e.The feelingrvith thejazz plal'els like
Chaflie Christirn, Dj go Reinhardt and T-Bone
\ t a l L e r u r , r 1 r ,r r r n , . L r r t i r ' , , d i f f e r e r r ru r v .
cw Did !c'u evcr meet Lonnic Johnson?
K I N GI m e t L o n n i e b e f o r e h e d i c d . l s a w h i m
1 r r , ' n ,e . H e u r s p l - l ; r ) g o r e r i n a r r ) a l a . i r l
'l
oronto. A fliend of rrrinewho firsr bookecl
me in Ca[ada tlrok me to see hirn. That was
the only tine I ever sa\\'hin live. He died
some months Lrter,
cw What \ras it like to meet him? Sonetiltes
it's l1ot such agrcat idea to meetvolrr heroes.
K r N c W e l l , I d i d r ' t k r o \ i h o 1 vt o t a l k t o h i m . I
ncvcr kne$' hou' to talk to him. But I also had a
chancc to pla_vwithT-BoneWalker atMooterey.
Tmet T Bolle therc and playcdwith him, and that
nas anodrer highiight.
cw \4rhen \ris thrt?
(lNcOh, comeon,man.I'm 82!
cwWell, tell lnc lnorc.
xlt\tcI can't teli vou thirt nluch cxccptthey had
us playirg. lt s never beer no secret thtt f Bol1e
Walkcl*.as orrc of m,v hcroes- And this was bis
birthda,vor somethinglike that.I can't fcrnember
exactly \\'lrrt it wis, bLrtthet got us both or thc
s r r j - ,r 1 r " r d i r . 1 l e 1 h r r l l i a . r s o g e o r r I l l i n o i s
Jecquet and lt u,r?"terl ClarkTerr,1.Clnrk Terf',
i s o n e o f t h e p 3 e a t j a z zp l a v e r sa n d a v e r y g o o d
f ' c r ' , r .\ \ e r l g n r o n . r a g e$ i L hT E o e I l r r ' , b t .
r r r , lI I r r r , r , I i p , , I t r r r r f h , r . I r v \ v " . l i L e \ e i n !
bom agrin fbr me.
cw But ],ou'clnlet T Bone belore that? Do yotr
go back aways?
K l N c \ \ Ll l . | \ . r . J d i . c j n . f e \ r r \ i r g r ^ g e r
started lvhen I first met T Borc. Ktig bcgdn
his carecr cs a discjocley in the late I'orties and
carly F ifties at radio station WDIA hl Menlphis.)
T Bone Walker came to play in Mcmphis, and I
was livingthcre at the time. So like usual l cam€
to work at the radio station 10 or 15 minures
before I went on the air. The people at the station
said,"There's somebodyinthe studio waiting for
you." So I went in, and there's T-Bone WalkersiF
' i n g r r r h ep i a n o p . l a l i n g i r . l a l m o s rf e l l o u L .
cw You said vou didn't know how to talk to
Lonnie Johnson. Were you better able to com-
nlunlcate \{ rtn l-lj.)ne watkeri
l(lNc \Vell, yes. 'Cause, see, I didn't have
T-Bone to look up to allmylife. See,I heard Lon-
nie JolDsonwhen Iwas sevenor eightyears old.
And T Bone was more modernistic, compared
to Lonnie. Now lonnie, for his time, was what
I hope to be now. He was a guy that could play
u i t h a r y o n er n d r i r i n w e l l . I h e r r d h i m p l a y j a z z ,
g o . o e l .b l u p c .e v e ns o m ec o u n r r y .A n d e v e r yri m e
you heard him you knew itwas Lonnie Johnson,
He played some things with Duke Ellington, and
you gonr he good ro play with rhe Dulel Louis
Annstrongalso did some things with him, but so
did [rconic gospelsinger] Mahalia Jackson. Some
people feel like that about me. They've used me
on a lot oftunes, both over here and overseas.
And I glad. 'Cause-I'll say it again I wish I
couldbe like Lornie Johnson-thatis, fitinw€ll
wherever I am,
cw So hou, did you choose u'hich songs by
Lonnie Johnson and T-Bone Walkeryouwanted
to cover on tlis album?
K l l r l cW e l l , y o u k n o w , I n e v e r c o u l d p l a y
like either of them, like I been sayin' all
along. So I just tried to choose songswhere
I could be mysell
cw You're really throwing down on some of
thc \.ocals.
(rxc Lctme put itthisway. When I was young,
I c o u l d h o l l e r l o u d . I c o u l d s u s t a i n a n o t €a n d l e t
it go a long time. Today it's more like *-aves on
thc ocean. When I was young€r,I could control
i t a l o t b e t t e r . N o w I c a n ' t c o n b o l i t a sm u c h , b u t
I can still do some ofthe things I used to do. I
had to learn a way to kind of halfVay controi my
voice, which is nothinglike I used to do.
cwYou still hit the fotes real]y strong at the
outset, bui they might subside a little quicker
than before.
KI G Thai. In) \{r) ^frr}ing ro s(illbring
soncthingto it likewhat I usedto do. Aid I thiDk
m!' guitar pla)'ingis maybe rot quite as good asit 1mrnrsmltttil
il Btill
t$100
utilt
itynilu.
lHlwtttt
oncewas. Butlbelieve thatthe notes I play now
sayjust about as much. I do.
cw You also cover Howlin' Wolls "How
MaDv MoreYears" onthe album. Did you know
Fnliutttil$
LouEtltlR[$pEct
the woll?
Klt{c I knew lim, but we wasn't as friendly as fof the chessbrothers[t eonardaru1Phitl? loilc No, no, we didn't have to do that. It u,as
I wishwe couLdhave been. (rNcYou'll haveto askthemthat.Somepeo- easyto find out$ithout havingto dothat. Mudd-y
cw Ollr rl ingihJryou ,nJ rhc Wolfharein ple give the Biharibrothersa bad lame and and I never did talk about what they did for hinl.
common is that you both recorded at Sam Phil saytheystolefron the artists.But I think ofit But I almost u'ent $ith Chess Records once. I
l i p s ' s t u d i o e a r l yo n . thisway:a businessperson ain'tgonnatellyou wanted $5,000 for some reason.Can'tremember
KNGThe first time I ever saw a studio was Sam muchaboutthebusinessunlessyou askthem. whatitwas for. And the Biharis wouldn't give it
Phillips' studio. "Sun Records" it was latercalled, To them it's just blrsiness.Thev know they to me. So I told MuddyWaters to tell Chess that
but at thc tirn€ itu-asjust a studio. He didn't have bcatin'you,but it's just businesswith thern. if they wanted me, ifthcy ga1'eme $5,000, I'd
a record company at the time. Before then, I'd And that'swhrt the U.S.A.is tike-We gotbeat. record forthem. Muddy called them. And Leon-
made some records just at people's houses or Soifyou do['t know anybetter,you don't learn a r d C h e s s , t h e o l dm a n ,h e c o m e a n d t a l k i o m e . I
a YN,ICA. They'd bring in ar Ampex 600 lrdpe any better.There was other people-Jimny signed a contract $.ith him. B t \r,hen the Bihari
machinel erd put some quilts on the walls to Reed,Muddy waters...e\.en Muddywas€ietting brothers heard rbout that, the_\'ran. Thev come i

control the sound. But Sam Phillips was the fiIst
engineel I ever u,orked with.
cw tsut ihen the Bihari brorhers [owner o/
Kil1g's label at the time, Madern Recordsl got
pissed offbecausc Srm was also recording stuff
a better shakefrom the Chessbrothersthan I
was.And I wassellinga lot of recordsthen.I
solda lot ofrecordswLenI wasyoung.
cwSoyouandMuddywouldkind ofcompare
noteson thingslike that?
and told me th€y u'ere sorry and this al1d that.
And I stayed with them. we'dbeen together for a
;
longtime.I real)yliked JulesBihari eventhough i
Iwas onlygettin€ia halfa cent a sidc for records.
;
If I was in trouble, Jules u'ou1dalwa,vsgivc me an
advanceon what I mightmakethe nextyearor a
year after. But people like the Biharis, the Chess
brothersandall the restof'em is abusinessman.
That'sjust the way it is.
cw On your new record you alsodo "Blues
BeforeSun se,"a songattributedto John Lee
Hooker.Hewas alsoa pal ofyours,right?
Krt{cJohn and I were verygoodfiiends.Only
he was popular long before I was. John Lee
Hookerwasplayin'when I wasplowin'.He was
a little older than I am. Not much,but a llttle.
The funnything is mostofus left from the Deep
South.John Leewent to Detroit.Muddywaters
went to Chicago.A lot ofpeople went to Chicago.
It wasa havenfor peoplefrom the Southdu ng
the earlyFortiesand I ifties.trarmhandswould
hear about getting work up north. Now I made
my first record in 1949,but John Lee Hooker
wasalreadyrecordingthen.MuddyWaterswas
Muddy waterc then. So lot of those guys,asfar
asthe blues is concerned,they were stars at the
time.ButI wasnt. Soinsteadofme goingto Chi-
cago,I stoppedin Memphis.
cwwhen was the last time you sawJohn Lee
Hooker?
|(rrc I hope I don't seehim soon.He's been
deada whilel
cw Thacswhat I mean:when didyou lastsee
him beforehe died?
KnGOh; I gu€ssabouteight or nine months
beforehedied.BurI aint ready(oseehim a8rin
yet. I don't want my grave to be kept clern that
much! One of the sadthings about us traveling
musiciansis we get a chanceto run acrossone
anotherfrom time to time,but rarelydo we get
a chanceto gettogetheranddo like golf players
or chessplayersdo-we don't get to get together
andhavefun likewe did inthe earlydays,'cause
now we busytryingto makea living.
cw PopsStaplesrecentlysaid,"TheDevilain't
gpt no music.All musicis God'smusic."Would
you go alongwiththat?
K GI'm a believer,becauseI wasbroughtup
in church.But a lot ofthe thingsthat aretaught
in the Bible,l leamedtoquestionsomeofthem.
l'm thinkingin termsofevolution.A lot ofwhat
theyteachin the Bibletoday-versusevolution,
l d gowithevolurion.I havererd roomanylhings
that are questionstoday.
But I really take the l0 Commandments
strongly. "Do unto others as you would have
them do unto you." I trulybelieve that. There
are other things I believetoo. I'm not an athe
istj I do believe.But I think that nowadaysit's
quite a bit different than it was in the days
when I wa\ young.
Gw So what has kept you going all these
years?
Kf,cWell,I neveruseddrugs.Neverhave.In
my early yearsI usedto drink a lot, but then I
cometo find out I don't like it. Sowhatthe hell
was I drinkin' it for? And I worked hard in my
earlyyears.I'm a goodfarmer,and I learnedto
work with people.Ilearnedaboutbeingaround
people,to try and be ashelpful asI could.And
that hasfollowedme into what I'm doingnow.
I'm not abig hell-raiser.I will standup for what I
think is the rightthing,andIwill spealup when
I think ifs time to do so.But I'm not a hothead.
And I actthe samewith my band asI do with my
family.AllI want from them is loveandrespect.
That's all. 'CauseI'll give it back to them. And
ii rheydon t giveit to me,rhenrheywon l gei
much fiom me,'causeI don't paymuch attention
to them. Soeverybody,my band, my fiiends, my
family,we get alongfine.'causeI don't do any-
thinEto themthat I wouldn'twant themto do to
me.ihaes my way oflife. Bl
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F A STATUE OF Muddy the farmyarddirt. He showedan early

waters big enough to truly talent for harmonicaand guitar, and
reflect the power and range of he was lucky enough to have accessto
his influencewere ever to be that still recentinvention,the 78-rpm
built, it would needone foot in record player. While still a budding
Clarksdale,tlre other in Chicago, player,Muddy found a living mentor in
andthe headsethigh enoughto SonHouse,aspellbindingDeltaguitaiist
be seenfiom around the globe. and singerwidr a regional reputation as
In the world of blues, hence well asa few recordingsofhis own.
rhythm and blues,blues rock, rock, By the ageoll8, Muddy had married
soul, funl< and all of the other blues- and moved out of his grandmother's
relatedsubcategoriesofpopularmusic, houseinto his own cabinon Stovall's.On
Muddy remairs apowerfrrlfigure more Saturdaynights he turned it into a juke
than 15yearsafterhis death.His career joint, dispensingboozeto the locals,pro
spannedmassivemusicaland social viding the music andstarting to build his
transitions,fiom acousticto electric, owlr reputation asablues singer.
{iom south to north, and liom farm to Library of Congressfield recorder
city. Evenif not for his distinctivevoice Alan Lomax found him still living in that
on the guitar, bodl slide and standard, joint in 1941.Along with ahandtul ofoth-
Muddy would still be rememberedas ers,Lomax had beencomrnissioned by
a singer,performer, interpreter, band- the Library to capture for posterity the
leader and all-around inspirational folk music ofAmerica, a project that
force.He has madea profound differ- requiredtoting a 300-poundrecording
encein our lives. machineto remote,rural locationsto
documentnearlyanyonewith a musical

]|rsr0nr
ttllmuncrs
ON APRIL 4,T9T5,IN ROLLING FORK,
Mississippi,McKinley Morganfield
wasborn into aworld ofboth grinding
materialpovertyandimmeasurablemusicalpromise.
Early 20th century Delta farming life was hard and
monotonous, playedoutin the twin shadowsofJim
Crow andKing Cotton.But therewere alsojagged,
brilliant seedsofcreativity startingto flower ln a
regior that was becomingboth literally and figura-
tivelya musicalcrossroads.
Within a few years,McKinley was sent to lrve
with his grandmotheron Stovall'sPlantationout-
sideClarksdale, wherehe soonacquiredthe nick-
name"Muddy waters" hom his habitofplayng in
reputation-The intendedgoalofthis field
trip had beento find and record Robert
Johnson,who unbeknownstto Lomax
was aheadythree yearsin the grave.
Instead,he foundhimselfdrivingout to
Stovall'sPlantation,wheretherewasreportedto be a
guitar picker worth checkingout Muddy waters.
For yealsMuddy hadbeendriving tractors by day
andplayingmusicon weekends, but when he heard
his own voiceplayedbackfrom Lomax'recording
machinefor the first time, he wasfinally ableto over-
come the doubtsin his own mind. Now he knew for
sure he hnd the stuf, and he wasreadyto ma}e it as
MuddyWaters,period.
The first step was to get off the farm and get to
where there was a better chanceof being heard,
FIGUBE
1
OpenC Tuning(lor to high,D C D G B D) $rrLE
ril0
lrcililr0|Jr
MUDDY'WATERSLEARNEDTO PLAY
Shufllc the glitar Delta-style,meaninghe had no
G formallessons. He simplyhad to pick up
the instrument,lookat andlistento those
who could play it better, and start mak-
ing musicasbest ashe could.Like most
playerswho learnedthat way, Muddys
tl2 1 2 1 2 l 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2/ 1 2 / 1 2 / 1 2 / 1 2 / 1 2 / 1 2 guitar style is asunique as his voice and
his personality. Rough edgesard all, it's
him and no one else.
tsltJr q/ictbaotJ hu \t,c.ttrc t\t,h During the mid FortiesMuddy made
FIGURE 2 a somewhat half-hearted attempt at
StandardTuning(lowto high.E A D G B E) smooth, T Bone Walker style single
note playing,but Muddy's natural ten-
Shume(t-r))
dencieswere more jagged,and it just
(E) didn't stick.when he cut "I Just Can't
Be satisfied"for Chessin 1948,he was
backto his Deltastylebut with an elec-
tric guitar. Muddy took full advantage
ofthe charge in instrumentsby evolv-
ing a new slide glitar sound,swoopirg
up and down the neck,biting into notes
and wringing them dizzy on tuneslike
"HoneyBee,""CanaryBird" and "Walk-
0000000 ingBlues."To the limited extentthathis
soundcanbenotedon the page,FIGURE I
showsa qpical phrasein openctuning,
Mudd/s favodtefor slide.
Muddyalsocapitalized on thesoundof
the electricin his non-slideplayingcom
bining r thick, distortedbed of rhythm
with plucked-and-pulledupper-string
acceDts. FIGURE 2 showsan exampleof
Muddys self-accompaliedstylesimilar to
thatonhisearlyChess recordings.Muddy
usedaplasticthumb pick to play the low E
and bare fingers to play the melody.Atti-
and ofmakinga real record.In 1943Muddy finally Wolf,SonnyBoywilliamsonandlater,JamesCotton, tude counts;cleanlinessdoesn't.
boardedan lllinois Centraltrain boundfor Chjcago Junior wells andBuddycuy madeChessthe centerof
and left the plantation behind for good.working by the bluesuniverse,and Muddy wasthe shining star.
dayand playinghousepartiesat night (andswitching
to electric guitar in the process),Muddy was able to
waters' recordedoutputduring the earlytrifties
readslike tonight's set list for any one of a thousald
0Etn BY THE TIME HE STAXTEDrecorcllng
earngoodmoney,but the dreamof beingarecording bluesbands:"Rollin'andTumblin',""Rollingstone" in Chicago,Muddy had a cretsch with a
star remaineddistant. (th€ songthat namedthe bandand the magazine), DeArmondpickup.Later,hecouldbe seen
In 1947,pianistSunnylandSlim,oneofMuddy's "Hoochie CoochieMan," "I\n Ready,""Cot My Mojo pltryinga Les Paulcoldtop with P90 pick-
new musicalpartners,g)t him on a session {or a new working," "MannishBoy" and a dozenothers.The upsandfinally his nademarkinshrment, a
label calledAristocrat,run by a pair of immigrant quality and consistencyof theserecords,often cut '57 Telecaster.He tuned to standardpitch
Polish brothers namedLeonard and Phil Chess.The tluee andfour in a day,wa-sastonishingand within a for normalplayingand to openc tuning
Chessbrothers,alsolookingfor a "modern"sound, decadeyoungwhite musicianslike the Rollilg Stones, (D G D G B D) for slide,and he usedheaq'
werenot impressed, andanotheryearwentbybefore Yardbirds,John Mayall and PaulButterfieidwere strirys (ou or .or3for the high E) andhigh
Muddy'snext chance.This time,while warmingup studyinghismusic. action.Ior an amp,he favoredthe Fender
beforethe session,Muddy alrdbassist"Big" Cnwford By the mid Sixties,waters'very identity asthe icon superReverbwith four l0-inch spealent.
ran through somematerial like he had cut for lomar ofgritty, ghettobluesblought aboutacompletechalge
sevenyearsbefore-the deep,Deltabluesinsteadof in his audienceasyoungblacksturned away,drawr
thepolished,modemvariety.Still skeptical, l-eonard by the more sophisticatedstylesofsoul and Motown, $tLIIruLNIIilIilO
took a chanceon tapingtwo of the sougs,"I Can'tBe while youngwhitessoughtout his "ruthenticity."A TO UNDERSTAND MUDDY'SIMPACT,
satisfied"and "I Feellike coingHome," ind had a fairb successful1969tribute album,Fathersdndsons, you have to go back to his early Chess
few thousandcopiespressed.The recordhit the stores featuredsincereMuddy protdg6sMike Bloomfield recoldings,where you'll hear the revela-
oDSaturdaymorning,andby 2:00 Saturdayafternoon andPaulButterfieldsittingat his feetjust ashe had tions that inspired cl'icago, England and
it was sold out. Muddy Watershad anived. satby SonHouse,but other attenrptsto panderto rock eventuallythe world. Somegoodplaces
over the next few yearsMuddy refined his electric audiences bypackaginghimwith rftk starswere disas- to start: The Besf o/Mllaldy waters, His
soundashe worked steadilyand continuedto record trous.Althoughthe JobnnyWinter-producedrecords Best:1947-19sS a\d TheChessBox,which
for the rechristenedChesslabel.He assembledaband ofthe Seventiesrevildized hiscareerandhecould still includesa tasteof everlthing from 1947
that defineclthe new Chicagoblues,including Jimmy occasionallyput on a captivatingshow,Muddy began up to 1972.The CotnpletePlantation
Rogerson grlitar, Little walter Jacobson harmomca $owing into an elder statesmanrole, performing R€cordin€spresentsMuddy in 1941/42
|nd "BabyFace"Leroy Fosteron drums.Muddy was mostlywhile sittingon astoolandletting hisroad-band olr the porch at Stovall's,with recorded
a magnetfor talent, attmctingthe creamofmusi- sidemenhandlethe guitars. interviews.IJdrd Agdin is the Johnny
ciansnot only to his group but alsoto the chesslabel. A{Ier his deathin 1983,Muddy the manpassedinto winter-producedrecordthat revitalized
Besideswalter andRogers,artistssuchaspianistotis legend,but throughhis timelessrecordingsMuddy Muddy'scareerin the Seventies andone
Spann,producer/writer/bassistwillyDi\on, Howlin' the musicalforceremains, ofMuddy'sown favorites.B[
t
v
k r n g p e o p l el i v e d a n d h o l . r l u i c k h t h c y . l c a r . n c i l
t h i n g s a n d h o w r r l a r r !s o n g s d r e i ' h r d o f t h c i r .
ovn and rvhat songs irerc sh:rleil:rrourrd. t
m e i r , l w a s j u s t i n t o i t . , ! o u k n o \ \ . ' iI \ v ) s l e i r . r r
ing to plav it, rs \\'cll, and trving to figurc out
h o u t o a p p l v i r t o m y 1 i f e .I d ( m ' t t h i n k I t c , o ki i
thrt seriLruslv:rs:r lotentirl profcssi(nr.bec!rLrse
\ \ ' h e n l . o u r c v o u n ! 1\,, o ud o n ' t ; i t w a s o D l v w h e n
o t h e r p e o p l e s h o $ c d a n i n t e r e s td t r t I r c r l i z c d
that I could meke.rIi\.ingoutofit.
cw What abolrt your choicc of iDstfunrent?
\\rhen rljrl lou first henr the glritar and think,
That's$ hrt I $ant to pl:rt?
c L A P T o fIl t h i n k t l r n t \ { t c n I h e : r r d e . r r . hE . h is
records atld BuLidt IIollv i,r4rcnitbccanrc cle.t
to nle thrt t nas hc'rrirgirr elcctric glritaf rhen
I think I \\'rurtcd to get nerf it. I $ ls intcrested
i n t h e u , h i t el o c k a l l d r o ] l e l s u n t i l I h c r r d F | c d -
dic Kingi then I wis o\'cr rhc nnxxrl I kne$ thrt
s . r s i v h c r c I b c l o n g e d ,f i n , r l l ) :l h a t \ t a s s e r i o u s .
properglritar pla,ving,anclI hrren't chaDgcclnl\,
m i n c le v e r s i n c c I s i i l l l i s t c n t o h i s n u s i c i n r r r v
car-\rhcn Iln lt home, ill]d I gct thc srnre boosr
flonr it th.rt I did then.
cw The first glLitrr ofvolrrs \\ies r Hovcr'. !\'asn l
it?
c L A P T o \Ni e h , i t w a s a H o l c r - : r c o l r s t i c .
cwDid it hrvc n,-lon stfirgs or lndal?
( L A P T o Nl l u n n i l v e r r o L r g hj,t l o o k e d l i k c : r g u t
s t r i n g e d g u i i a r , b L r ti t \ r i s s t e e l s t r i n g c L l .A n
cw But it wnsr't too long bcforc \'ou got VoLrr
with the Yardbidr {@mer)
(LAPro I got a Kr,v double cLrtawa\'.I got oDe S,rmdnd llavc, Str\ and Ntoto$r \\.asa lnastcf. T
bccauser\lexis Korner h:rd one. crnre fiom thcblucs. anclso I h.rd.r grasp ofthat
C w T h : r t c i n t h . t v e l a s t c d t o o i o r r ge i t h e r , b e liincl ofthing; to rn1 rcckoning, R&ll cal1]efiorr
( a u s c b v t b e t i l n e \ , o u r v c r c i n r h e Y a r . d b i r . d s , f h c b l u e s , s o I f e l t 1 w . . r si n s o m e k i n c l o i i n n e L
rou wcre using Telecrstefs .rnd llrctschcs. srnctLrln. nlenialh or spiritu.rll) or \l hatever. If
( L A P I o NI t d i d n ' t s t r n d u p t o o I e l l . I t h i l l k t h c \ n , r c . ,l , l n l r \i , r \ , , i r , ; i rr h , l r . \ . r \ , J . , \ i,ri n ;
r e c k b o r v e d ,r n d i t d i c l n t s c c m t o n r e t h r r ! o u f a s h i o n ,r ' o u r$ ' e t e t h e l . o s s .I f y o u \ \ ' e f e p r e t t v
coukl do nruchrbout if. lt h. d I h uss fod. but : , u , r r. , . r cr ^ l l , l r , . r l r l l r l , , r r c . r r r J r n r . . l ; c r
i r . r . r r l r r r , f ' c c r i ' . , ' r l r l , : . . i . , r ' . ' r . r < . r l r i | l v u e l l p a i d r n r l b e s u c c e s s f i r l I. t r v l r se a s v
L D b e i n g i n c r e d i b l l h i s h . I f e n r e n l b e r: l t s o m c r " a \ r . c ! . . t . r i ' r ' r r l r . . l , h .r
point I di!lrr't$,lt]t it to look like it lookctl an! $tich \r'.rs die right nusicxl t:rste.
r r o r c . a n d s o I c o Y e r e di t i n b l a c k r l b l o n h , r , / c w l i s r h i s t o f i c . r lf n c t t h a t , i r t h c e r r l v p . r r t o f
dd/rcsilc slclfpdpfrll C.rn vou imaginc Nhat t h e S i x t i c s .i t w a s p f e c t i c e l l v i m p o s s i b l er o g e t
i r . , , r r r ' r c l. il l , , , f t | . l . r ' 1 , , r l . , tr L t l r e e l c c t r i c g u i t i f s o L r n d sh e r l c l L r nb l u c s r c -
"1..r
krrkcd Iikc? I ended up \ritb rhc ES,3:5l DC cords using Ilrjtish .rdcamps.Ho$' did vou
r n d t h e r l I g o t i n t o F e r r . l c r s I. h . r d . r T c l c c r s r c f
clAPToN.Justbr tlrrning thcn1 llrr olLtl I thouljh I
cw \Vhrt was it likc for rou $'hcn vou strrtcd the ob!ious !oiuti(m u,:rsto get rn.u1p illlcl pl:r!
pla)ingin the clubs'a i t r s l o u c l . r si t s o u l d g o . u n t i l i t $ ' : r s j L r srt b o l r l
(L^PIoN Well. |rn\bodl thri hrd ani iclel oi n r b u r s r . W h e n I u . r s r - l o i n gt h a r a l b r r r r v i r h
h o s t o p l a y . a n y i n s t r u r n r e n tc o u l d j u s t a b o u t J o h n N r a )a l l t B l u e s B l e . r k e r s$ i t h t r r i c C l | r p
h o l d t h e i r o s . r r ,b c c a u s ct h o r e u | r sr r o c o m p c t i t o n l , i t w , r so L r v j o L rtsh r t i f v o L r I n i k e d t h c a m p
t i o n t h e r e u , r s n o o t l c a f o u u d .T h e | e u r s o n l v t o o c l o s e ,i t \ 1 ' o ! l d s o l r r d r i r f l r l . S o ) o u h e d t o
a h u n d f i l o f b r n c l s ,r n d N n v o n et h a r c o u l d p l l l , \ ' p u t t h c l n i c r l o n g w c \ . l \ ! r \ ' a n d g c t t h e r . o ( n n
"ll|lts0il$0tftE
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 sound ofthat anlp brcakingup. cither in it just to be (]n Top ofrhc Pops or to and "Scarlet Ribbons" and things; it was vcry
c w T h a t w a s w h e n y o u d i s c o v e r e dM a r s h a r s , score girls or for some dodg,y reaslrn. I was rn rt middle of the road blues and folk, and it was
to sxvcthe fucking worldl I wanted to tell the all acoustic.
world aboutblucs and to sct it risht. [vcn then Th€n Brownie Mcchee rnd sonny Terry
c w \ \ h J r $ F r e r L , J \ i n 6 p r i o r r ^j o i n i n g l l . e I t h o u g h t r h r r I q r . u r rr o n r c L i n J o l r r r r r . i " r r . would tour and thcy madc it palatable; they
Bluesbrerkers? \o in r wry I rhnugh,.Ye\. |,'/i' cod Quir< l i n J o f , c q u r i r r e J . r e f ) o n r w i L h L h eh l L r < !. i l
cLAProNI was usinliVox AC.3OSand thir$j likc right. My hcad was huge! I was unbcafablv rf' t h e a c o u s t i cp i u i t a r ,a n d s o T t h i n k w h e n M u d d y
that, but thcy didr't do it for me. lhey were too rogant and not a fur pcrson to bc arouncl mosi , r r n cn v e r r h e f i n r I ' m e .h p l ' f ^ u g h , J n p l e . rr ' .
'r0pp1
: r h e 1J i J r r ' ' h l r . a 1 ) n r ; d r a n g e a t - . o f t h e t i m e , b e c a u s eI w a s j u s t s o s u p e r i o r a n d s'uitar and it wasn't vcry wclt rcccivcd. So hc
cwDo you harbor rny romantic feeling'sforthat veryjudgmental. I didn't hrve any time for any $ , r s n ' t e v e r y b o d y ' sc u p o 1 t e a . l f w a s o n l y t h c
pcriod at rll? I think it was Mark Knopficr who thingthat didn't fit into my patt€rn or. scheme p u r i s t s w h o k n e w a b o u t C h i c a g ob l u e s .
said that in sonc ways cw It must have been xn
he nlisses the old days, ovclwhcJming thing for'
where you could show you to play with him,
up at a club with rn s l n c e y o u w e r e o nl y
amp and a rtitar and about 20 at the time.
just do .r gig. c L A P r o NY c a h , i f t h a t .
( L A P r o NW e l l , y e a h , I couldn't takc it jlll in.
that's true- Altbough I felt really stupid be-
I don't picturc mysclf causeI wrs a little bov
doing that thcse deys. trying to play a man's
It's funny lor me now music, and these were
to think of walking rh€ men. Th ey were
into a club and sccing actually just past their
rnother band play.I prime, so thcy'tl donc
do it every now and iti they'ddone what I'm
then and it all comes still trying to do- I lelt
back to rnc, and I fccl rcnlly clumsy. I thought
like this ;s whcre I be r didn't really bclong,
lonfi. I menn,I grew up but I felt very grateful
playing in ciubs; that for the opportuniry
is my spiritual stonlp cw Evcrybody assumcs
inggro0nd- And every you were with the
tinrc I walk into a club, Y a r d b i r d si l o n g t i r r e
I fecl likc I'm goingto or that you were with
b c a s k c d t o p l a y ,b u t I the Blucsbrcakcrs r
d(,n'f get.rsked to plat l(nrg tilnc, but in actual
Back in rhe Six- fect it tvas a rtter (,f
tics, ifyou did go inro months;n both cases.
a club to sce someone (LAPTo Ycs, I went
p l a y ,y o u a l r e a d yk n e w through all thosc thins's
those people; there very quickly. I fiean,
$,as ro irtinliclation, Crerm wrs like r year
n0 inhibitions at all. lt rnd a halfor something,
wNsjustthrt you hung rnd cven with John
out n,ith thesepeople Mayall, I was only hrlf
and you playcd with there, I was ro unreli
t h c m a l l t h c t i r n c ,s o i n a b l e ,s o i r r e s p o n s i b l e .I
that rcspect I nriss that w o u l d s o m c t i D r c sj u s t
c:rmiraderie. Therc rot show up at grgs,
wds compctition, but cnd thel's how Peter
it was flicndly; norv I crcen u'ould bc:rskcd
think ifs much more "--/-- t0 phy bcclusc I was
rligressive. I went not thcre. I wcnt to scc
through rhar ll,cing _:": John lr\r_\erf tu.r(t,,
dl "dinosuur" thing rlly make rnends. I'd
lO yerrs rg0, s0 God bccn looking hack and
knowswhat it'slike ior realized how badly I cl
mc to show up somc- behaved.
whcre nowl r dlJn't kn()w what they think ofDr€ ofthings. cw llou'does Crcrn fir inro tour perspec-
no',r,if I walk into a ciub. What do I reprcsent cw Beiore that time, you'd:rctually playcd wirh tivc no\r'? It must havc bccr il vcfy intcrsc I9
r o y o u n g p l a ) ' e r s ' iI h r v e n o i d e a . I d o n ' l k n o * , Muddy watc.s. How did thrt conrc about'?
whcfc thcy'vc gonc in thcir heads now, what c L A p r o NI t h i n k M i k e V c r n o n [ t f i c p l o d r r c c r (taPlo|r It was vcrJ intenscj it actual]y scenls
t h c y t h i n k , w h a t t h c i r i n f l u c n c c sx r c . I t p r o b a b l v (f Blues B.cakcrs $,ith Eric Clrptonl put the like we were together fir three or lour yerrs. I
; h:rsnothing to do !vith what my contributror w h o l c t h i n g t o g c t h c r ' . H c g o t M u d d _ vi n t h c r l r i n Lr n ] , , v ' r r l l f , , l i | l s r l ' , , u t i r r , ' w i \ r l ' i t i l
was. I haveno ider. , t r r , l r , ,r.n , lr l i | , . r r r ' ,n r , r r r h r, r " j r . . t h , r r r r n was a glori{rus lnistakc. I had a (ompletely dif
cw Leas talk about the s hole "Clapton is God ' c r e d i b l y s c a l e d ,c l u n s y a r r c o l v e r w h e l m e d ,y o u lcrent ideaofwhrt it would be before I starled
thirg. werc you urcomfortabie $,ith ii? k n o w ? C o m p l e t e l yo v e r w h e l n e d . A r t h a t t r m e , i t . r r d i t e n d e Cu 1 ,h e ' r ' gJ u o n J e r f i r lr l -i r El , u l
*
c L A P r o NI t h o u g h t i t w a s q u i t c j u s t i l i c d , t o b c thc blues thing was goinsthrough somc funny nothinglikc irwas meantto bc.
honest with youl [/augfi.E I suppose I felt that I c h . r n g e s ;i f y o u p l t y e d e l c c t r i c g u i t c r , y o u ' d cw lt wls melnt to be your brnd, wrsn't it?
d c s c r v c d i t f o r t b c a m o u n t o f s e r i o u s n e s sr h l r t .olJ o;r J".h \ hits hrJ Jnn. r Lot (LAPToN I r $ " \ I F . , n rr , , l - ' J h l u r . r - i " . l j u . l
"l'nur:Ig
l ' d p u t i n t o i t . t u ' a s s o d c r d l _ vs e r i o u s a b o u t in Lurope, and Big Bill Bmonzy hrd, too.Josh didn't havc thc rsscrtii,cncssto take control.
whaf I was doing. I th{rught cvcryonc clsc rvas would go on and do "Down bl' thc Rivcrsidc' Jack 13r .rl and clinscl palerl rvcrc thc pol.
 erful, dominantpersonalitiesin the band;they Chandler.I don't know how long he'd beenin used to upsethim the most was that he got this
sort ofran the show and I just played.I just England,mrybe a coupleof days,but he got up fixation about selling out. He got very down on
went with the flow in the end and I enjoyedit and played.ue wasdoingHowlin' wolf songs, himselfandvery cynical about his acceptance.
gteatly,but it wasn't anything like I expected ard I couldnt belieret hisguy.I couldn'rbelieve He thought he was going commercial all the
it to be at all. it. Part ofme wantedto run awayand say,{'iOh, time, and yet he couldn't stop himself, in a way.
cw In the Creamperiod,you virtualty rrn the now this is what I want to be I can't handle cW You've recorded Jimi's "Stone tr ree" and
gamurof Cibsons. Youplayeda Firebird.r 335, this."And partofmejust fellin love.ltwas are- "Little Wing" in the past. Why haven't you re-
Les Pauls,the very famouspsychedelicSG. ally difficult thing for me to dealwith, but I just corded moreofhis songs, seeingas you were so
Were there any paiticular favorites?Apparentlt had to surrenderandsay,"This is fantastic." close?
you'vestill got your 335. cw Youbecamegoodfiiends,didn't you? cLAtTOi I got veryjealous of Jimi. I was very
cLApro.{Still got that 335,and I love it. I stilt
get it out every now and then. The 335was a
big favorite, and that particular I irebi rd-I had
somegreat times on that. The single pickup was
a fantasticsound.I think that SGwent through
the Creamthingjust aboutthe longest.It was
rcrlly a very very powerfuland comfonablein-
strumentbecauseof its lightnessand the width
and the fl.rnessofrhe neck.lt hada lor going
for it-it had the humbuckers;ithad everlthing
I wantedat that point.
cw Lookingbacknow,areyou ableto put your
historyinto contextobjectively? Are you ableto
Iookbackatthe playeryou were then and acflr-
ally think, Yeah,that was okay,or, That was a
bit shaky?
clApro Yes,fairly. I think all of it wasokay untrl
drugs and drink got involved.I don't think my
facilityasa playerhasreallygottenmuchbetter
or worse.I mean,I just finisheddoing a blues
in there, a Freddie King son& and it doesn't
sound that much stiffer or that much fasrer
than when I was with John Mayall or Cream-
a bit more fluent, a bit more conEdentmaybe.
But what's clear to me is thatthen I was much {r*.
morein touchwirh Ihe acrualmalingofmusic,
as I am again now. There was this longbrt ln
betweenwhere I was more inclined tojustget
out of it. At somepoint toward the end ofthe
Sixties and all the way through the Seventies,I
wasout,you know?| wrs on holiday. andbeing
a musicianwasmy way ofmalingthe moneyto
beon holiday.
cw That whole thing started with Jimi Hen-
drix's death,in a way.The datesare almostco-
incidental,aren'tthey?
<r^Pro Yeah.It was funny how that all picked
up The Sixtieswere geat and we were all doing
drugsrecreationally. It was morelike weekend
binging: you'd do whatever you were doing, and
then you'd get stonedone night or you'd take
acid, and then you wouldn't do it againfor a
while.Then it gotto the pointwherethoseofus
who were addictsby naturejust cafiied on doing
it, and we d do it all the time.
I think we lostthe thead then,but andI sup-
posethis maybe a bit presumptuousit kind of
openedthe doorfor punk,becausetherewasno
continuity{iomthe musicalpattemthatevolved
in the Sixties.It kind ofgot scrambledand lost
with all the drugs arrdopenedthe door for all
lhe rrchy.bittemessandanger.The musicians ;
ofthe Seventiesdidn't really havea very clear CrAtTOiOh yeah,instantly,instantly. possessive abouthim when he was alive, and
legacy.Thc legacygot very fucked and very self- cwI don't think peoplerealizehow much ofa when he died I was very angry and got even ;
indulgent.Ithink that the wholething aboutthe bluesplayerHendrix was.ln a lot ofways it's morc poss€ssive. Ifpeople talked to me about ;
SexPistolswasthat they were reallypissedoff obviousnow,but in thosedaysit didn'tseemto Hendrix, I would just turn away; I wasn't in-
at ouI indulgence the indulgenceandthat self- comeinto it. terestedin their perceptionof Hendrix be- :
ghteousstanceof the Sixties. aLAPToiNo, I know. I think n lot of people causeI felt like they were talking about an
cw Jimi actuallyjammedwith Cream,didn't thought,Oh yeah,the Bandofc),?systhingwas ex girlfriend,or abrotherwho had died. tjust
he? thebest.Or theylook at differenterasofhis mu- thought,I'm not talkingto you about it; I knew o
(tAPIOi Yes.First time I evermet him, we were sic makingin terms ofhis "peak" or his "most him and he was very dear to me, and it's very
p l a y i n ga t r h e C e n t r a lL o n d o nP o l y t e c h n i c . prolific" or his "mostcreative"periods.Butthe painfulto hearyou talk about him as ifyou
and Jimi camealongwith [his mdndgerlChas coreofall his playingwasblues,andwhat really knew him you tuckingdidn't!
 'ltpt0plt
lrtffilr0r'rtrnlltr
cw when did you start playingslide?
craProx I've always played slide notelectric

J|mnRu,
I but I playcd slide whcn I was playing acoustic
in the pubs. I tried to play like Furry Lewis and
t h e m o r e p r i m i t i v e r u r a l b l u e s m u s i c i a n s ,r n d

W0|JL0
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sortofwentto oncsidc,butit's always come and

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llt00tt0."
I didn'twant an''thing to do with it.It's taken
me all ofthis lime to heal.I don't k[ow howlong
t h e g r i e v i n g p r o c e . . i . . h u r i n m y e x p e fi e n c c .r r ' s
a tuckinglongtimc.
cw Why did you choosc to rccord "Stone Free"
for the 1993 Hendrix tributc album,.Ston€
e craPlox Well, the thingwith "Stone Free" is that
w h e n J i m i f r s r p l a l c J i r t o m L . h c r r , l dm e r h r t i r
5 was the one he wanted as the A side instead ol
- "Hey Joc." To me, itwas better than "HeyJoe."
;
wben I heard "stone Free," it blcw my tucking
mind! And I thought, They're goingto put "Hey
Joe" outbecause it's commercial, but he wanted
' s l u r c F f i c . A | l d i r \ r \ t l r e l i r s l r e c o r d e dr h j n g
that I'd heard ol lis, alld so that was the connec-
tion to our friendship.
cw Was your switching to Strats around the
timc of Jimi's death a conscious tribute to him
on your part?
(LAprofrYes,I think itwas. Once he wasn'tthere
any more,I feltlike therewas room to pick it up.
Thcn I saw St€ve winwood playing one, and
somethingabout thatreally did it for mc.l'd al
ways worshipped Steve,and whenever he made
a move, I would be right on it. I gavegreat we;ght
tohis decisions,becauseto me hc was one ofthe
few people in England who had his finger on
some kind of universrl musical pulse.I went
l o . e e h i m a r t l r , . \ 4 r r q u e e .r n d h e u r s p l : y i n g
a white necked Strat, and thcrc was somcthing
gone; l've never really stuck very hard at it. I do
love it, but somehow or another it doesn't have
the mrdness- when I got into Buddy cuy. there
w a ss o m L . t h r nagb o u t t h r m r J n . . " u f h s p h 1 i n g
that I feli in love with.It was like someonejrb
bingyou with their fore6nger.It was the staccato
madnessofit, which you can't do on slid€.
cw Was Duane Allmxr an influence on your
slide playing?
(LAPTot{Yes,very much so,
Gw The story ofyour meeting has it thatyou
justwent to scc him ir conccrt.
crAprox Well, we'd started the Derek and the
Dominos album and we hadn't really got very
far I'd writtcn some songs and we had played
gigs-some touring in England-and we'd got
r kind ofpersona. But in the studio, it wls very
one-dimensional, arrd it didn't feel like we werc
gctting an1'where. There was a bit of fiustration
in theair lProdrlcerl Tom Dowd has alwaysbeen
 I _Yn
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:{
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a very clevermixer ofpeople;he'salwaysbeen
a great one for being a catalyst and putting dif-
ferent combinationsofmusicians togetherto get
an effect.I don't know\fhether he sawan end
result or not, but I think hejust wanted me to see
Duane.In facqI d beentaJkinsaboutDuane,be
causeI'd heardhimplayonWilson Pickett'sre-
cordingof"Hey Jude,"andI kept askingpeople
who he was. So Tom took me and all the rest of
tle Dominosto seerhe AllmanBrodrersplay in
Coconut Groveand introduced us.
I said, "Lefs hang out. Comeback to the stu-
dio." I wanted Duane to hear what we'd done.
Wejustjammedandhungou! gotdrunk anddid
a few drugs.He just camein the studio and I kept
him there! I Lept thinking up wal,sto keephim m
the room: 'lMe could do this. Do you know this
one?"Ofcourse he knew everythingthat I would
say,and we'd just do it. A lot of thosethings, like
"Key to the Highway'' or "Nobody Knows You
when You're Do\,i,i and Out''are first or second
takes.Then I'd quicklythinl ofsomethingelse
to keep him there. I knew that sooneror later he
wasgoing to gobackto the Allmans,but I wanted
to stealhim! I tried, and he actuallycameon a
few gigs,too.But then he hadto say,almostlike
a woman, "l,Vell, you know, I am actually mar-
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ried to this band and I can't staywith you." I was tion of things put me into a kind ofretirement
really quite heartbroken!I'd got really usedto that I needed.
him, andaiier that I felt like I had to haveanother I rememberat the endofthat period that I was
guitar player.I had NealSchoncomein for alittle starting to fall back in lovewith music. I remem-
while, having met him through Carlos Santana, ber listening to music very hard and wanting to
but by that time we were getting really fuckedup playvery much,but I hadto get offthe sceneto
and the band was on its way out. get that enthusiasm back.BecauseI'd lost it
cw That wasthe beginningofyourdark period, Derek and the Dominoswere recording in
wasn't it? here when we brohe up and I went into that
(ta?rot{ I don't know whether it can be fairly darkplace.I didnt gire a shit abouLthe music
placedat the door ofdrugs or relationshipsor anymore.we'd comein and just argue all day
life issuesas much asI just had to get away.I and have a go at one another,and then one of us
hadbeendoingsomuch.I'd beenout there for would blow up andsplit.The musicdidn't mat-
a long time, playing and playing, with no break. ter. I didn't like the soundofmy guitar, I didn't
I do that a lot; I work quite hard-I alwayshave. like the way I played,and it took me a while to
And at rharpoint,for somereason, a combina go awayand comebackto it. when I came back,
 it was with a different point of view, a ft€sh wherever that was,wherever I'd beentalen. bullshitting people: all I really want to do is to
enthusiasmand a kind ofopen mindednessto cw That period ended dramatically around play with dignity and self-respect.I'm maling
learn about new music, becausethat's when 1984-1985. suddenly,there were projectslike a blues album becausethings have come full
I heard reggae.I wasjust like a kid in a sweet Edge of Darknessand,the Roger Waters album circle. It's been 30 years and I'm doing what
shop again. ?he Prosand Consof Hitcl a*ing, which saw I've alwayswanted to do. I'm fulfilling myself
clryYou toured a hell of a lot throughout the you playingwith much more fire and power.But for other peopletoo, becauseI've alwaysbeen
Seventies. it was probablyLive Aid that was responsible badgeredaboutthis. Peopleare alwayssayin&
<r.APro Touredand recordedandgot out ofit! for reestablishing you in malrypeople'sminds. 'nvhen are you going to do this blues album that
I hada greattime,bur it wasall fairlydirection Did the reactionyou receivedsurpriseyou? you're alwayson about?"And I'm doing it! It
less.I mean,I don't re$et any ofit, to be honesg clAPToxYeah!I'm not sure I was evenable to then fiees me up, opensthe door for whatever's
I think rherewasno orherwayfor metogo, in a take it all in. I've alwaysbeena very,very self- next, and itwill be interestingto seewhat that
way. I'm just very gateful that I suruived it and effacing or low-self-worth sort ofperson. when is goingto be,
didn t die.becauseI wasoftenin someveryseri they told me where I was going to be on the bill, crYHow did you go about choosingthe tack for
ouslydangeroussituationswith boozeand drugs. I didn't get iL I thought, what? Really?And that this record?
I usedto do crazythingsthat peoplewould bail reallydid a lot for me.And that reception-it CrAPror{ Well, they're just the songsthat I've
me out of, where I was risking life and limb in was mind blowing! from that point on, I stared alwayslovedout ofmy recordcollection:blues
carsor in different life-threateningsituations. to give myself a bit more of a pat on the back masteryiecesthat havehad somekind ofpro-
And I'm just grateful that I survived.But the and to be kind to myself. found effect on me, like the Jirnmy Rogerssong
music got very los! I didn't knowwhere I was Gw Did the multiple crammys for Unplugged "Blues All Day Long." Therc's something about
going and I didn't really care.I was more into rala w^,' hv s".nricpz that: the balance of the instruments and the
way it's recorded.The beautyand the strength
o{it havealwaystakenmy brcath awayand al-
wayswill.I don'tdo it quite the sameway,but
what I'm trying to recreate is the emotional
experiencethat I got when I heard it. There
was something about all ofthose songsthat
took me to somebeautiful placeand mademe
feel better or gaveme cold chills when I heard
them, so I'd try to make that happen againby
playingthem.
Gw Do you think there are any modern blues
songsw tten todaywhich do the samekind of
thing?
CraProrYeah,oh yeah.In fact, I would like to
do a couple of Robert Cray's songs.He's the
lastofthe greatheroes,I think. A greatsinger,
$'riter and player,too.
cw Have you got any advice for guitar players?
traPIOx Listen to the past. I've run into a lot
of playersin the past l0 or l5 yearswho didn't
really know where it was coming from. They
thought it came from Jimmy Pageor JeffBeck,
or they thought it cameftom Buddy Guy or B.B.
Kin& well, it comesfrom furtherback, and if
you go back and Iisten to RobertJohnsonand
BIind Blake and Blind Boy Fuller and Blind
willie Johnson and Blind willie McTell, there's
thousandsof them that all havesomethingthat
just havinga goodtime, and I think it showed. claProi Yeah,I must admit I found it all a bit led to where it is now. The beauty of it is that
I think I got fairly irresponsible,and there were overblown.I mean,I thought the album was you cen take one ofthose things and make it
somepeoplethat liked it and other peoplethat quite rough, to saythe least. I think most of the yours.Butby learningtoo much from the later
got very pissedoff recognitionand applausewaswrappedup in players,you don't havethat much opportunity
And my guitar playingtook abackseat.I'd got- another gesture-vrhich is beautiful and I don t to makesomethingoriginal.
ten fed up with that thing about"The Legend"-I want to put that down at all. I appreciateall of it, I listened to [New orleafls trrmpet player]
wanted to be something elseand I wasn't really but I felt it was all a litde bit blolrm out of propor- King oliver, Louis Armstrong,Jelly Roll Mor-
sure what that was. I was just latching onto tior. And frightening rf I'd takenit too seriously, ton, TheloniousMonk, CharlesMingus, John
peopleand trying to be like them, to seeif some- it could havedoneme in. Coltrane and Archie Shepp.r listened to ev-
rhingelsewouldemerge.AndallLhatdidemerge, cw Therehavebeenlots ofbookswritten about eq.thing I could that came from that place that
in the long run, is what I am now. I don't really you. what do you think of them? they call "theblues" but in form isn't necessar-
know what that is asadefinition exceptifs more craPlor{I think they all takeit far too seriously. ilytheblues.
in tune with what I wasat the beginning-which It's a bit like the "clapton is cod" thing;they cw A lot ofthose guys are jazzplayers.
is abluesmusician. all follow on from that. Survivor lRay Cole- (lAPTor They are,but they all would acknowl
; cw It hasbeensaid ofthose daysthat nobody man's1993duthorized biogrdphyl has got a hint edgethat if you can't play the blues,you can't
could actuallypredict what any given Eric of thar.lt s all a bir reverent, isnt it?1 don ( re- playjazz an''way.Solisten,listen,listen,andgo
Claptonconcertwasgoingto be like. ally seemyselfasbeingthat heroic.I wasjust asfar back asyou dare.
6 <raPTo It would depend very much on who lucky to be in the right placeat the right time Gw Finally, you once said you had two ambi-
I'd bumped into that day-who had managedto and very fortunate to have survived. So I am a tions in life: onewasto play one note in ablues
corner my attention-becausethen I'djust go suflivo! but it all oughtto be takena little less solo that could bring an audienceto the verge
off with them. I wasjust like a grassin the wind: seriously,I feel. oftears, aJldthe other was to sleepwith to,ooo
a I wentanlvhere.I wasliterallyanybodys,de- I think if it's du€ to anlthing, it's just the fact women.Haveyou...
pending on what they were holding-you know, that l'm fairly honest about what I do. I just try <raProx No-and I haven't slept with 10,000
= what drug or what drink they were on. Then to do the best and carry on working, and do it women either.Still got both ofthem to do,..ifI
there'd be the gig in the evening,and I'd be assimply and unaffectedlyaspossible.I'm not live that long l[
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REDDIE TING, THE Now,however,he couldseetheseplay-

"Texas cannonball," ers perform up-close. King soon fell
was large and power- underthe spellof Reed'saccompanist,
ful in stature,soundand Eddie Taylor, and Waters' guitarists,
influence. Although he Jimmy Rogersand Robert "Junior"
sharedhis surnamewith Lockwood. All three players were
guitarists B.B. and Albert adeptat the electdfied blend ofrhlthm
King, Freddie carved out and melody found in the Chicago-
his own distinct territory bluesguitar style.It was an approach
asa modem electric-bluesguitar styl- that dovetailednicelywith King's own
ist. Sculptinghis country roots and down-home, bare-fingers approach.
aggressive,inventive phrasing into Lock\rood, in particular, was helpful to
classicguitar instrumentalssuch as the youngster.He had absorbedsome
"Hide AwaY' and balladslike "Have of the harmonicsophisticationof jazz
You Ever Loved a Woman,"Freddie and showedKing a few adventurous
King was one of the few urban blues- chordvoicings.
men who broughtthe electdcguitar Within a year, the teenagedKing
into the modernworld. had his first electricguitar and began
to earncashasa sideman,He was also
workingwith a group ofhis own, the
]|r$0Rr
tt0lfft|Jilffi$ Every Hour Blues Boys, and by the
(Hrs
FREDDIE NAMErrAs sometimes middleofthe decadehe wasplayingon
been spelled"Freddy') was born in sessions for the ParrotandChesslabels.
1934on a farm outsidethe eastTexas His firsr single under his own name,
town ofcilmer. His stepmotherand "CountryBoy,"was cut in 1957for the
uncle were both guitar playerswho El-Beelabel.Althoughitfailed to click
schooledhim in the basicsof playing with listeners,King was beginning to
the instrument Like mostyoungsters cementhis reputationas a singer and
playing country-bluesguitar in Ter.as player.After sevenyearsofworking in
in the Forties, King grew up under the steelmills and clubs, he was able
the pervasiveinfluenceofBlind LemonJefferson to quit his dayjobandwork exclusivelyasa musr-
and Lightning Hopkins.In additionto their influ- cian. He had alsobegunto find his own identity
ences,Kingpicked up his electric"uptown" blues as a guitar stylist,crafting a cohesivesound that
stylefrom his idol LouisJordan,ajump-bluessax- combinedhis Texascountryroots with the hard-
ophonistand singerwhoselighthearted,sophisti- knock experiencehe gainedin Chicagobarrooms
catedbluessryledominaledthe black-music air- and B.B. King influenced single-string finesse.
wavesin the mid Forties. King'sbreakcamein l960 $ henChicagog!itarist
King movedwith his family to Chicagoin 1950, sylJohnsonintroducedhim to sonnyThompson,
<
right in the middle ofthe golden ageofChicago A&R representative for King Records.
blues.He wasalreadyfamiliarwith the recordings Locatedin Cincinnati,Ohio,the King labelwasthe
ofChicagogiantsMuddyWatersandJimmyReed. Midwest'slargestindependentblackmusicproducer,
FIGURE
1 "The Stumble"
MediumShume ( ' : = J . l )
10 97
FlGtRt 2 "SideTracked"
= J .l)
Mediumsnume (r]
secondonly to Chicago-basedChessRecords.Sonny
Thompsonwas alsothe label'shousebandleader,
producer, arranger and piarrist,and he framed tcing
in a tight, professionalsetting that put the spotlight
squarelyon his vocalsand guitar.The first single,
"You'v€Got to Love Her with a Feelingi'(released,
like most of King's wor( on the label's Federalsub-
sidiary), was a minor hit and King followed it with a
similar vocal ballad, l96l's "I Love the woman." To
everyone'ssurprise,it wasthat records B-side,a gui
tar insirmental called "Hide Away' that caughtfire
and madef reddie King a national star.
In 1961,following the song'ssuccess,Federal
releasedKing's first album, Freddy f(ing Sings,
which showcasedhis stellarvocalson "Have You
EVer LOVed a woman. _Lonesome wnrstle Blues
and "I'm Tore Down." The sameyear,King went
backinto the studioand cut 11moreinstrumentals
which, togetherwith "Hide Away,"were released
asLet's Hide A\,)ayand DanceAway with Freddy
(tng. "Sen-Sa-shun," "SideTmcked,""The Stum-
ble." "San-Ho-Za./'and "Just Pickin'"-each one
a classic-were cut in a singleday and,exceptfor
"Hide Away" and "Just Pickin'," were namedby
label executives.King had the knack for defining
a simple, catchy melody (often basedon a well-
known vocal tune), Lnocking out a riveting solo,
.eturning to the melodyand wrapping it all up in
under threeminutes.
By 1963,Kingwas financiallystable,and bought
a housein Dallas.His reputation amongwhite audi-
enceswasjust startingto build, mainly throughcovers
of his tunes performed by British guitarists like Edc
jn prr-
clapton.MickTaylofandPelercreen.Clapron
ticular was taken by King"sinventive and energetic
phrasing,and asidefrom his late-sixtiesfling with
AlbertKing-isms,hetoutedFreddieKing'sinfluence
more than that of anyother singleplayer.
In 1968,King jumped to the Atlantic-Cotillion
label.Thanksro Europeantoursand his growing
reputationon the collegeand festivalcircuits,his
careerwashumming. His recordingsbeganto show
mo.esheenthangrit,but hislive soundcontinuedto
be loud and aggressive, and he bumed morethan a
few blues-rockguitarheroesduringonstageduels.
Unlike the manybluesmusicianswhosecareers
descendingsixth intervals are played
with pick and finger (or, in King's case,
thumb pick andfingerpick). rlay it slowly
until you have it entirely memorized. To
play it at tempo,you'll needto be on auto-
matic pilot.
Today,B.B. and Albert King are the
two most-cited "Kings" of blues, but
FreddieKing stoodastheir equal,earn-
ing his placesquarelybetweenthe first
generationof swing-basedelectricgui-
tarists and the blues-rock tidal wave that
followed.King showedhis discipleshow
to fill the airy cavitiesofa bluesphrase
with raw energy,and how to turn a hand-
ful oflicks into a pieceofreal music.Icsa
Iessonthat bearsrepeating.
0iln
KINGPLAYEDAcoUsTIc 8litars until he
receivedhis first Kay electricat age17.But
the guitar he usedon all ofhis recordings
until 1965was a 1954Les Paul Goldtop
with single-coilP9o pickups.In '65 he
switched to the semihollow, stereo cib-
begEnto suffer in the mid seventies,King continued son ES-345with humbuckingpickups,
to work steadily.Perhapsno onewaspreparedfor the andlater he playedthe stereoES-355.The
shockwhen,on December 2S,1976, he diedsuddenly semihollowguitarshad a fuller sounddue
of ulcers and heart failure at only 42 yearsof age. to their size,shapeand electronics,but
King's biting attack remained part of his
identity, no matter what the guitar.
sIffrilllrcilil0l|r For amps,Kingliked'em loud, andnone
t IKE MOSTYOUNGPLAYERS raisedon countryblues, was louder at the time than the Fender
King began as a bare'frngered picker, although he Dual Showman.Later, he used the Fend-
eschewedthe open-tuning-and-capostyle of Texas er QuadReverb,a massive4x12,300-watt
contemporaryAlbert Collins for a more standard combo alsofavored by Albert Collins. As
guitar setup.After arriving in Chicagoand closely for effects,nothing other than reverbwas
observingJimmy Rogers,Muddy waters and Eddie a considerationfor playersofthat era.
Taylor, King followed their examplesand started
using a plastic thumb pick alongwith a metal finger-
pick on his index finger. He alsolearnedto dampen
the st ngs with the heel of his picking hand, which
srrrsft0
Lr$ftilr$
THE COREOFFREDDIEKING,Slegacy
allowed him to play loud while maintaining control was cut during his initial 1960161peri-
ofhis dlnamics.This combinationofbiting,metallic od on trederal,Hewas a very consistent
tone on the high strings and muted toneson the low playerand singerthroughouthiscareer,
stringsbecamehis fiademark sound. but as the production style and mate-
King:soverall approachmight be describedas rial changed,much of his later output
"uptown Chicago,"combiningasit did the rhlthm- becamelessemotionallyarresting.Some
based,electrifiedDeltastyleof Jimmy Rogersand suggestions includeJustPickin',Freddie
Eddie Taylor with the single'note melodic approach (ing .Singsand Erde A way: The Best of
ofT-Bonewalker andB.B.King.Abriefsamplerof FreddieKing.Bl
differentphrasesfrom King'srepertoireshowshis
variousinfluences, THI STUMEIEMusicby Fredd]e Kingafd Sonn]
FIGURE r, an excerptfiom 1960's"The Stumble," Thompton.Copyr8ht O D6r by ForiKnoxMusic nc.
is a melodicphraseplayedover the last four barsof a andTrloMuscCompary.Copf ght Renewedand
l2-barbluesin E. This exampleillusuatesthe suong A$ignedto FortKnoxMls c Inc.,TroMuslcCompany,
Jimmy Rogersinfluenceon King's style.Notice how carbertMusiclnc andArcMur c colPoEtion(8Ml)in
he coversthe neck from l2th fret to open position. the U. ted States.A RghtsfortheWoddexduding
the U. ted statesControled byFortKnoNlvlusich.
More than mostofhis contemporaries, King made andTrioMusiccompany.hternationacopyriSht
effectiveuseofthe entire f?etboard. securedAllRightsReseryed. Usedby Pe.mission.
FIGURE 2 sho\rs an exampleof King's single-note Reprlntedby Permisson of HalLeonardCorporaUo.
phrasing fiom "Side Tracked," another 1960instm-
S|DEIRACKEDword5 and Musk byFreddieK ng
mental.In tiis phrase,the influenceofT-BoneWalker andsonryThompson.copyrighio r96, by Fort
is seenin the continuous,linear melody,but King (noxMusic Inc.andTrioMut c Compa.y.CopyrlShi
attackedthe notesmuch more aggressivelythan the RenewedandAsi8redio ForlKnoxMls c 1n..,Tr o
rela-xed,swingingWalker. M u s i c C o m p a n y , C a r b e r t M u sai cnldnA
c r.Mu5c
The classicstop-chorus breakfrom "Hide Away' Corporation(BMl)intheUnltedstates.ARi8htsfof
theWor d excludingtheUn ted StatesControlled
(shoen on page74in sectionE,bars49 52) is a$eat
b y F o r t K n o x M l e k h ca n d T r o M u s . C o m p a n y .
exampleofKing's sophisticatedharmonic senseand ntem3tonalCopf thtS€.ured AllRightsReseryed
fretboardknowledge.Thejazzy Eo chord is a \oic' UsedbyPermisslon. Reprnied by PermstonofHaL
ing that King learnedfrom RobertLocl-wood.The
:..-/a4
 my fingers. And that \{as it. I started
playingu.ith a lot more soul. I nevcr
used a pick again. My tone, nly
s o u n d , e v e r ! t h i n g h a p p e n e dr i g h t
thcn. People c:rn't undefstand how I
play. The averageg! itar player don't
knou n'hat l'm doilrg. But it's my
thin!i. Ir's whet cod gave me; I don't
nced apick becauseIgotfive fingers.
How can one pick compete?
cw One trnusual aspect of your
style is thrt you don't play a lot of
chords.
suMlr No, I don't, but I pla)' a lot
of tricks. likc Muddy Waters once
said,I've got a lotofgimmicks up my
slee\.es.I knou, when to get in and
\41en to ge! out. Lots of $itarists
just nliss out on that aspect of
playing. I know how and u,here to
put ir, \\' hich is $'hat it's all rbout.
cw Did man,v of youl pcrsonal
pla)'irg trademarks develop as a
r e s u l ro f p l a l i n g w i t h H o u t i n ' W o l f
firr so long?
9uMtlN Yes and no.I rlso pla,vcdu'ith
Muddy \ ratelx for six months and,
Lorcl, I learncd a lor fronr Jilnlni
Rogers fl4'dtcrs' ledd Stitdrisrl. I
pichcd up irom e\.eNglLitarist I ever
rvorked u,ith. I'd take a note from
here and a rote fro[r here, a lick
flom him rnd a lick from him, and
put it al I together. Thet's the Huberr
Sul11linstylc.Andtha!'swhatl\l.ould
recomncnd anv guitarist do: ljsten
to p l.ryersvou like and pick th ings up
fiom cvcn'one and evenu'here.
You havc to learn ho*. to use
yolrr instru ent to its fullest. You
got iive different Es, you got five
tliffcrent As, and you got to use
then all. Iflou'fe all over the neck,
you're bettcr. That's whv I never
used a cLan1plcdpo] like Muddy or
Albeft Collins or Jimmv Rogers:
\ { h r ] i m i t y o u r s e l f ?Y o u ' l l n o t i c e
rhrt kids comingup today playgreat,
and the!, doi't usc a clamp because
thc,v'vc got better knowledgc ofthe
instrumcnt.
cw Therc's onc element of your-
backglound that's almost uniquc
anlon!i bluesmen:\'ou studied g!itar dudes I listcned towere: Cherlel Patton, Lonnie Things ale gettingbctter all rhe fime." The ncxt
rtthc (lhicego Consel'vaioryof^{usic. Whatwas Johnson, Robert Johnson...allthose gu)'s.Peetie vcar he got sick and \r'cnt on a kidnei dialvsis
the extent of vour folmal training? wheatstrarv-the "devil's son-in larv" JesLrs, n1acline.
sunlr l studied for six months $'ith this old guy n1aD,he was somethingl Then u'hen I got r-ith cw It can be said thrt volr ire the link Lrehveen
rvho u.asrvith the Chicago SymphonyOrchestra. wolf and N,Iudd]' I realized that they acrually t h e D e l t a b l u e s n e n a n d l o c k a n d r o 1 1 .O n t h c
Itwes the firsttinre I ever sau-a dude u'ho played plaled with thcsc gu,vs,and that blcu, my mind. onc hand, vou pla)'ed rvith $rolf, who u,as
h n r h o p e c r a n , rh l u p so r \ i . g ! i r 1 r . t r h r d a h u g e I tried to ask \\'olf aboui Char]ey Patton, and he a c o n r L n p o rf., o ' R o L e r t J o l ' r r . , , r1' r ' d l h e
' n p a c t o r n r c .b c i : u s e I d i d n r
kno$ tl-epirn^ said, "A\r', you voung punk, vou'r.e too loung o ^llef g!r- tou In'I li.Ied. \r rhe.lIr| rime,
ke,vboardand I didn't kno\r'how to read Ididn't understand." It alu'ays huft nlc that I missed ,vo also exerted a hlrtjc influence on thc ncxt
k n o w a r I f r o m a n A , a n A h - o ma B o r a B f t o m a out on seeing and phving uith thosc old guys, gencfation rock g!ltadsts u'ho weren'r reallv :
C. Thatgu).sho\l'ed me so much in six months. b e c a u s et h e y $ , r o t c t h e b o o k t h a i u r o l f a n d rll that much lounfier than you.
Gw Even rhough you always played €lectrrc \,Iudd,vclectlified and expanded.
guit:rr {'ith Wol{ vour sound often had a bit ofa Gw It sorlndslike \ rolf was vcry consciousofd1c
tuMlr I'n1 very proud ofthat, ancl I got to meet !
those g!i's. I met Eric Clapton in 1970 \\.hcn
colrntn bllLesvibe.Is thatnhere vou come fi on, agediffefence bctween you t\vo. I playerl on \\'olfs london Sessions. I u'asn't :
musicallv? s u m l r Y e a h .H e t o l d m e o n e t i m e , a c o u p l e o f s l r p p o s e dt o b c t h e r e , b u r C l e p t o n s a i d , " I f
a
suMLlN Aduallv, when I u,as a kid I $.anted to years bcfor€ he died, that he $.as "40,vears too H | | h e r r ' . n o r r h e f A ,I d o r r - e c o - J T h e n ! \ o l f
be a jazz plaver like Charlie Christian morc e a r l r . H e . 1 r d . p o r | e J r r u l , ' L r | p r o o r. n said hc couldn'r record r.ithout me, so they hed
t h a n a n y t h i n g ,b u t I a l s o l o v e d a n d h e a r d t h e D e c € m b e r ,\ i ' i t h s n o $ ' o r t h € g r o u n d , t h c d i r t to bringl11e.\ rolf$ ason a dialysis machine dght
blues. f?fi osepln-r,erslwere all around me, and f r o z c n a s a r o c k . " I s e i d ," D o n t I i e , m ! n - " A n d in the studio- with doctors tendinghim night ancl
at a certnin point,I realized how gtcat all these h e s a i d ," I ' m n o t l y i n g . I ' m 4 0 I e a r s t o o e a r l , v . dav. He lr.asso sick that on a couple ofDights rvc
didn't evenrecord;we just satin the studioand
gor hrgh.Mick JaggerandBillwymancanrern,
andwe partiedall nighrlong,nrn. Theclearing
ladycamein the next morningandeveryone was
laying there on the floor. Mick Jaggerhad his
headup insidethe bassdrum. loughs]
caliberof Howlin'woll you'regoingto do your
best.And in those days,there wasn't even a
question,man:you were goingto playyour Suts
out.Therehadbeensomedaysinthe pastwhen
my stomachachedfrom not havingan)'thingto
eat.when I recorded,I would rememberthose
slow and slapped me with the back ofhis hand. I
fell and rolled down the ramp that was pushed up
to the stage to load the amps. I got up and walked
back, screaming at him. when I got to lhe top he
did the same thingagain, and I rolled right back
.l nu'n .ni|find n"r repfh

cwDid you spendmuch time with Clapton?
Sumur Yes.One day,E c senta limousinefor
me, and we drove for 30 oFlO milesoutsideof
Lorrdorrro hir bigold mansionin fhecounrry.A
gorgeousplace,likea castle.We had abeautiful
dinner,then he took me down to the bas€men!
where hc had all thesegllitars.lt lookedlike a
daysand rememberhow I neverwantedto go
backtothem.And I would playl
cw what kind ofpersonalrelationshipdid you
havewith wolf?
sultuil We were like father and son,although
we had sometremendousfights. He knocked
my teethout, and I knockedhis out. Noneofit
cw Is that why you left to play with Muddy
Waters?
iu||ttll{ No. Me and Wolf patched it up right
away.In fact,the nert rrorning my wife woke
me up and saidthat wolf hadbeensitting in his
car in front ofmy houseall nightlong.I went out
there and he apologizedandgEveme moneyto fix
my mouth-I left to playwith Muddy becausehe
tripled my salary.Theywere rivals,and Muddy
wanted to take me away from Wolf.
cw was the rivalry betweenwolf and Muddy
apparentto everybody?
SuMrlxSure.The) werejealou.of oneanother:
they were enemiesr"You stole my shit." "You
did this.""You did that." Itwas endlessbecause
they were the two biggestdudes in Chicago,
and they were alwaysarguingand con'rpeting
aboutwho was number one. fioughs]I'll never
forget the day we playedthe Ann Arbor Blues
Festival,and Wolf and Muddy sat down and
talkedandmadefriends.Theyshookhandsand
said,"No more enemies."That thrilled me so
much,I went and got a beer.This is a business
we do everyday and love to death,and I never
understoodthat jealousy.It's music.Who cares
who's the best?
cw what areyour memoriesof Jimi Hendrix?
'u'rrur He wasju5r a lirrle ol dude living in
England.lt wasbeforehisband.t he Erperience.
hit it big, we playedin Liverpool,the Beatles'
home,and in walked Jimi Hendrix, a liitle ol'
hip guy wearingearringsand a bandanna.wolf
said,'What the fucl<is rhisg!y? T ain t sa,ing

factoryrthree and a half walls of a room ljned

with everykind ofguitar you canimagine.
He said,"Pick out a coupleofthose guitars,
Hubert.I'm givingyoutwo ofthem."I walkedall
'l]|tum
usm
nothing to that motherfucker."He cameright
up toWolf and askedifhe couldplay his guitar.
Wolfnodded and Hendrix pickedit up, turned
it over and playedit with his teeth.[dughs]He
played the hell out of it. wolf looked at him,
thewayaroundthe room,lookingateveryoneof big-eyed,andsaid,"You hired,man,youhired!"
them.Tben I sawthis casesitting in the middle
of the room. I opened the caseand took out
this beautiful Fenderstratocasterand started I PtCt(
t0il]t- He said,"No thankyou,Mr. woll But I admrre
you and the blues.You guys are 10Opercent.
Beautiful,man."
playingit there,sitting on the floor.
He said,"Hey,man,I toldyou to pick anytwo
you want liom thosethat arc up againstthe wall."
IIIRIT1|IIIO
1|IPPtIItO I neverplayedwith him afterthat, but I saw
him do his thing in New York, after he hit, and
I fell in love.The guy wasgreatlJust a little ol'
I said,"I know,but thisFendersuresoundsgood.
Is ityour regllar?"He said,"It sureis."I said,"I
#
Rt0iltT]|fft.' skinnyyoungster.He wasin his tl!'enties,but he
looked16or 17,and he was good,man.I mean,
reallygood.
knew it, becausethat'sthe one."He said,"You
mern ro sa) you re goingro trke it trom me, manered; wealua1.gurrighrbacl togerher. cw Hendrix called you a big influence.Your
man?"Isaid,"No,I can'tdoit.I don'twantnone cw You foughtwith Wolf He wasa hugeman. playing on sever'altracks fron the Fifties
ofthese."He said,"Takeit, man.At leastI know iu[Llt{ Oh man,he was big. He could wrap representssome of the earliest instancesof
it's got a goodhome.Just promiseme that ifI one ofhis fingersarould myguitarneck three guitaristusingdistortion.Howdid you do that?
everwant itback you'llgiveit to me." times.ol1etime after a gig,we were loadingup tufllr I was just using my Cibsonand my
I kept it for twoyearsandhardlyeverplayed the truck, and I wasn't there becauseI'd run wabashamp,which I usedfor alongtime.Itwas
it. Then we were both at the Montreaux Jazz offwith this cute girl who'd beensitting on my oneof the fi rst ampsto have15-inchspeakers. I
Festival,and I broughtit overto him. He asked amplifief, smiling at me all night long. When alsogot an Echoplexrightwhen theycameout,
me how much money I wanted, if there was I g o t b a c Lr h e yu e r e j u s r l i n i s h i n gl o a d i n g . andcon'rbined with those15-inchspeakers,that
anything I needed.I said, "Nothing man, it's a n d w o l f w a ss t a n d i n go n r o p o f r h e ' r a g e . made"distortion."
your guitar,Don't embarrassme."Hejust gave He startedyelling at me, calling me every cw what soft ofcibson did you play?
me a hug.He's a nice guy.Abeautiful guy. nameyou ever heard-and someyou couldn't SuMLliA LesPaul-I believeitwas a'56.I often
cw Did you have a senseyou were making imagine-because he had to load my gear.I playedthem. I alsohad a Kay guitar. For four
history when you recordedthoseclassictracks was embarrassed, man,becausethis was right years,Wolf didn't havea pianoor evena bass-
with wolf in front ofthe whole band. ju.r two g!irarsand drum5,so Jody William.
tUMu No, and I really didn't care.But I knew SoI thought,He can'tdothis to me.He can't lwolfs secondguitaristland I coordinatedour
that he was goingto be one ofthe greats.And humiliateme. so I waited until he was looking partscloselyand decidedthat we would both play
I was so devotedthat I wantedto push him to the otherway,andI hithim in the faceashardas Kays.Ididn'tlikethat LesPaulall that much,but
the top. when you're recordingfor peoplethe I could.H€ didn't move.He justtumed backreal I sure do wish that I had it now. ftaughs]B[
:
a
-
<

]
 While Kilg rvas inalguably a blucsman, his comc up u'ith diiferent st]'les io lio behind Roland l2o because it s easiel to handlc and it
eefliest recordirgs fof Bobbin Record s feeturcd : , ' n r , r l , ,I I , l d , , u h r r e v . r i i , . I n i g h r I r I puts out lor me,
h a f J . s i n g . r r g\ i g \ . r r J r r r J n g < r n e n r .L. r t e r . three or four rhythms behnrd a song, find the Gw Therc hlls nl*.ays been so much srving to
he u'ould fecord his most influential uork one thatfeelsjust right and recordit.I canhear y o u r l n u s i c .H a v c y o u l i s t e n e d t o a 1 o to f j a z z ?
i n c l u d i r g ' B o r n U n d e r a B a dS i g f ' a n d ' c r o s s l r l E , { " 1 .r r d I r ' p \ p r . r $ r h F f o i r r o i i n r r - K l N cY e . I \ e r l $ a \ . h ( r r r r l u \ r r u l i : r z z .r . p f
cut Sawr'-for Stax, backeclby Itooker T anclthe ing ('hat l listcred to. Lots oftimcs I heard c i x l l r b i g b r n d j n z z . O n t h e B o b b i n s t u f l I u s e da
M G s , t h e R & B h b e l ' s f r m e d h o u s eb a n d . n e w l h i n g s t h a t s u r p f i s e dl n e . ' l h e g u y sa t S t a x lot of orchcstrrti(nr anLlbig-banLl arrangements
Butrvharevel the musicrl setting, Kings lerd kritdrist Src1,eCr-opper,6dssistrondld'ru.l" to lnix thc jazz \,' iih thc blucs. I r.'€nt fof the
p l . . ri yr r ; u . r , r l ' , : ' . , f r - : , t , r z , J ' 1 s r i r g i r r 3 . D ut1n,dr unnc r A l J a c ksondrid o,Tdnirr lloo/rer s\\'ingingjrzz arfrngen1cnts end thc purc blucs
r i \ e r J e e p t o r e r r r d : r l o r r l l ' i J e r r r i f i . r h l c . I l r . T. Jon!s, plus the Llen?his ]lornsj \\'ere good gurraf.
d e v e l o p e da s r r e s u l t o f h i s u n o r t h o d o x t e c h - fol plaf ing with difTerent gr'oovesand helprng cw Your lcad $itrr has al*,a1 s been ver'1l,vIicr I.
r i q u , . L o f t - h ,r r r i o d l.( i | l ; t l r r e d \ \ i r h l r i . g r i - me find the rightone.I likedpIayingrvithtnem Do you think ofthe ltuitar as a sccoDd l,oicc?
tar held upside do$.n, tlcblc stlings up, u.hich, bccausc they \r'eregood idea people they'cl K r t { cY e s , I d o . I p l a , \ ' t h e" s i n g i n g $ r i t a r " t h r t ' s

. l n l o n g o f h c r t h i n g s , c a u s e dh i n t o b c l d h i s
strings down. "l learncd thatsttle myself," King
said. "And no one c.rn du plicatc it, ihough many
havetried."
€..-*-=-____--=9
C U | I A I w o R LvD I , , r L . u _ l e d I t e r v ' v i J c r r r i
etv of matcrinl, much of $.hich has depirted
from the staldar-d blues formrts. Ho$, did you
. . f r i r e J rr h e J p p r , f , r1 r LJ f f . o a c h i o r c n ) ! i \ , 1
song?
a L a E R(I r n c I d i d t h ! t i n t h c s t u d i o . W e w o u l d
twist things :rlound into diffcrcnt grooves $41atl\.c alwals callcd it. I also sing xldrg\ th
cw Your guitar stt'le changed roticeably from my notcs. lt's ho$. I think about rvhere l'rn
lour eally recordings \r'ith rhe Bobbin label to going-
y o u r u , o r - kw i t h S t a \ . Y o u d i d n ' t u s e a s m u c h cw YorLdon't play r lor ol chords.
vibrato 0 ginallv, for instance. Klt{cNo, I play single note. I crn pl;ry chords
bur I dont like 'em.I don t have tine for thenr.
xlNGNo, I didn't. I ne\.er made a decision ro
change my st_vle.Some of it I forgor and sone I'm palirg cnough people rlound me to plal I
o f i t j u s t a u t o m a t i c a l l y c h a n g c d .N o t h i n g c a n chords.llauJ]ihj
stay the same {orer.ef.I do allofthe vibrato u,ith c w Y o u ' r e a l s on o l e d f o f v o u r t c n d e n c v t o b e n d
my hrnd-I don't use no gadgets of anythirg.I r1('osrnngs ar one flme.
used to onlv use,{coustic arnps,but I went to a Kr c Yeah.Lots of rimes I don't I ntend to do that, )
but I'm reachingfor abend andbring anotheron€
along.My fingers get mixed up, becauseI don't
practice.When I get through with a concert,I
do['t evenwant to seemy guitar for a while.
c,_w Have you always felt that way?
Klrc No, no. Just lately,in the last iour or five
years,sinceI've beenreally feelinglike I want
to retire.
GwYou are one of the only guitaristsI've ever
heardwho willstart a songwith abentnote.On
"Angelof Mercy," for instance.
Kr c Again,I didn't plan that out; it's just what
I felt and the way I recordedit. The bent note
is my thing, man, and I'll put one anlnvhereit
feelsright. There are no rules.
cw I've heard stodes ofpeople who tried to copy
your soundbut didn't knowthat youwere play-
ing upsidedown.
|(lrlc UdughslYeah, I've heard that, too. And
peoplewho try to restring their guitarsto get
my sound.and everyrhing elseyou can imag-
ine. Jimi Hendrix usedto take picturesofmy
fingers to try and see what I was doirlg. He
never quite figured it out, but Jimi was a hell
of guitar player, the fastestdude around-at
r(|f,cYeah.I learneda few Lhing"fromhim. he
learnedafew thingsfromme.I told him to slow
it down,doubleup onhis licks-playeveryother
o n e s ol h a ry o uc o u l df e e w
l h a t h e s d o i n gl l.
you play too fast or too loud, you cancelyour-
selfout.But Garyplaysa whole lot ofnotesand
still soundsgood.Every now and then you're
boundto put them in placeifyou play enough.
Iougi!s]
€w A lot ofblues playershit the right note and
playrhe right changes. Yet,somelhing's miss-
ing.whatis that something?
Klx€ I'm goingto askyou. You're the listener.
what do you hearor nothear?
cw It's hard to describe.It'smore of a feeling.
Kr c That's it. That's it, man.Stopdght there.
Don't overthink this. I just told you, onceyou
losethe feeling you ain't got nothin' but a show
going.lt's not deep.
cwSocanlou learnho\r ropla) thebluesfrom
a book or readingmusic?
t(lic No way, man.First,you got to get in your
mind what you want to play. 1f you hear a good
lick-even if you'rejust rehearsingtoyourself-
andyou feelit, then hit anotheroneandanother
abouteveryone l've everhad hasbeencustom
made.
cw why didyou nameyour guitar "Lucy"?
Kr c LucilleBall.I lo\ed her.
cw It didn't have anything to do with B.B.'s
KrxqYou'd have to ask B.B. Mine was named
Lucy first.
cw Have you and B.B.alwaysgotten along,or
has there been any tension between you-for
instanceover the fact that B.B.is alwayscalled
"The Kingofthe Blues"?
Kt{cohcod,no. Me andB.B.andBobbylBldnd]
alwaysgot alonggeat. we go all overthe coun-
r D a n d s e lol u t e \ e r y t h e a r e r w e tgoo.N o m i . -
understandings,no arguments.I'll open the
show for anybodyaslong as I get paid off. Ill
be asleepin my horelwhile B.B.s <rill playing.
and rhar'sfinewilh me.B.B.s a nightowl. He
closesthe showbecausehe staysup mostofthe
night talking, anyhow. Ua ghsl
Gw Has the fact that you once played drums
affectedyour guitar stylemuch?
|(lrc Not really,exceptthat I can tell immedi-
ately if atempo is ofl Being left-handed affected

rhe time. Theres somekids who are coming
aroundnow...uheu!I orgetaboutit!Theyburn
up the fretboard.
cw Obviously,Hendrix was a $eat guitadst. But
what do you think ofhim asabluesplayer?
xtrc well, to me, he was overplayingto play
the blues.He'd hit two or threegoodlicks here
andthere andthen speedthem up andhit them
over and over untilhe'd drown out all the good
ones.The kids loved i! and I liked his playiq,
too-that was his style. But don't call him a
grearbluesman. I think he wasgoingmorein
that direction,but we'll neverknow He didn't
takecareofhimself.
cw Your tone is so tough.How do you male it
so heal'y?
l(lt{c For one thing,I usuallykeepmytreble all
the way up, unlessI wantto playrealsoft,Then
I zip it down.
cw You really do utilize dlnamics effectively.
Do you think thacs somethinga lot ofyounger
playersmissthe pointof
Krf,cDefinitely.Becausethey like to play loud
and high all the time. And when you get ready
to play chords,you got nothing to go to. I like
to mix volumes,trebleandbass.There'sa high,
there'sa midrangeand there'sa bottom.Ifyou
don't ever mix that stuffup, you're not a com-
pleteplayer.
cw What is the single most common mistake
youngplayersmale with the blues?
|(|xc Overplaying.They play too loud, scream
too high and run too fast.See,when you over-
play, you get too loud and people are gonna
mistakewhat you'redoingfor a hole in the air.
laughsl
qw You appearedon GaryMoore'sSfiil Got fhe
Blues album. What did you think of Moore's
guitar work?
l(lt{cGary'sa goodplayer.To me,Garyand Ste-
vie Ray Vaughanwere two of our best young
players.I was sure hurt when we lost Stevie.
I really wa4ted to seehim and Gary hook up
together.I wanted to seethat concert.I don't
carervhereitwas-I would havecaughta plane.
No doubt aboutit, both thoseguyshad what it
takesto really do it.
cw Did you give Garyany pointers?
'lcilr
plly
cttonn$
BttT
lnorT
Lnfi
Tu.
InOIT
ttIUE
IIIIE
FOR
TIIEII
one and anotherone.The next thing you know my style more than an''thing.I startedplaying
you got 15or 20 differentlicks you canhit, and drumsjustbecause I got agig with Jimmy Reed
they all feel good.But if you rush right through, and neededthe money.
hitting them all, you'rc not even going to know GwWhy haven'tyou everuseda pick?
whatyou did. You'vegot to takeyour time and Kt c I couldn't hold one-my fingerswere too
learnyour bagone lick at a time, andtale your big. I kept trying and the thing would fly across
riha in w^!'r.loliwaF, rhe house.I jusr alwayshad a real hard time
cw Your first appearance at the Fillmore F9681 grippingit, soI learnedto playwithout one.
openedup a whole new audiencefor you,were qw what type ofmusic did your first band,the
you surprisedthatthosepeoplewerewaitingto In the GrooveBoys,play?
hearyour music? xtrc We only knew three songs,and we'd play
Klrc Yes,I was very surprised-and very glad. rhem fast, medium and slow. That made nine
They mademe welcome,treatedme nice.Bill songs.Somehowthat got over all night lo[g.
Crahem openedup eyoung,white cror,vdfor me cw Did you play strictly by yourselfwhen you
hv n,'trinc mF in rhFrF started?
cw Robert Cray hasremarked that he had one of |(l c I rehearsedto myselfforfiveyearsbeforeI
the biggestth lls of his life when you recorded playedwith anothersoul.That mayaccountfor
hissong,"PhoneBooth." l'I'm in a PhoneBooth, someofmy style.I knew that playingthe blues
Bab!," 19841 was a life I choseto lead.And when I started
l(l[c Yeah,I did one ofhis songsbecausethe there were three things I decidedto do: play
groove fit and that's what I look for. Robert the blues,play em righr and makeall the grgs.
is a good player and a very nice person,but I And I have.I've neverdrankliquor in my life or
haven't seenhim in a while and I hope that useddope,andI don't allow itaround me.That
success hasn'tgottentohis head.I'veseenthat hasalot to do with why I'm still doingwhat I'm
happento many,manypeople,andit'soneofthe doing,still feelinggoodandstill in goodhealth.
saddestthings you'll ever see.It matterswho It makesme sick to seethe things that people do
you sre and what yolr're made of. AnFime you to themseh es* henthel getall messed up.
think you're geater than the peoplethat buy €wEvery l0 or 15yearsthereseemstobe ablues
your records,that'swhen you loseit. renaissance andpeoplesaythere'sonehappen-
cw You have such a commandingstagepres- ing now, rs it real?
ence.Is there anyonewho would intimidate you KI{c Theblues "come back" wheneverpeople
ifthey walkedonstage? realizethat they canmakemoneybookingir.
Ktxc No. If it's my show, it's my stage,and I You didn't hear aboutyoung bluesmanfor
won'tlet anyonemesswith me.Believeme. a while until stevie Ray and Robert hit, but
cw when did yousranusingrheFlyingv? they were always around. It's just a matter
Kt c Oh, man. Way back around 1958.Just of exposure.BI
 'LlTTLt
l|llllCI'$TEUE
Rtr
rrrlontl
As heardonGREATEST HI.IS (Eprc)
Wordsand Music by Jirt Hend.ix i. Trdnscnbedby Dave Whitehil! * B asstransciption by Matl Scharfglass

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All musit soundsin the key of Eb ninor, one half step lower thnn v)ritten.

E rnt- (o,oo)
sbwryJ =60 (tr =JIlr)
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7-7-7-7-7 7-7-7-7-

I G I Main Them€Reprise (2:08)

A7
tM.-- - - ----- - - - - - ----
 'mBl$J|RIB'BlltoBLnffi
As heardon THE BEST OF BLIND BLAKE (yAzool
ftdnscribedrv Jefr Ferrin

Tunedownonehalf stepoow to high,Eb Ab Db cb Bb Eb).

Mwic sounds one ha( step lowet than written, ih the key of B.
A7 D7/Ffr Ab7 D9 C7

tuffi++hffiffi
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11.,2. | | 3.-6.
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(ake rcpeat frst tine okly)

E]v€rscs (0:33.
0:a3,
0154,
1:43.1:53,2:22)
r. Doxrn solth on Wabash Evsrybody you Ghance lo meel
2.Thcyaredoln'il ni0ht and d8y yrilldrlvo youl blucs ayJay
3. EYery lltllo kid lhat you meel in thealley in lho shoet
4.Grab m0 mama iold me tlght L8t's meEs around thc rest ol the light
5.lirow your hands way up hi0h Gnbme mama maKo me cty
6.Peoplc como lrom miles aruund Get on Wa[ash break 'em down
A7 otri

|'J-----------__-l 13.'6.
play 3 tinesfor Ye6es) -3
play twice ht Yersa 4 and 5
pla, oncefor YeBe 6. then
r.{. Doin' lfiat ng that Wabash ra0 skip ahead to @
c A7 D7 G7 c c
22
 'ullBl$]|
Rl8'
E] Brtdge (1:04,2:03)
S€l'em set'em set'em s6l'em ssl 'om sot'6m set'rm sel'€m s8l 'om sol 'om sot'8m
A7 D7
A A TA

c
Substitute Fill I second time
33

sot'8m sol'6m ooin' that rag that Wabash ]a0 4th ttne, ao back toEl

c A7 D7 G7 c D7G7G

E Int€rlud€ 0:24,2:31)
(2nd tine) spoken: Everybody ., sel'em
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E rst vers€(1:06)
Thcycallit stormy
Monday Tuesday's
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E 3rd v€rse (2:45)

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tr lst Guitnr Solo @uane) (3:35)

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E 4th velse (7:42)

Lordhavemercy
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