Howlin’ Wolf: Smokestack Lightning

Of all the Chicago Bluesman who recorded for Chess Records in the Fifties and Sixties, Howlin’ Wolf may have produced the most affecting music. Howlin Wolf was a 300-pound powerhouse of a man who was known to wield his size and mean streak when he deemed it necessary. This intimidating image coupled with a ferocious, otherworldly voice is what earned him the name, “Howlin’ Wolf.”

He was born Chester Arthur Burnett in West Point, Mississippi, in 1910. He was born as one of the poorest of the Southern poor, son of a Mississippi sharecropper, who in his early adult life seemed destined for a life of sharecropping himself. In 1930, Burnett met the Mississippi Delta blues singer Charley Patton, and Patton instructed Burnett on guitar for a time. In addition to Patton, Burnett admired and drew influence from Jimmie Rodgers, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Ma Rainey, Lonnie Johnson, and Blind Blake. What would become Howlin’ Wolf’s famous howl, started as the singer’s attempt to replicate the yodeling of country singer, Rodgers.

During the Thirties, Burnett traveled through The South often in the company of other blues singers. When he was 30-years-old in 1940, he was drafted into the US Army. He stayed in the army for three years before being discharged in 1943, without having seen action. After his discharge, he returned home for a time to help with farming. He formed a band with guitarists Willie Johnson and Matt “Guitar” Murphy and began performing on the West Memphis, Arkansas, radio station, KWEM. Burnett’s performances on the station brought him to the attention of Sam Phillips of The Memphis Recording Service (later called Sun Records), the same man who would discover Elvis Presley years later.

In 1951, Burnett, now dubbed, “Howlin’ Wolf,” recorded the singles, “Moanin after Midnight” and “How Many More Years” for Chess records, and he relocated to Chicago. Wolf convinced the brilliant blues guitarist, Hubert Sumlin, to join his band in Chicago, and with Sumlin on board, Wolf would enter his classic period with terrific singles such as “Smokestack Lightning,” “Little Red Rooster,” “Wang Dang Doodle,” “300 Pounds of Joy,” and “Killing Floor.”

In 1962, Howlin’ Wolf recorded his famous self-titled, “rocking chair” album, “Howlin’ Wolf,” a seminal and brilliant recording of Chicago blues. The album was recorded for Chess and included his tight band led by guitarist Sumlin.

Other brilliant Howlin’ Wolf albums include “The London Howlin’ Wolf Sessions” (1971) and “Ridin’ in the Moonlight” (1982), and the compilations “Moanin’ in the Moonlight” (1959), “The Real Folk Blues” (1965), “Chester Burnett AKA Howlin’ Wolf’” (1972), “Change My Way” (1975), “His Greatest Sides Vol. 1” (1984), “The Chess Box” (1991), “His Best” (1997), and “The Geniune Article” (1997).

Sippie Wallace: I'm a Mighty Tight Woman

Sippie Wallace was another of the early female blues singers who started her recording career in the Twenties on the heels of Mamie Smith’s 1920 recording of “Crazy Blues,” the first-ever blues recording. Wallace was born Beulah Thomas in Houston, Texas, in 1898.

Wallace made her first recordings for the Okeh label in 1924 with “Leaving Me Daddy is Hard to Do.” She enjoyed a number of hits with Okeh during the Twenties with the songs, “I’m a Mighty Tight Woman,” “Jack O Diamonds Blues,” “Dead Drunk Blues,” and “Lazy Man Blues.” Wallace, like Alberta Hunter and Ida Cox, would enjoy a lengthy career and continue to perform well into old age. Wallace died in Detroit in 1986.

Her music is best heard via the compilations, “Complete Recorded Works, Vol. 1 (1923-1925)” (1995) and “Complete Recorded Works, Vol.2 (1925-1945)”

ROBERT JOHNSON THE FIRST BLUES SINGER IN HISTORY TO SELLOUT TO GOAT LUCIFER.

Leon Redbone: On the Track

Leon Redbone is one of the most unique musical performers of the last 40 years. He is one of the few current performers of ragtime music, although he is generally classified as a folk/blues singer. Redbone was born in Cyprus in 1949 and appeared in the early Seventies as something of a musical curio of mysterious origin.

In 1975, Redbone recorded his debut album, the delightful and utterly original, “On the Track,” an album of cover songs that were in some cases, more than 50-years-old. The album is a collection of blues, jazz, and ragtime standards sung in Redbone’s signature deep nasal baritone. In 1977, the album, “Double Time,” appeared, featuring more blues and ragtime classics including Blind Blake’s “Diddy Wah Diddy.”