Blues Artist of the Week - Willie Dixon
Willie Dixon (1915-1992) was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, and like many other Blues artists, moved to Chicago in the 1930s.
He is self-described as the “poet laureate of the blues” and “the father of modern Chicago Blues.” At a young age, he sang gospel.
Willie was a bassist, guitarist, singer, arranger, musician rights activist, and producer, but most prolific as a songwriter. He has over 500 song titles to his name. He penned A classic, The Red Rooster, covered by numerous bands, including The Rolling Stones “Little Red Rooster” in 1964.
Like Sister Rosetta Tharpe, who I featured earlier in this series, Dixon left Mississippi for Chicago in 1936.
Willie was a towering man at 6 feet 6 inches tall and over 250 pounds when he moved to Chicago. He was a successful boxer with this frame and won the Illinois State Golden Gloves Heavyweight Championship (Novice Division) in 1937. For a short time, he was also a sparring partner for Joe Louis. He left boxing after a money dispute with his manager and focused solely on music.
Along with Muddy Waters, he was a force in the Chicago Blues scene. As a songwriter, he penned many great songs for Muddy Waters.
Dixon became a relentless advocate for the blues and a major voice for its practitioners in his later years. To help preserve the Blues legacy, Willie Dixon founded the Blues Heaven Foundation.
This Foundation works to preserve the blues’ legacy and secure copyrights and royalties for blues musicians previously exploited.
Willie was inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1994- posthumous) and the Blues Hall of Fame 1980.
Listening Pleasure
I recommend starting with Willie Dixon – I am the Blues.
Willie’s Home Page
Blues Artist of the Week - Buddy Guy
George “Buddy” Guy (1936 - current) is an American blues guitarist and singer born and raised in Lettsworth, Louisiana. He was a sharecropper’s son whose early influences were from across the river in Mississippi. Guys you’ve heard of like B.B. King, Guitar Slim, Muddy Waters, and John Lee Hooker.
Like many Blues artists, Buddy moved to Chicago. His move in 1957 came after he was working at Louisiana State University as a utility man. Chicago was providing him an opportunity to follow his dream of working on his music. Early on, he befriended fellow Mississippians Otis Rush and Muddy Waters, who encouraged and pushed him forward.
His signing with Chess Records also marked a bit of an impediment and slowdown in his career as they refused to record Buddy, with Leonard Chess, Chess Records founder, denounced Guy’s playing as “just making noise.”
As Wikipedia describes Buddy’s style as “…varied from the most traditional, deepest blues to a creative, unpredictable and radical gumbo of the blues, rock, soul and free jazz that changes with each performance.”
Buddy continued to perform and hone his Blues ear and was part of the Blues revival of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The highlight came when Eric Clapton requested Buddy be part of the His “24 Nights” all-star blues guitar lineup at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
Buddy also started to have commercial success with his breakthrough album of Damn Right, I’ve Got the Blues in 1991. This was the first of his many albums to reach the Billboard charts. His CDs Sweet Tea, his first to hit No. 1 on the Billboard blues charts in 2001, and Blues Singer, both laced with Guy’s renditions of Mississippi blues, were recorded in Oxford, Mississippi. The cover of The Blues Is Alive and Well, another No. 1 blues CD in 2018, pictured Buddy back in Lettsworth, showing he never forgot his roots.
Like many Blues greats, he has influenced many in rock and roll, including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jeff Beck, Gary Clark Jr., and John Mayer.
Eric Clapton and B.B. King help induct Buddy into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005.
Buddy still actively performs and tours.
Top 10 Albums
1. Left My Blues in San Francisco (1967)
2. A Man & The Blues (1968)
3. This Is Buddy Guy! (1968)
4. Buddy Guy & Junior Wells Play the Blues (1972)
5. Stone Crazy! (1981)
6. Damn Right, I've Got the Blues (1991)
7. Feels Like Rain (1993)
8. DJ Play My Blues (1982 British Release only)
9. Blues Singer (2003)
10. Live at Legends (2012)
Select YouTube Videos
Sweet Home Chicago" (Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton, Johnny Winter, Robert Cray, Hubert Sumlin...)
Rock Me Baby-BB King/Eric Clapton/Buddy Guy/Jim Vaughan
Buddy Guy - What Kind Of Woman Is This
Skin Deep featuring Buddy Guy | Playing For Change | Song Across America
Complete Discography
Here is the current discography for Buddy Guy
Buddy Guy’s Official Site
Blues Artist of the Week - Howlin Wolf
Our focused artist started in the South and made his way up north to Chicago. Chester Arthur Burnett, better known as Howlin Wolf (1910-1976), was born in East Point, Mississippi.
Howlin’ Wolf was a Chicago blues singer, guitarist, and harmonica player. Originally from Mississippi, he moved to Chicago in adulthood. Although considered a rival of Muddy Waters, the two teamed up to transform Chicago into a mecca for electric blues from the traditional Mississippi delta acoustic style.
Howlin Wolf was known for his booming voice, aggressive stage presence, and imposing physical stature and Muddy Waters, he is considered one of Chicago’s best-known blues artist.
Howlin significantly influenced The Rolling Stones, who covered Little Red Rooster (written by arranger and songwriter Willie Dixon but first recorded by Howlin).
Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones is quoted as saying, “the pioneers of American blues were “dangerous men”, it was widely regarded that he was referring to Howlin Wolf.
Howlin Wolf’s most famous song and the similarly titled album is Moanin at Midnight, released in 1951.
His other well-known songs included “Smokestack Lightnin’,” “Dog Me Around,” and “Killing Floor.” Howlin’
Wolf was inducted into both the Blues Hall of Fame (1980) and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1991).
Two albums to start with Howlin Wolf – Howlin Wolf (1962) and Moanin’ in the Moonlight.
Also, another great resource on Howlin Wolf is the Biography Moanin’ At Midnight: The Life and Times of HOwlin’ Wolf….. Good biography to add to your Blues collection.