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BUDDYGUY
A Man dnd the Bhes

L
CTARENCE "GATEMOUTI{" BROWN
TheOriginalPeacock Recordings THESE EARLY FIFTIES sesslons capflrrethe Texasglitarist in his swingingprime,particulaily on suchclassics as"Okie Dokie Stomp"and "Depression Blues." Jazzmeetsblues when Gate's on the gig.

TEIS1968 release markedGuy's debutasa solo artist.He is in characteristically over-the-top form, singingand wailing the blueson his Stratwith equal fervor.A frenziedmasterpiece.

EARL HOOKER
TwoBugs&ARoach
JoIn\ LEE"Scousin is ofle of the true unsungtreasures oftheblues. His Chicago peers widelyregarded

him asthe mostwell-rounded guitaristonthe bluesscene. This collectionis a fine introduction.

AtBERTCOttINS
ALL OF AIBDRT'S

JOI{N IETHOOKER
The U ltimdte Collection THIS IS AN excellent collection that lives up to its billing. lt's probably all the

Alligator sessions are markedby his signature intensity,but this-his firstburctswith the energyofa great talent suppressed for too long. His first albumin sevenyears, -Ice Picl.in'markedthe beginning of Collins're-emergence as a contemporary bluesguitar powerhouse. It washis finest studio date.

John Lee Hooker you'll ever need,and it mal<es an invaluable guideto the stacksand stacksof his available discs.

ALBERTCOIIINS, ROEERT CRAYAND JOHNNY COPELAND

mt
GUITARSTIM
Sufferin' Mind

THIS LOOSE,

freewheelingjam session features Cray'smost

to date.It's also a careerhighlight for longtime bluesjourneymanCopeland, while Collinsis in his usualfine form. Sho1,down is an excellent startingpoint for novices of the Texassound,

llot sunr UttERE r0 Btolt 0t00tt0 tilil IltE Bttlr$? ETMOREJAIIES Imt rrum ill$ l{0-Z Lt$T 0t iltsTltruE rc0u$Tt8 ril0 EtEctntc Bt|Jt$ REc0R0lil0$.
THESE SLIDDPOWERED

King of the Slide Guitar tunesculled from 1959to'63 demonstrate how far one man cango with an electrifuingtone,a classic riffand a lot ofhysteria.It includesno! onebut two inspired renditionsof "Dust MyBroom," aswell as"The SLf? Is Crying," Your Moneymaker"and "Shake "DoneSomebody Wrong."

EDDIE "GI'ITAR

Slim" Joneswas a major influence on guitarists ranging from Buddycuy to Jimi Hendrix. His crazed, guitar work was rooted slashing in the Texasjumpbluesof T-BoneWalker and catemouth Brown,but itwas uniqueand utterly original.This discincludes the bluesstandard "The ThingsI Usedto Do."

ROMSTORE SHELVES to online retailers of CDs and MP3s,there is no shortageofplaces from which to discoverclassic bluesguitaristsandtheir music. That's great, but the wealth of material available can be dauntins for the uninitiated. Which ofthe 200 or soavailable John LeeHooker titles is best?And which version of Elmore James'.Dust My Broom ' is the right one to buy? Well, take a load off. We've compiled this guide to the finest electric and acoustic blues Euitar musiceverrecorded, to help you navigate thEdeep and wild river they call the blues. Read it and take it to heart-for as any blues guitarist will tell you, it pays to be prepared.

ATBERT KII{G
The Ultim ate C ollection I.El[ BLUES players have had as profound an impact on rock guitarists as King. This

two-CD collectionoffersup reamsof macho,aggressive overbending and makesa fine

career overview. sRV devotees should so check onirrv wirl

RIED JIMMY
Spedk the Llrics to Me, Mamd Reed ITEED WAS a great songwriter, whil his longtilne partner Eddie Taylol helped write the book on Chicago blues g!itar. This 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 "Bright Lights, BigCity," as well as 22 other stellar examples of Reed's mellow boogie beats.

vicious machil,Ie gun b]ues witl'r a cuild starfire and sang with r mawelous rage. This live perforrrance, r'ecorded in thc late Seventies, captures Seals at h i s f e r o c i o u sb e s t .

"GUITAR'WATSON JOHNNY
3 Hours Pdst Midnipht
EXTRXMELY intense and wild, major influence on Jlml ilenonx. 50rt extroverted Gatemouth Brow11.

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FENTON ROEINSON B,B. KING

Live ot the Regal THIS DIsc DoCUMENTS a legendarl 1964 perfommnce by a legendary artist. The King puts his $eat v-oice, swt ton and signature vibmto to work on such staples as "It's My Own Faul!" "Every Day I Have the Blues" and "Sweet Little Angel." It's a treasure trove ofsophisticated, yet down-horne, blues. SomebodyLoan Me a Dime UNDERXATED throughouihis career, Robinson c o l o r sh i s j a z z tinged pla)'ing with all lnallncr

MY VAUGI{AN STEVIE AND DOUBTETROUBTE

InStep srE\.tE RAY'S FINAI-AI-BUM witll DoubleTrouble was alsohis fi nest,featuringconsistently scaldingg!itar work-the solos in "Crossfir"and "Tightrope" are hot enoughto trigger smoke detectorsall acrossTexas.with joined the In Step,Valrghan tirree Kings,Albert Collins and Buddy cuy in the pantheonof modernbluesgleats.

."S M,\x
MUDDYWATERS
Ihe Chess Boir THISTHREE-CDsET is a box of biuesgold.waters' association i{ith Chess lastedfor 25years, andthis collection includes the crean ofa very extensive crop of recordings. They'reall here('Honey Muddy'sslideclassics 3ee,""Rollin'andTumblin''), his hits ("HoochieCoochie Man," "I'm Read,v") andhis later triumphs("You Can'tLosewhat
v^,' Ain r Nawpr H,r,l ')

ofdynan1ic subtleties. This is his bestalbum,and the title track is a bonafide masterpiece.

B.B. KING
The Best of B.8. King,vol. one
FILLED WITH THE

RusH oTts
Cobrd Recordings,1956 1958 THIS AIBUM features classic Otis Rushtunes like "AllYour Love," which gave cel.tain British glita sts somethirg to practice, and "Double Trouble," which gave Cobra label's heavily leverberated treatn1entof Rush's vocal histrionics and passionatesoloing make these tracks amongthe most telrifl,ing in all bluesdom.

licks that inspired thousands ofwould-be Kings,this reissue features B.R.'s earlywork, which makes it vry grert, indeed.Among the treasurcs are the origiDal versions of"You Upset Me Baby," Blues" "ThreeO'Clock and "s Long Years."

JOHNNYWINTER
Johnn! winter
THE WHITE tornado blew outofTexas and into the national spotlight with this album ofjaw-

FREDDIE I(ING
Hide A\\'d!:'L'he Best of Freddy King
THIS ANTHOLOGY

MAGIC SAM
WestSideSou?
THE I-ATE MAGIC Sam Maghctt fully lived up to his nickname on this 1968 album, castiDg an

includes stellar vocaltracks like "Have You Ever but the lighlights
arc the instrunlentals-including the original "Hide Away"-which have elough tasty blues licks to satisly even the nost ravenous dffmongers. Eric Clapton fans arc adviscd tocheck this one out.

JOE IOUIS WATKER

BIU.Soul THIS Is PERIIAPS the finest album by one ofcontemporary blues' finest g!itar.ists. It includes grooi'ing R&B ("Ain't Nothin' coing on"), biting acoustic slide ("I'll cet to Heaven on My Own") and crazed, searing overdrivel slow blues i la Buddy cuy ("city ofAngels").

droppir'Ig, ligh intensityblues.It's morefocused andless rock-oriented thm anlthing that followed.

exuberant spellwith his soaring vocalsand rapid,clean-toned g!itar lines.

JOHN MAYALT WITH ERIC CtAPTOt{

Blues Breakers
E.C. PI-AYS

T-BONEWATKER
Lorr-DownBlues
WAIKERS

beautifully sophisticated playirg had a decisive impact

l. I HowuN'wot F
Modnitl in theMootllight/ Howlin'Wolf
THTS T1ryO-AI-BUMS-IN.ONE-CD

Chicago style with impressively precocious alrthoity on this E album, which turnedcountless rock fanson to
the blues.It's Clapton's most plrdst albun ard thc work that inspired so many to declare him "god."

SON SEALS
Lire andBurning played In his prime, SonSeals

on B.B.King, Buddy Guy and their bluesyilk, *-hile it also madeits mark on Chuck Berry and rheworld of rockguitarisrs. This is his peakstuft

collection offersan excellenr sampling of Hubert Sumlin's masterftrlguitar u,ork. lt's maximum grungeby the guitarist who influenceda generation s-8[ of rocker

b^

INE YEARSAFTERHIS DEATH, StevieRayVaughan's influence only continues to grow It can be heard in barrooms and arenasaround the globe, in the playingof everyonefrom prot6g6slike Kenr.ry Wayne Shepherdto mentors like Buddy Guy to younger rockers like Mike McCready and Kirk Hammett. It can be seenin the rE! popularity ofvintage gear and straight-forward, ear-ringing H tone, both of which were considered passebefore Stevieoroved that there rvasplent-voflife left in Stratocisters and tube arnpi.
,ll/lNllEVAUGHAI{ I went strright for the blues, because that's what sou nd ed best to me;I can't tell,vou why.lt spoke to me more than colrntry, $ihich was the othef thing I heardallthe trmc. A lot of lry relrtives were country musicians, and I nevef even h ied to play country. All mv lelatives looked at mc like, What in thc r-orld are you doing? but Ijust saicl,"I like riis." And I never thought about itagair. sRv When \r,e stated ofl I kne{, how Jimmy Reed sounded, but I couldn't plat' it right. And 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 , I just watched hinl pla,v.Jimrnie turned lne on to a lot of differenr stuff. I r-ernember set,eral different things: him bringing honre records by 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 The firstrecord I everboLrghtwas "\ /han1,"by Lonnie Mack, fiom t963, [rrhicfi] \r!as I great rccord. I played it so rnany times, nry dad gor lrad andbroke itlWhcn I didn'r think it coutd be arv louder, I $'ent and bo r-r-orved somebouy s Shufe Vocal M$ter PA., putnlics in ffont ofthe stereo speakers, and turned the PA. upl It u,as loud in mv roon. ,lrtMrEvAUGHAI{ When wc werc Ieal lit!le, n1ydad had ajob which requiled him to travelaround 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 tough goingto schools for two weeks at atime, alwrys uprooting. In a way,it wrs perfect trainrng forthe lilc we eventu alll. livd rs musicians, on the road all the time. Then rvc settled back in 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 , which u,as a real rough place. Pretty much g1ew up with is cither dead of in jail. ever_vonc1,r,e And I think \'|,clatched onto the guitar as a lr,ay out pretty early on. The $itar took Stevic ar.ound the world. It introduced lim to his heroes.lt r!as his irlstrumcnt of liberatior, his magic sword. 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 without a guitar. It rllowed hil]l to erpress hirnself iike never bcfore, to have ar identit\'. When Stevie played, his guitar literally talked. STEvrE ray vauc8at I got lnv first iuiter whcn I 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 lvas seven.lt was one o f fiose Roy Rogersguitars; speaking through his guitar. I showcd him the iihadpicturesofcowbovs andcowson it,some u.ayinitially, but he found his voice himself 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 , 5iv Jirnmie showed nlc a lot ofstuff, but there too. Whcn I \\-asrealvoulg, [rvesrernsu,ingban{ u ' a s a l s oa t i m e . ! ( ' h e n h e w a r D e d , , , I f y o ua s k m c the Texas Plal'bors hungout atoufhouse rllthc 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 . " 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 DoYLI BIA||HAII JiNnie ard I \\.ere ir a band around a lot, they'd do some playing, and we'cl called thc Chessmen together when \i e wcre hear their stuff N{ainl!,,we'd hear.them talkir,g teenagers in Dallns. He !r,asl5 and I u,as 1Z so I 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 r n L lp i ,\ r r i r n u p .O n er i n r r t h i . $ l s . o n r e r i r n , . r yel I fajtcts fi ear,-v rural ?e.rds dccentl, "He),,J im, 1966-he \r'asn'trcadyso he naved ne in.I was Stcve, come out hcre and shou' thcm rvhat you . 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 . ndJin rnie can do!"Andrvervcrelirtle midgets,with guirars walked ifom the back bedroom to thc kitchen hangin' on us that \\,erc this bigl and I heard this $ritar playing going ot frorn But pcrhaps rhe most tcllingstrtement about ste\ie\ ,',,rrirLred rele.an,r'. rhrr hi: music s t i l l s p e a k sl ' o l u m e s t o m i l l i o n s o f l i s t e n e r s . Somevoices are stilled bydearh, buthis has only gr orvn louder. "Urrfortunrtel,v, ]'ou [ever flrlly grasp someone'sgr-eatressor i m portancc u ntil thev're gon,"sa,vs B.B.King.'And I think thet's truc \,!iih Stevic.As thevears go by and he's not here, itlust becomesrnor-c and morc clear how specirl he *,as, and how nluch he's missed:' \ l i s . e J . u r r r u .h r \ r r h u n g r l i a l s , r g n r h . r w a i r rcws of"lost" SRVtracks discoveredin thc vaults, crossirgtheir fi ngerswith thc hope rhata mother lode of unreleased material sits u,aiting to be unearthed and aired. Atlcast some ofthese praler.s rvere ansrvcred on March 23, 1999,$'hen Sory legrcy released Stevie'sfburstudio albums with Double Trouble (Texas flood, Couldn't Stand the Weather, Soul to Soul fl1d In Step), cach of thenupdatcdwlth four bonus tr-acks recordedin the sarre rime 6 ane astheoriginalTo understand whxt n1adeStevic tick, to get rorr oftlrr rrrr hel-'nd thr u-r,'-e r h e n r u s i ru ,e turned to his closestconfidantes,the people r4ro k n e w h i l 1 1 b e sa t 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 opportunitr to tell Stvie'stale, they opeled up, levealingthings they'd ncvcr-rcvealed beforc.The resultis a portrairolan arlistcomplerely dedicated to his craft, and ofa man who had *'resrled with his demons and cmerged \,ictofious, with a new leasc on life and a rcdedicated passion for his life's work. Stevie Ra)' *.as undoubtedl,v making 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 35. This is his stoq.,astoldbyhis best fricnds md biggestheroes-ar, d the ol1esoul best qu alified to doso:himscli You kno\,r, the music. Now mcctthe man.

cl$T 0F cl|tntcttn
$wlt naY Ytucl t{
8om orlobor 3,1954 0allas, Iexas, Died Aognst 2Zlgg0, fastTroy, Wisconsin. All quolos f,ilhin lrken lron ouitar Worrdinleryiews,

lGtmsrnEfltl
losllrbluos singeri taughl Slorlo'Texas llood"

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guitrd.t tusrin who DLy8d bass i[ and co-faontd lho Jtf rEvtucflfll Tdple Threat Rovuo wilh SloYh nay's older brothr and Stvh and sligor louAm Ddmaryguihrinlloonc6 Eanon DoYlatmfiflrlt clrRtsltw0ra painor Sonpriling and ooublo Trorbl drunmer lonSlino tfioidand bandmate B0I EI Tt T0 [YSN tX0t Slidegoilar diva and closo player ooutlo Troubl bass lriondofSnV IIEIIIIYff,TENAil ERIGCLAPIOII gritar Guitafi st, followoallas groat Bdri6i bluos mtiveandbandnaloof fricnd and adtdrur olSRV bolhSloYioandJin|niB !IGI(IYBEITS Dt. J0lll oultarlst/liontnan lor0reat lletvodoanshlmspianktSoolhom, and fornfiAlliran and SRV ffiond Bmtherc Bend $ilarist,and $itafist B.8.t0xG IEESE WYI IS KiIIg ohhe bluos. aod 0oubloTrooble loyboardisr godlathor h allblues Jr[ G tts guila sls prcducor h Sfop MYflfltXtG IUOOYGUY 0wnr otHoafl oll6xas grirar Chlc4o blms legondi nusic shoni sold StsYio his ftlrdot and horo to,SRV 'l{unbor 0i'Strat
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 bedroom doorrvas alittle ajar I looked andther.c lvas this little skinny 12 )'ear-old kid sitting or the bed, playing J ff Beck's 'Jeff's Boogie." As soon as he sa\\.n1e,he stopped pla)'ingerd I saici, "Don't stop." He gave n1ethis shr little sn leard : r . J . H i . I m S r e r ' e .a n d | . a r L l . " H I '. n.Do)l<. Keep ph!'ing. You're verygood." Thirlv seconds 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 . " rofMY sHAI{t{ot ln 1969, I was playirS wrflr 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 . wher \,!c broke up,I flewback to Dallas nnd one da)' dropped by this club called the trog, u'here I had met Johnny.I walked in and heard thrs unbelio.able guitar player. A burch of people \I,eretalkingiome and I justigr1oredthcm tause 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 g r'ri. hig 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 l,l or ls-year-old kid just $ ailing a$'ay. It wes Stevic.He1,!asrealawk\relcl alrdsh_v and looking u Dr t t h e b i ! F r r y \ x r o u n J h i r , r . frlll) illlimiddreJ. In f|ct, he said once in an inten iewthatlwas the ollly one rvho rvouitl talk to him, and I told him thc truth. I said, "You'rc already better than all lhesegu] s-"He gave me abigsnil andu,e made friencls rightthen and there. Dl iY ritlrial| Jimmie and Stevic were both b c t t e r t h a n n r o s t p c o p l e v e f g e t t h e f i r s t t i m e I heard thcm plav-$'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

In rttt Brumnn

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 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 n d ,B l n c k b i r d . I \r'as siill ph,\rnrg\r.ith Jimmie, doinli mostlv straisht blLrcs,trut Stcvic and I both \rrnred to b|rnch out a little mole. ore. \{re $,crc listeriDg listeniDc to rc

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 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 lorrnc ..",Jrlr u. 1i.'r,.* 1' r r , c , ' , . 1r r r, i . . it wrs prerty nruch i:r n1ess,and I g.Lless the labl hated ir. so rve ended up back in Ausnn . 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

evcrything, and wc wouldjust sit alound for hours trlkingabout music.

laY HE illG I ve oir!Dd r g1litaf store siDce 1960 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 don't belicve l've evel corte ircr'ossanyone half i v i t h t h e g u i t a r ! r ss t e v i e \ r , i s . I I e as obsessed 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 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 byon his rv:r1' to agigand:rsk fofafxck ofstrings. l'd toss him onc and hc'd sa)',"Hc), if t lnake anv 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.rsked if hecoultl ' S u r e ,b u t i i s u r e i s so he ugl)'." flug it in. I said, plLrggcdin ard pla_vcd ft)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 , "wtll, )ol11e 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.

'til]|til

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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 cn l re 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 h A&M andabigfoLrrlirred up, a n d n c e d e dt o p u r t o g e r h e r - a Teres blues lock belrd to do it. \\'c $cntoutto L.A. to record, anLlir !r,.rs,r nes, kick lorus justtobc outof :ttxas. Othcr thrn littletfipsto Oklahonla o r l - o u i s i a D a ,d l on't t h i n k a n v o f u s h : r de v e nl e f t t h e s t i t e . Wc were irlL.A. for two \r'ccks, riding around , I i n I i n o s e n d I i r i n g L i k cr o c k s t a r s .w e f c c o r d c d ' D i r t ) , l , o o l , "w h r c h s a s - svensongs including : thc first soDg Stclic xnLl I u,rote logether and : thfee of then .tle .rctuailygood, and should : be herrd. Ther u,e went on ir short rour lrrrn Ie praveo ! U " ' " t r l " P i e i n d t h e J . c e i l s T l a n d .\ ( r r c i g h t g i g s p h c e s s l r v c n i D l i k e D e t r o i t ,C h i c a g o : P ard Ne$ 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 lhe Cobras, with l)enri] l reenan. 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

]|tln0'PRl[t ililJ0Y' 011 THE Rl0l0,rsnr

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 sounds fantastic andimmediately identifiable asStevie. He maybewasn't asstronga rhlthm playerashewould become, anddidn'tunderstrnd chordchanges thatwellyec, playing buthislead was ther. When he decidedto leaveand t'ronr his own band, which becameTriple Threat Rewe, itwasn'tsurp si[g. He wasready, ancl lt was obviousto all ofus that he had somesoII ofdestiny. At{cllA STtEHll I 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

and I was so impressed by 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 o/such [composer R&B classics as"ThisMagicMoment"ana"Saye the LastDance for Mel kept telling me about guitar playerI had to cometo seeat this Texas the Lone Star Cafe in Manhattan.Steviewas still playingwith Lou Ann [Bd,"ton] and he was a hell ofa goodguitar player,but \.vasn't really specialyet. He was just playing in a Houston stylei la Pat Hare,WayneBennettand Albert Collins.A year or so later,I sawhim againand

whothe hellhewas.Aboutayearlater, LouAnn left andwebecamejust atrio with me andJackie playingbehindStevie. Newhouse IHAI Oi ln December t980,I was living in Houstonandwent to seeDoubleTroublewhen theywerein town;itwas likea revelation. I said, "That'swhere I belong,right there:' He called meup tojam,andsoonafterasked meifl wanted tojoin. His guitar playinghadcomea long way, andhe had crossedthe gapfrom straightbiues, incorporatingsome rock androll,some Hendrix. Hewasalittlescaredtostep outof theblues, and I reallyencouraged him. He got someshit from purists the blues for thar. but whocares? Being

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, everyone thoughtI wasimitatinghim. wCClAt( I wasworkingat McMorris Ford asa mechanic, andStevie keptcomingby andtelling me thathe'ddecidedto putabandtogetherand tharheneeded meroplaybass. I wasn\looking for agig,because I wasgetting asteadypaychech andrelaxing fora change, burhelepl peslering me.lhadseen himaround alot,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 agteed tojoin his band,but to playbass for him, eventhough I hadgivenupthe instrument to focus on guitar. I really had no interest in playingbass aglin.bur Sre\ie had sucha fire,

noticedhow much this kid had blossomed. He hadgottenthiswholeAlbertKingbendingthing down stonecold and his playinghadjust taken off.I thoughtanyone who improvedsomuch so fasthadsomething goingon. lAyIoI I startedplayingwith Stevieright after wC Clarklefttheband in'78.Theband wasno longer a "triple threat,"so Steviechangedthe name to Double Trouble,after the Otis Rush song.The next fall we got boohedto play at the SanFrancisco BluesFestival. I helpedbook all thesegigsaroundthat, and none ofthem paid morethan2O0 bucks. Wehadonlyenough money to buy gasfor the van and loaves ofbread and bologna. Wecouldn'taffordio eata square menl, butitwas alotof fun.Weplayedthe Festival, and we did a live radiobroadcast on KFAG,in Palo Alto,wherewe opened up for RobertCray, who wasstartingto haveabignameonthecircuitout goodfiiendswithhim, andwe there. Webecame startedto makea namefor ourselves, get a litde
buzz,becauseanyoDewhosawSteviewondered

apurist is like beingareligiousfundamentalist. It'sreallylimiting,and ifyou 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.roHiStevie startedreallyblowingme away onenightwhenwe washangingar hispad.He puton sometrippy,difficultHendrix albumand startedplayingalongwith it, which impressed playingoffi! gettingdown, me.Thenhe started improvising,and I thought, Man, this kid is jammingwith Jimi Hendrix.That'swhen I saw somelhing realuniquein whrt he was going for, and realizedthat this g]ly was something altogether different. 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 passion withwhich he investedeverythinghe $ a5jusr : rouched astounding. aswasrhewayin

which hesynthesized h i s i n f lu 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 hrd aLeael,v heard all about him 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-ved atthe 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 & R man 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 , rhc noxr nigbt wc bookecl ourselves 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 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 p r e - pr o d L r c t i o n s t ud i o i n L . A - ,D o $ n T o \ r , n , a n d thatrnt timc \r'c{.antcd to comc rccold somc 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 ,

III[TTLUUU
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 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 nr thc {a11, and hc agccd to givc us 72 hours of 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 to b! r rcal fecofd conlpan! ll tumcd oLrtih:rt, withoutkno\\.ingit, r'er.erc recordingouf debur rlbuln, Tc-llds Fldod- \ Jejust rolled in. The guys s , , \ r s t l . e r u r r r i l . l l r , 'r , r , r.dlrrr rr 'r rvas ThanksgiYirrg rr'eckcnd, and n'e werc likc, ''Irle]..uh, lou gu\'s got anv tepe?' Thev us Eiave 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. SHAN oN Do\rr T{r\r'n \r'as rcally jLrst a trig \\'!rehouse with concrete lloors and some rugs rL|1,rrr d , s " . \ , r el n r l l , l . l , r r l " , o n r c - . . e r r r , r a circie ltxrking ar a11d listcningto cach othcr aDd plaved like Nlive band. w'e di.ln't reaily do .rn)thil1g the first de]', then u,e cr.rttwo sonlls the second dayand cight tho thifd. Thc lasttLurc $.c cuiwas ''l'cxas Fl(xxl," rightbcf(rrc our-tirnc r-enout. LAYToil Wc stiycd in L.,A.. and plaved a ferv 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

the phonc frng ir oLnrpaltnent, and this 4r1 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 u,as slecpnrg:rnd askcd \rho it w.rs. 'lr's D.tvid tso\\'ic," hc said, "and I'd likc to spe.rk to hirrl if possible." 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 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 t r a c k sf o l h i s n c w l c c o r d . sHAf,t{OtrSte\.ie \\'ent and did it and enjoyed 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 . The feelings\\,ereobviouslymutu:rlbccauschc askcd : . , a i r , ,j , , , l i . h . . , ,l f , , : rs u l , i t u u r . s L c , i r

it \,r'nsn't$4rerc hc w.ls hexded end Stevie couro rot do lvhlt he di!ln't lo!,e. !AYIotl I u'eso't surprised \r'hen Slevio quit,but I sure n cs hrpp1,.TcouJiln'rbclicvc thatjust\\,her sr 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 ,e! e \r'as going to be gooe for lrt lecst r yexr, nravbc 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 . . 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 . ) 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 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 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 ) enough,

'l|t c}|lllll[L. rur trusrr $EE]r|[0 T0 Bt ill0Pill -tRIc

fin:rlll agrecd becauso hc {.:rs gctting a lot of 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 , 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 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 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 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 \ " 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 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 t h e n i g h t L r c f o r e i h ct ( ) L r N r essupposed to start. it u :.r' r s r 'r\e Hu,r.r . "r'Jl J.. \, , ".r.c 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 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 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 with Epic rnd thc)'\\'cfc goingto release :lc:rds -Flood.Andwe itc'tnlore rttentjon beceusepeople u rntecl to knou'rvho rhis u n l{no\rr gui'rl ho told 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 too, on rea srdn.got Lreolrle s irttentron, 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 v,hoI heard iDdhxdtokno\r'\l'lnr itwxs.rightthcn. I u',N drivingind "Lcfs Danc{r"camconthc radio. I srqrycd n!crrand s.rir],'t haveto krou \\ ho this

JUSI PO|JRED I}IROlJOl| t|I[I. IIIO II IIEIEfi DRIEO UP.' CTIPTOI

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.

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

ClullnI $Trr0 rttE [rrrilEn / Sottt to Sottr

looked at me wiseJy and said, "Well, sometimes 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 . you have to go through that, don'tcha?" IfI had The guys told me they were glad I cane ovct beell readytostop, he would havegone ontothc 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 next part blrt he understood thatl wasn't. the projectofftheground. TherStevie asked me Another time we were doing a show with i f I w a n t e dt o j o i n t h e b a n d . Albert King, and hewalked backstage and said, l,AYTof,We were in abit ofa drugand alcohol fenzy "we gonna have a little heirrt ro heart. I beD by then, and when you go into the studio you have to watchingyou wrestle with the bottle ihree, four confront whatyou really sound like.You can'tjust times already.I tell youwhat, man: llike to drink walk offthe stageand have it over and donewithj a little bit when I'm home. Bur the gig ain't no you're under a microscope.SoulfoSoulcame out timetogethigh." He was tryingto tellmetotakc well, but it was very difficult to make, and I think careofbusiness, give myself abreak,but I did my that had a lot to do with askingReese tojoin. lt was usual deal oftryingto acr like I haditall together: like, "We need some help here,"somebody to help - 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. iuitarist, Derek O'B en, who's just wonderful, SXAI O By the time we got to recording Soul for a few shows, but our manager felt that took lo Sodl in'85, itwasgettingprettybad. we were the spotlight away from Stevie. AId n lot ofpeople paying for the studio time and spendinghours were urging us to keep the trio thing, but we really upon hours playing ping pong waiting for our needed a new pcrspectire. We had beer on an cocaine to arrive before we'd pla],. I think Soul endlessthree-yeartour purctuatedby dme in the toSo&l is a good record but you call kind ofrell studio, and we ure gettingburlltthatwe're a little out ofsorts. ButStevicwas continuingto stretch out, trying RI5E rvYxA[t When they were recording SouI differenttonesandweirdstuflweusedtocalllim fo Soul, Stevie called and said they wanted me "Modern Man" becausehc loved to fool around to come add some keyboards. They wanted me with clectronics, take things aparl and put them _ L o o k lo playacour|'ir'piarn on a r L r r rl c s i . r e r , bar:ktogethetandhelovedtojusttrycrazystufl o but itdidn'treally workbccause they had such Like on 'Ain't Gol1e'n' Give Up On Love," Stevic a a strange setup. The studio was set up like a tookasix-stringbassandputpapcrmatchesunder 5 live performance, with an entire P.A. and all 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 . the amps and mics running through it. lt rvas r a \ r t y o uh e a r o n rhelin)esrrumo tn hedownberr., screamingloLrdandyou could nothear a piano, so wewouldgetcrazyideasafter-u'ehadbeerruptoo ! I suggestedthatwetryaHammondorgan,where longand ourminds were racing. Suddenly,you go, ? I could isolate the cabinet. we played "Change "I wonderwhatl would get if I putahalf cut Coke "It" and the instrun1ertals, and itwentgreat. we 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 e n d c dr r pr e c n r d i 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. i

wYNANs . i s r . I \ . r s j L r s ts h o c l . o r lb r L l L r s i n e s\s \ 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 rnono\ thcl hrd. And thc $ rn knor lrrrr rnLrch 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 t so w o l n d r r w n ,h c o b v i o L r s l r nccrl:tl r lesL, brrtit 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

S H A N N oI N 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 sr\ ircrinrirg,l)ut n!ithcr ofuscoLrld stop ud wc tficd. stcvir krcr hc N,rs in tr1)ubic. too. b c t u u s eN c q e | c r c r l l r g c t L i r r g Ii l lctic. 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 . ur rhcl ucr-c brrrkcn. I voLrld 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 r s tl u l l 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 jc l r s r r s1 j l ( . . . s r n l d nfxrt cfr ins-. drxrn. 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 tRrEmAN I \\:rsrt thr gigsthc! frri)f(lcd |t fhc l .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 ALrstin Otcr.r HoLrse f . / u / rl t & / 8 . 1 i ) . ' l 6 I . 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 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 , 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 h 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 s L r L r r ( r n c cL sr . 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 . b e c . r L r ste {' L'.r ,|1 | r'.' $. , r-, ,} $ 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 . . r ' l : t , r , . ' . " . 1' ' r r , t r " g o i n g o n . L . L rIt \ . r s c o r c e l | e ! 1 . 1.,. rlrr l.

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) o f n c r s : r n dn o t k n o l v h o s t i l c } r 1 x !h i n r \ e 1 1 i n nc g o i n g t r )g c t o L r i . hcll he \\'.rs 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 efc 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 1 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 1 .rle it 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 L r n r itlh c i l f t c I 1 1 o ( ) n . l t N u l is k 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 . tHANnoN Stcric rd I ah\'r\'shrd.rdjoiniigfooms 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 . o el rnd lonritnrgLrLxxl ind juststickirrshisherd 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 to hclp him bcc.ruse I 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 olu r ' s c : r i r ,L r o t h r".r plu cr unrla pelson.I c.rllc'c nrrn.rgcrflrd srid, \\ic hrle t(r do sonrething. \\rc $ efeor ouf \\,r\ nr Iindrncl.so I sulscstcdih.lt!r'e . 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 c l l l 1 l f .l J l o o n ru . 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 l ight 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 s 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 , c n c o f e .s ' h e r 1 .rt the 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 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. wvrrAN9 S ( 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 r .t ' i r ' r . ' r ' i t | L - , t r , , r rr r . li ! r ' r \ r l r r ' r ' r : r ' . t ALrrtin\ . \ 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 . . l r r . ''r l 1 . r . r : r , r i r , ' r l. r r r . r . l ' " l t th , cngo d o h i s 3 0( l n y s n)scre\ c|r'onc'offhisbach . ncldcdicater dn . L it r e b r c l r r )i r . l l u t h c \ \ l s s c f i o u sa 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 . 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 h1 n 1 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 d 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 bccaLr-c i 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 g r c r t , . r n . td r c r - c rrcnt mr last ercuse he p1,r1cd | ) 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 ne 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 , andreellytrytopla,vbetterthan lrinkI can,then d 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.

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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

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 \vould point us in the direction \'"-e u'eregoing 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 sl 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 rt h a n s o a n d s o b e c a u s e I get highcr.than

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

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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'as rcr'\.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 playingbetter his stlide anclrvas 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.efconstaDtlt,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. , \ i r 1 r . l I e u . n v p r h c rr , ' r BRAMHAq T lL fir(

he does." A n d i r ' s j u s rn o t t N : 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 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 . ctd o 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 . . r e . o Tl e-e $ r' r r e i . J - l r , " r l \ e c J u - eu . k r F u i . JHAIIgI{ We flnishcd thc fecord and\r'cre reallv u asou r proying grou ncl,fiat u.c had ro sho$ that h,rppy with it. Then u.c $.cnt brck Lrnthc road, 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 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 high.l know Srevielcltthe doubt.I think itenueo great, we had a lir-orr orgrnizatiur, I jreat road Lrpproduciri rhe tightest band pefomrances oi lnanager, Skip Rickcrt. a ireat crc\r-. We werc our career,buiwe really worked arit. 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 tHAxirot Stevic u,ould do al1'rhing to gct rrr.jusr[ri.-lrr, ri g IIlL\rrr,,r .eJrupl:r\i rE n e $ . J i f l e r e n ro r F , r t c f - n L r t r , l t 5f .) i g I n N i f c with Stevie. I ncvcf took it for gfxntecl. it was different amps together or u'hatevef. and he like, "Oka1.,rvhere the hcll is he going tonight 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 bec:ruseI gor i{r follorv." Stevie never s,rid, "Now onJnSrcp.Buthis.rctxal pla)ingjustfl o\i edonce pla]' this." He.iustplayed antl u e follo$ ecl,and it he got do{,n ro 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 . Jt|/lCArf,r5Stcrie told lneLchad an instrumcntal IAYIo \4ttourddtroughthe$,interof '90, then called 'Rivicra Paraclise"hc \r,anteclto tr\,, and took a break for Stevie to Ij{) recofd lhnrily.Sr.,,1c 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 . 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 , srJ/e and spending all that t;me u'ith his 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 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 $ 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 . we ended the summel tour with the tu o sho$ s 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 playing with Clxpton .rrd Robert crs], and 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 guests.I t $'as j ust great fun, feallyexciting. sort of the culmillation of all thc good timcs \.e'd been having for the last yelrr or two. And, rs 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 ,rM,rirE vaucltAr Stcvic just srnole.l. lt \r'xs one of those gigs lvhere vou see someone play and )ou can't belie\'e $ hat you're hearing. They're just wailingand happyandnakingithappen, mising .aslikethatnight itanothcrnotch.That'sivhrtit 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 , e allknew it. RAIITThe first niiht 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

been a bullhor'l into ny ear'.Then ive all u'ent 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 rverc all a wreck, sobbirrg and dazcd.ltu,as thc nost holliblc nomcnt irr my lifc.l'1lner,er iuvc an,vthinghult that bad :rgain,ever. rAyrox I felt like a crr had fallen on me or sonethirg. I felt like a bab,v,just completcly helpless. Then we renernbered that the leu's 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 . llnd I realizedthatl had to getaholdof m,vfrmil,v and tcllthcm that I was still alivc. So rve spent a bunchoftime callingourfamilies, and justsortof lioini on autopilot. Becauseif I started thinking about it, 11,',ouldn't bc able to tunciion. DR. roH l played at his fu[elal nfiich *'as really $lFwrench ing. I played everl h! mn I knerv,then Stevie wonder came up cnd said to me, "Ald

Mdrid in G," and I doD't know it in any ke} So I 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 , ndonce I wasn'tplaying,I got really awnre."Man,I'm with his coffin," and rventinto that zonc, $hcre it*,as a1lhittingme like gangbusters.Beingin tha!litde church xnd realizingthatStevie's feetwer justa fc*'fect away from lne was so damllhearl'Icould hardlybreathe. FREEltaiYou know, sirlce Stevie died, he's been r o . r i n r h o o d .l r - o u r d . . r . . r r g p ,\ u r i r elevrted a wcird way i think it dintuishes hh, because Stevie wasn't a saiit, He was a pcrson, al1d he 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 l 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 u n n d e r n rg an exc eptio11al talel]t. ,lMltlEVAUGHAil The $,or1dmisseshis music, but ImissmyblotherBt

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p l r i i r r g .r n J h e s i r : . u f l o f p l r ) i n g c i r g u i r t r r . fingeIing alongu'ith what Efic played. After he I k e p t t h i n k i n g o f t h a t ,h i m d i e d ,f o r s o m er e a s o n phantom rotcs. standing there pla_ving 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 lT ave 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 , pili,. 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 'rrJ.oJJr1. 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 nearly two decades beforethe birth of rock androll,RobertJohnson possessed the enorrnous talent and sexappealof modernrock stars,plus lwo factorsessential to popular myth making: a very short life and a controversial death.In fact the story ofJohnson'slife is more shadowythan that of anyother influentialbluesplayer,basedas it is on sketchybiographicalinformation, a modestbody ofrecordings (41uacks,of which 12are alternate tahes) and precisely t\,voknown photographs.In the absence of substantiaidetails,Johnson'speersfab catedatale repletewith midnight meetingsat the crossroads, a dealwith the devil and hellhoundsthat relentlessly followedthe doomed guita st's trail. Yet the legendsellshim shortby suggesting that his brilliance wasjust a musicalprize in Satan,s lottery.Rather,it wasthe resultofveq, real humaneffort andan uncarny talent for selecting and integratingthe musical elementsthat madeup his artistry. ln fact,RobertJolmsonwasasophisticated musicianby any standard.whatever native talentsonepossesses, no onegetsto bethat goodand that consistentlyb lliant without a lot ofhard work and cdtical listening.Many an aspiringbluesguitarisCs egohasbeenbrokenon the wheelofJohnson,s brilliant playing on "Teraplane Blues,"never mind the singing,compositionandfiesh, off-the-cuffspirit ofthe performance. To the public, the nameRobert Johnsonmay represent a ghostly embodiment of Delta mystery more than a still-vital musical inspiration. But guitarists owe it to themselvesto put asidethe myth, go directly to the sourceand prepareto be humbled. children of the early 2oth century Jim Crcw south,Johnsonenteredinto acomplicated world.Bom in 1911 in Hazelhurst, Mississippi,he spenthis childhoodmovingliom placeto placeandfather to stepfather.He wasraisedasRobertSpencer but changed his surnamewhile in his teensafter his mother, Julia, revealedthe identity of his true father, Noah Johnson. As poor as his circumstances were, Johnson grew up in a musically rich world. The massproductionof78 rpm s records-still a fairly recent innova, tion-meant that for the first time in ; history, musicianscould learn from oneanotherata distance. As an aspiring player,RobeftJohnson had awealth of musicat his fingertips andshowedagift ; for absorbing newmaterialon the spot, from pianistLeroyCa.r's 1928smash, T "How Long,Ho\{' Long Blues" to hillbilly tunesandevenpolkas. I While recordsallowed Johnson to explorefar andwide,hewasalsofortunate to be surrounded bymusiciarx whocouldta.ke him deeper.Gui 9 tarist Willie Brown,wholivednear: Johnson'steenage homeofRobinsonville, Mississippi, wasanestablished performerwho occasionally worked the localjuke joints with fiiend and protoq?ical Delta bluesman Charlie Patton.Brown reportedly showed Johnson his fingeringar1d chordingtechniques,and the young guitaris! alsomade a point of studying Patton,whose 6 pou.r{ul guitar rawr ocalr. andlegendary performing acrobatics left astrongimpressionofhim.

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But it was another friend of Brown's, SonHouse, who would becomeJohnson'sprime inspiration. Although nol yet30 himsell House wasar experiencedperformer with recordingsunder his belt anda fully formed,emotionallyintenseplayingand singing style. Johnsonwatched him on every possibleoccasion, 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.hefeh rhemourringpressure to serdedown and work on (he farm,A careerin music must haveseemed a long shot, at best.But the suddendeath of his 16-year-oldwife and their baby during childbirth threw all assumptions aboutJohnson'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,Johnsondeveloped sodramatically that the legend aroseof a midnight handshake with the devil. rhe likely truth is more prosaic-that he simply playedguitar nonstop,linlingup ttre musrcalfragmentsthat for yea$ had beenlooselyfloating below the surface. Under Zinneman's tutelage, he tightened up his arrangementsand begln to maintain a logbookoflyrics andideas. The next time Son Houseandwillie BrownheardRobertJohnso8the tablesofinspirationhadbeentumed. By the time Johnsonbecamea professionalblues was musician, in the earl] Thirties.rhe Depression underway, and southernblackswere hit especially hard. Where there were paychecks, there was money to be spent on musicians,and lile dozerc of others 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 MemDhis Slimandmanvothers. regional wasgrowingbut to i Johnson's reputation

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 standardfingerstyleguitar 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* when n* c$ sl r*), perhaps usingacapo 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, somerecordings inodd keysare capoed ortuned to a higher pitch. His rhythms were undoubtedly piano influenced.One in particular, adapted from a typical left-hand piano boogiewoogie figure (FIGURE r), becamethe basisof so mary guitar players' blues rhlthm stylesthat it's like having the patent on dift. The qpical embellishmentat reachthe next levelhe had to makerecords.An audi- the end ofbar I showsthat he was thinktion 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 notes @ass recordings in the history of Delta blues.After three playedwith flagick held betweenthumb sessions held over the courseofa few days,followed and index finger, and high notesplucked by two more in Dallas lessthan a year latet Robert with baresecond andthird 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 respectable number by Depressron-era DustMy Broom." Togetherwith his other Probably the single lick that most "race record" standards. guitar style is releases-ll in total-it boostedJohnsoris reputation quickly evokesJohnson's 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 (llGUREr). He playeda number ofvariacolumbia Recordsexecutivewith alegendaryear for (Hammond with "discovering'- tions on this phrase,adding rhlthmic or talenr. is credired 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 majorshowcase of Afiican-American musrc presented in New ) ork Ciq/s CirnegieHall.and he wantedJohnsonto appearasthe finest contemporary representative ofDelta blues.The word went out, but THE TWO KNOWN PHOTOGRA?HS Of unknown to Hammond,RobertJohnsonwas already Robert Jobnson show him with two dif poisonedwhiskey poured ferentround-hole, guitars. dead.On August 16,1938, fl attopsl.(-stdng by ajealoushusbandhad laid him down. theywere stnmgwid heawUndoubtedly gauge strings(the onlygpe available atdnt time), and he is shownwith a thumb pick. (not in thephotos)wasprobHisbotdeneck ASWITH ANY GREAT the geniusof Robet A.RTIST, ablyfashionedfrom an actualbotde,since Jobnson'swork is in the totality- Othershaveplayed custom-made accessoiesdidn'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 contemporaies with his ability to play tull, driving rhlthm with JOHNSON'S CATALOG IS SO SLIM that picking out melo- it fits on one CD: Tfte Complete Recorilathurnb pick while simultaneously diesonthe high stringswiti hisbarefingers.He didnt ings.A1129 songs and 12 alternate takes recordmanyimprovisedsolospersqinstead,hestuck i are included.Bl

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cuy cut somesidesfor rival labelCobrr,Chess signedhimon,iD 1960, ard herecorded thele for years several asa side an,aspartofacelebrated duo with singer,/h-arpist Junior Wells,and asa featured artist in his own right. cuy becameone ofthe stars ofthe Sixties' blues sceneand finished out the decadewith the albumruddJ cuy & Junior wells Play thc performances Blues. Featuring by Eric Clapton, Dr. John aDdthe J. Geils Bard, and coproducedby Clapton,the albumwas supposed to launchcuy and wells into the big time. But the Sixties'blus boomwasover,aDdCuyspeDt tht lcxt cwuJc,:adt'in thc rilderncsr. His fortunes changed in l99l afterClapton requested that Guy takepart in hjs 24 Nights iilguitarextravaganza atLondon's Royal starbiues Albert Hall. culs star was again sing,and he signedto Silvertone Records. He subsequently released the besFselling recordingofhis career, Damtl RightI've Got theBlues, which featuled cameos fiom Clapton, Beck,MarkKnopflerand the MemphisHorns. But perhaps the finestgen1 in Guy'srecentoutput is his 2001release, Sweet Iea, in which he rcinventcdhimselfin thc vern of North Mississippi bluesrnen. He changed gearsonce againin2005 with the soul-inflected I GocDredins,in *'hich his put his distinctive like wilson Pickett, stampon tracksby legends EddieFloyd andJohnnyTaylor. In mattersofblues history,Buddypossesses to feelthe a readyandvivid memory.He seems bitternessofeach ripoffand the glory of each musicaltfiulnph asiftheyhappenedyesterday. As he reflectson someof his greates!recordings, ftom the lale Fifties to the present day, comefloodingback,inftrsing - the rcollections with the livil1gtruththel' ; the hallowedgrooves I call"theblues."

Roebuck," Buddyadds. ers in it or a Sears willic Dixon (19151992) wrote the KEY PLAYER songand playedbasson the date.This was the first of manyBuddycuy recordings thatwould bepenned b1 Diyo,r. rheblueou n cole Po"ref. Irving Berlin and william Shakespeare rolled in!oone.Dixon'ssongs wererecorded byMuddy waters, Howlin'woll lhe RollingStones, Led Zeppelinand many others.Buddy still vividly $ irhWillie.rrr irn rcmernbcrs hisnf5tnreeting posingly largemanwho dwarfedthe bigupright thatwashis signrtuleinstrument: bass "willic Dixor comeandgot lne and told n1e hewasgonnatake metodinnef.Ifigured,Ijust gothere fromLouisiana;I don'thave aneducation; now's my time to just be cool watch and learn.so we walksinto this barbecuejoiit and Willieorder.c r holefucl,irr' chicken. I m llg! rin' we gon' take a fork and knife, carveup the chicken, andrneandhim would eatit. Butwhen p : c k ri r u p .b f e a L s r h ec l r i c l e rcro m c our.lre ir in halfwith his barehandsand start to eat the whole fuckin' thing himself. He looksat me like, whatyou gon' have?" Shotly aftcr this scssion, Buddy's POSTSCRIPT

one of the greatestand most influcntial blues recordilgs ofalltime; belovedby Jimny Page and manyothers )1205. \4ichigrnAve.. STUDIO Che.\ Records. chicagotnow a historiclalldmark BACKSTORY After two singles onArtistic,Buddy where he went easilymadethe jump !o Chess, on to cut a seriesofsinglesand servedasa sessionguitaristto immortalslike Muddy waters andHo$lin wolf. _You d ger$3Ulor nlaking a session," Buddy recalls. "And that was lhe best moneyyoucould makein Chicago. wolkingin clubsyou'do ynake,four,fiveorsixdollarsa night.Even Muddy was only making$12." Buddy'sprcducers rd bosses at his new labcl wcre the b.othersPlil and LeonardChess. PolishinmigTantsend former liquor salesmen, the chessbrothers built the chessand checker labels into a bluesempire,releasing classic discs by Muddy,woll Little walter, SonnyBoy williamson, ElmoreJamesand Jinnny Rogers, not to mentionseminalearly rock and roll sidesby Chuck Berr],and Bo Diddley.Buddy didn't alwaysseccyeto eyewith the Chess brothers,but prothe entrepreneurial siblings nonetheless

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duced some of his finest recordings and played an important role in developing rnany ofhis key stylistic tradenrarks. rHE TRACK A chilling blues allegory, "The trirst Time I Met the Blues" recounts a fate f u l c r o s s r o a d se n c o u n ter wirh the blues itself, here personified as al omirous manifesta tion of all life's sufferings. Buddy's plaintive vocal is under-scored by sone of the most stinging g!itar playing ever committed to tapel frenzied bursts of pentup emotion delivered with a razor-thin tone that cuts like a suicide's arterial slash. P R O D U G T I O NI { O T E S Speakingof razorblades, the Chessbrothers were by no means averse to slicing a mnster tape to suit length requirements or other comnercial exigencies. Deft tape editing produced the eerily powerful opening to "The First Time I Met the Blues." There is no instrumental prelude of any sort. we're plunged straight into Buddy's agonized vocal, immersed in the nrlrativ before *'e knorv what's hit us. "There originally was an intro," Budd]' rcveals. "I could never start in singing like I did on that track without

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1958 DATE wHY tT GoUNTS Buddy'svery first single. Chicago. sruDto CobraRecords, "There was a 1ittle record store in front with 45s and 78s," Buddy lecalls. "You walked througtr to some o1dgarage in the back,and that was CobraRe colds. Just a car garage, man,but that'swhere I was gettir' that real soundyou herr on that record,"
BACXSTORY B u d d y l e f t l T i sn a t i v e L o u i s i a n a and arrived in Chicago on Septen'rber25, 1957, hoping to land a contract with premiere blues 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 . 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 , eager)y signed the new arrival to jts subsidiary imprint, Artistic. THE TRACKA slow, mour[fu] blues lreditatiol in G, punctuatedby lachrymose saxdrones and skitteling piano. Buddv's unrestrained vocal stylc is ahcady vel}' nuch irtact on this debut release,ald the expressive guitar'lines and clean,concise12 bar solo ably serve ascoun rerpol'1r. PRoDUcTIoN NoTEs The song's slightly unusual chord structure audibly confoulds the 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 hir tlrebridge. Buddr mrke' r .r'nng shorving nonetheless.

LesPaulwasstolen fiom tlle bandstand ata club u.herehewaspla,ving. Records Cobra didn't last much longer either. "I think Eli Toscanogot killed ordrownedorsonetling," Budd-\7 says. "l hearda lot ofdifferentstories aboutthat."

cEARA GibsonLes?aulcoldtop, pur E BUDDy's g chased on installment backin Louisiana. March 6. t960 "The I DAIERecorded ts ampwas either a little cibson with two speak- i wxy tt coultts luddy's first singtefor Chess;

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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 suggested the 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 hw o u l db 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 Chess brotherstold me I could do the songin a higher voice.Theywere kind oftrying to lead me in the direction ofB.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 GEAR This is perhapsthe earlrest track to featureBuddy'sSunburst1957 Fender Stratocaster, one ofthe nost sacred artifactsin allofblues history.The g!itar waspurchasedjust 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 Stratocaster because it was the instrument ofchoicefor his ax hero,Guitar Slim, whose highly theatrical stageper formancesinspired the styleofshowmanship that Buddy would latr passon to Jimi Hendrix. Buddy'smuch-battered'57 Stratwashis main guitar until 1976, when it too was stolen. Before then, it was most often mated with a '59 FenderBassman amp.Thesetwo piecesof gear are very much the sound ofearly Buddy Guy recordings. Buddy quickllr got into the habit ofcrankingthe Bassman to 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 whiskey and set it on the amp.So all the control knobson my amp had frozenwith dirt, booze, cigarettebutts and allthat. Butthatwas okay, 'cause I didn't needto movethem anymore. All I had that worked on that amplifier was the on-and-off switch." KEY PLAYEnS "The First Time I Metthe Blues" was the first of many Buddy Guy sessions to feature the redoubtable Jack Meyers on electric bass, still a relativelynew instrumentwhen the record was made.(The first commercially availableelectric bass,the trenderPrecisron, was introduced in 1951.) "When the fender bassfirst camealong I rememberseeingthls kid Jack Meyers play ir with kxitdrisfl Earl '/lHooker Hooker'sband,"Buddy rcounts. actually 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 Fender our of prwn irom Dixon.' And I gaveit to Jack, 'causeh was a goodlittle bassplayer." On Buddy'srecords, Meyerwasoftenpaired with aceChess session drummerFred Below (pronouncedBr-E lou), who here poundsthe toms like somelost soul condemned to play

the strip clubs of Helt for all eternity.Appar ently,Belowwas a 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 cardboard box," Buddyrecalls, "so he couldnt mes\wi(h an\bodv.

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in September, 1963 WHY lT CoUNTS Historic pairingofBuddy cuy with bluesicon Muddy waters on a track that marksMuddy'sretum to his MississippiDelta folk bluesroots STUDIO Chess Records,2l2O S.MichiganAve. BAcKSToRY The mid-Sixties folk boomcreated an enthusiasticinte.est in rural blues among predominantlywhite collegeyouths.Eagerto reachthisnewaudience, the Chess brothers decidedto "reposition"Muddy Waters-then the

quintessential sharp-dressed, smooth-talking urbanbluesman-asa humbleDeltasharecropper.Thus,the classicMudd!Waters Fo[k Singer albumwasborn. "Chess heard about the college kids buying 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' session up for tomorrow. I got it.' They thought Muddy was gonnacall someold-timegly and put him on a train.When leonard Chess camein that morr ingandsawmesittingthere,thatguycalledme a 'motherfuckei somanytimes,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 eloquently understated acousticreading,sensitivelysupportedby willie Dixon'ssupple with Muddy playingmostly stand-upbass. single-noteleads and embellishments on slide,Buddy is essentially the main g!itarist 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 second verse.As Buddy

KEY PLAYER McKinley Morganfield,a.k.a. Muddywaters (19I5-1983), really did grow up in rurrl \4is.issippi. Heworked on a planrarion and wasrecorded by folklo stAlanLomaxbefore he travelednorth in 1943and became the pdncipalarchitectandundisputed kingofChi cagoblues. Muddyhad a hugeinfluenceon the Rolling Stones, who took their nameftom one of his songs, and countless other rock and rollerswho havefound their heartsin the blues. POSTSCRIPT The folkblues crazewasnotconwhite kid. in Ameficaj fined ro bookish rheir 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 place it on the re|ord.l.ning Hooker's drir ing rhythmsresonate in his skull.And on one fate tul morningin Baden Badenin 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 to breallast i 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 rr n d \ r a r r e d playin Boogie C 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-you t 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'AndHookerjuststarted to laugh. Boy, he laughedso hard he cried. \Ve becamebest friendsfrom that day till the day he died. I wasat his funeral."

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DATE Recorded in October,19To wHY lT coUNTsA stapleof the Buddy Guy repertoire and one of Buddys own compo.itions; his first significant collaboration wrth Eric clapton sTUDloCriteria Recording,1755NE l49th St.,

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himselfsays, "I know how to back Muddy up on that shit, mm." PRoDUcTION t{OTES Sessionphotos 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 hallowed 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.

aacKsToRY Buddyfirst reamed up u iLhharmonica 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 Clapton wasjusr finishing off his classic Derekandthe Dominos alb|um Ldlla anal other AssorfedtoveSonSs while 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 maidenvoyage to 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 Aretha Franllin $ as poppin and everyrhing Erteguntouchedwas turningto gold. Clapton told him, 'I don't know why you want to record me. The best guitar player in the world is touring with the RollingStonesright now.' So they grabbeda plane,flew to Paris and watched mc and Junior wells open the show forthe Stones that night. Afterward [Erfegrn] justwalksup and says,'I'llmake a fuckin'hit Festival, a package tour organized by cerman record on you. when you get off this tour promotersHorst Lippmannand Fritz Rau and with the Stones,come straight to Miami and featuringgeats likeMississippi FredMcDowell, 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 uptempo funk soulworkout that Louiiiana, Buddyhadjust aboutwornout acopy marriesan insistentc7 guitar riff to a wicked, of Hooker'sclassic when syncopated bassline. Buddy busts loose as a "BoogieChillen'." Buddy'sparents confiscated tire phonograph soul-preachin' loverman. to alot "l waslistening

, , 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 ol11 the fingcr-srnd Lluy. Ycah, he flubs a fcw rotcs, i+ritrr of Budd_v 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. SUDDY'S GEARHis '57 Strat anLlBassmatlurlr KEY P L A Y E RF Sr ' ( c l r L , r ' | l i . , , r , . p c n r J g Li ( r i . Nerv Orlcans keyboard legend Df..Iohn (Mrc Rehcnrrrr'L s ', , 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.

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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 l A 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 , 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, d1tr.l You c:rn do youl o!r'n thing now. I wcnr 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 Picke 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 Beck,r'hosc electrilying Leads go line for linc rvith Buddy's b1.ash vocal. Beck is another Strar h r . r rr B r i , i . h- o , ( r r i r . r c ^ , 1 $ h u L . u r,r j , , l inspirati(D \rhen Buddy laldcd in Erghnd ill '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

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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 . KEYPLAYERS t s e c ka 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 - v in Mexico.One ofthese instrLrments i 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 pla,vs a 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.livernrp fig ' ' 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 lrtter is isolated and niked oilstage.

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D A T E2 O O I WHYlT COUNTS B 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 STUDIO SwectTca,Oxford,X{ississippi 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 g r 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 consisting 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.rsicians dug 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

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 , ' ' f r H F r. l - i \ l i l e $ r ' r : r l r' r.rrilr riffand a gra y, subsonic bass that never ventures 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, sustaining leadtone-bring out aspects of Buddy'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 amps.Dennis I{erring lT as a 1otof tl,esegreat 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.' xEY PLAYER Al\. or tLe .e,.ior. rre. rhe d r u m m e r S p a n 1v , eterrn ofmary Fat Possun recordings.Although he had suffered a mild to in trF" Budd). s t r ' , , 1 r .r p . r n n r r r r r g , e d who told hinr, "Shit, if I rvoulda sarvyou bcf 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[

3T BIUTS LEOEIOS

E --JOIINLET--9

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VER THE YEARS, any number of blues guitarists have been able to lay claim to a personal style, but scantfew could ghtfully claim possession of an entire musical attitude. John Lee Hookercould-he was the original ploprietor of the groove known as boogre. More than just a rhlthmic feel, boogie is an attitudeone ofsex combinedwith danger, of life on the edgein a world that's raw, down and extremely difty, And it permeates Hooker'smusicno matter what dre setting or style. In the 50yearsduring which Hooker maderecords,he exploredthe blues in its variousforms both on acoustic and electric guitar. While words like "organic," "earthy' and eve[ "pdmitive" have frequently been used to describe histalenton both instrumeds, the guitarist himself remainedmodest on the subjectofhis abilities."I believe I wasbom with the gift C.od gaveme," he oncesaid. "ButI hadtodevelopit.', Hooker created a crude instrument upon which he beganto emulate the styleofMoore and his friends. As Hooker grew into his teens,his mother and stepfather differed over the wisdom of his musical pursuits. His mothe/s continued resistance finally drove Hooker out ofthe house and offto Memphis,where the Beale Streetmusic scenewasthriving. After spendinga few yeals working asa movie usher and playingfor sparechange inw.C. Handy Park(wherehe rubbed shoulde$ with avery young B.B.King), Hooker was ready for another move, this time to Cincinnati. yealslater,anotherrelocation Seven producedthe payoffhe needed.Hooker landedin Detroit in 1943, attractedby the prospects ofwell-payingwork on a wartime assembly ijne and new musicalopportunities ir the jumping Hastings Streetnightclubs."A lot ofblues playem went to Chicago," Hooker said. "I went to Detroit because there was lesscompetition." It was while performins in the clubs lrl /I that he beganto play elechic guitar, trying to make himself heard above the I noiseofthe patrons. The new insrumenr I put a solid, electric kick into his boogie, ! muchto tle deliehtofhis audience. Z Hooker plugpd away at the Dehoit clubs,building his chopsand a hard-won reputation. His persistence finally paid off in 1948when a talent scoutbroughtHookerto the attentionofBemard Besmar! ownerofunited Sound Studio. In hisfrst session for Besman, Hookerplayed awill Moore-inspired guitarboogieoverwhich he sangan autobiogaphical description ofa 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"

HE WASBORNin 1920into a large, sharecropping family in Clarksdale, Mississippi, the heartofDeltablues country.Inspirationfor his earliest musical explorations camefrom his stepfather, Will Moo.e, a preacherand musicianwhose home provided a stopoverfor someofthe era,s travelingblues legends, includingCharleypatton, Blind Blake and Blind Lemon Jefferson.Lacking cashor the meansto get it, Hooker followed the time-honored,country poor-boytraditio[ of fashioninga "guitar" from available materials. Bv stretchingslrips ofold innertubes to a barndooi,

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Oper A Tuitrs (ow aohi8h, tr A E A Cl E) {A)

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JoHN LEEGAVEfull props to his stepfather,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 trancelike 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, melodies andguitar solosbecomeornamental rather than essential. By the standardsof modern guitar technique,Hooker hangsby the slimmest ofthreads.Regularbar length,predictable phrasesfall by changes and repeatable the wayside, and the voice ald message become the guidingfactors. In Hooker's per sebecause music,thereareno mistakes the goal is not to play the sameway every timq the goal is to capture"tle moment" FIGURE I 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 haditional shuff1es. Oneofthese,"Dimples," is built around a unison guitar/vocal lick similarto that shownin FIGURE 2,while anot}}er, "BoomBoom,"featuresadistinctive 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.

FIGURE 2

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(based on 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 packed the 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 'nvaking the Boogie,"with its experimentsas1952's multi-tacked vocalsand sped-upguitar overdubs. In the mid fifties, Hookerbeganworkingmore frequentlywithbandsthat includedvery ablegui taristssuchasEddieTavlor (tetterLnown asJimmy Reed'spartner) and Eddie Kirkland. What's more,his recordings from this period for the VeeJay label helped extend his influence overseas. Tuneslike "Dimples"and "Boom Boom" made Hooker a virtual icon amongyoung B tish musicians and inspired severalsuccessful blues rocl

bands,includingthe Animals and theYardbirds. As the musicbusiness shifted its production ftorn 78 rpm records to singles and albums, Hookercontinued to crank out material for various labels right through the sixties, introducing standardslike the Muddy waters-inspired "Big Legs,Tight skirt'' and OneScotch, OneBeer." His 1970 col"OneBourbon, laboration with CannedHeat Hool.,er& Heat, came at the high-water mark ofthe bluesrock era andwas a big seller acrossAmerica. Even during the Seventies and Eighties, after the blues lost its commercial appeal, John Lee Hooker recordscould still be found in suburban recordstores next to thoseofotler perennial sellers,lile B.B.Khg and Jirnmy Reed. Remarkably, Hookeis careerenjoyedanew wave of success, beginningin 1989wilh TheHealer, a collaborationbetweenHooker and a crew ofhis disciplesthat includedCarlossantana, BonnieRaitt, Robert Cray, Los Lobos and ceorge Thorogood. It was followed by the aptly namedMr -Lucfty and severalotherrecordings madein thesarne vejn. all-srar 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 generations oi people listeningtomy music,andmaybe I'll get me a third." Most certainlv he will.

0rtn

HOOKER'S SOUND wAS molded by the forceofhis personal style, notbyhis gear. He alwayssoundedlike himself, whether playinga varietyofacousticsor a selection of cibson and Epiphone electrics, including a Les Paul Goldtopwiih P90 "soapba/'pickupsand,in his final years, ES-335 andES-345 semihollowelectrics. He usedboth openA and standard tunings.Beyo[d that his setupbasicallyconsisted of a cord plugged into an amp.

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MUCII oF HooKER'sDIVERSE catalog is stillin print. Someofthe bestincludel The UltimdteCollection on 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 by watchingand headngB.B. play," saysBumett, himself a well-regarded arman. "I learned a lot about heedom, ease and grace. And I learned a lot {iom Dr. John about communication. I learned a lot about the way blues is orchestrated and the

way it grew in the first place.It's through com municationamongmusiciansthat itgrew intothis thingwe call the blues." And on ahotsumme/s day in Reno, Nevada, several monthsafter sessions we.e completed, B.B. King finally heard the finished productedited,mixed andspiked with deeplysympathetic brass arangements overdubbedby longtimeBurnett cohortDarrellLeonard. The disc had been in King's possession for about two weeks nt this point.He just hadn'tgotten aroundto listeningto it. The man tours relentlessly(somehavespecu latedthat touringis what keeps him alive), and entertainingaudiences like the casino crowd he'd face later that evening in Renois everybit asimportantto him asan album that has had critics,journalistsand blues aficionados doing back flips ever since the first advancecopies became available. "Oh, they makin' a big'do out of it," King drawls. "It's okay. I haven't heard some of the things everybody else seemsto hear in it. But one thing I can admit is we had a good 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 first time today.I ain't lyin' to you.', Part of what males One Kincl Fayor so com pelling is the sense of mortalitythat permeates the album.The lead track is Blind Lemon Jefferson's sombermeditation on death,,'See That My Grave Is KeptClean." The request is the,.one kind favor"asked by the bluesman, who goes on to visualizehis internment in vivid detail:the diggingofthegnve, the funeralprocession with two white horsesthat bear the coffin to its final restingplace.Othertracks,like Howlin, Wolfs "How Many More Years,"alsospeakofthe grave. It's a chilling experience to hear this material feelinglyinterpretedby King so near the end of man'susualnaturallifespan. The emotional effectconfersa retrospective, ifnot downngnr posthumous,mood to the album.While King

makeslight ofit, on somelevelhe surelyknew that this might bethe lastalbumhe'd ever record, andhewants to sharesomeofthe songs that have impaited meaningto his long and rich life. 'nvhen I was younger I never thought about death,"he says. "But now, at my age,sometimesI

Avenue E"4.t storredJ'azz and R&B corridor) in the Fifties and Sixties with larran3erl n4a-rwell causel still loverhose Davis. records. Theyre classicalmusic, really.SoI definitetywanted this atbumto be like that.I thinkthat's where B.B.'s soundwls invented." It was King's managementwho put him together with Burnett. The two men met faceto-face for the first time in Atlantic City, New Jersey. "T-Bone said,'I would like to do somethingthat would put you back in the early parts of your career,'" King recalls, " nvould you mind that?' I said,'No,Idontmind,but myvoice is not like itwas then.' He said,'No, I just meant somewhat in the contextofwhat you were doing then and how you were doing it.' I told him, 'No, I don't mind. The only thing I do mind is I wanna be myself.I don't wantyou to try and make me into somethingelse.' He said,'Ohno, B-B., be yourself'Isaid,'Ifyoudo that, w got it.' " Producer and artist worked together on the selection of material for the album, culling the choicest tunes from the vast ocean of blues repertoire. "T-Bone made up a list of songsthat he thought would be good," saysKing, "and he asked me to make up a list of songsI thoughtwould be good. So we did. Andwot d you believeit?-we both comeup with almost the same tunes." Burnett had a very vivid

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do.I even found a place whcre I'd like to bc buri 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 sippi. I had a lot ofthoughts earlier that I wanted to be cremated. But no, I don't think so now. 'Cause if there is another world, as some think there is-I'm a believer, but I never believed in that I wanna have all my parts vrith met" T-Bone Burnett was also keenly aware of the trust thathadbeen placed in his hands. "t knew fairly quickly the kind of record I wanted to make with 8.8.," says the producer, "which was the kind ofrecords he made when I first started listeningto him: the things he did back on Central

idea ofthe sonic ambience he wanted to create. "In the movie souDdtracks I've done, I've been working in different time periods," he explarns. "And I always ay to male it sound not like some jmpersonation of a period. I always try to put myselfback in that time and say, 'What would this havc soundedlike iflhad actuallybeen in the room with it?' Try to do it with a sense of realiry like thar The kind ofroom Iwas imaginingB.B. in u asa rrnm where I d secn him play in cheSir.tics, called the Central I orest Ballroom, in Dallas, Texas. It was just a beautiful dancehall, a big boomy, wild place. I wanted this album to have some of

the sense ofthat kind olroom in it." 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, thn itwas killed."

u,ere goini 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 ofChss 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 snsibility, 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

oneofhis recerl -jgnJLure m 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 , ur onlv o|lc rhar l rn l i . r . m d , r yJ 5 5 sa n d J J S S l b 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

"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 seasoned vct who's playcd u,ith cvcryonc from Dylan to Lennon. 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 Bellcrose, all playinglivc nr thc shrdio. "You know there's two drunn1ers on a lot of ihose M u,ell Davis tracks, for strrters," Bur .A l . u . I r , ; r , , n n u . r n o f l ' . r . \ n ( n ( ' \ D l . r , n sheat blues shuffles. It's been so overdone. And itgot collified into one thing, wherers reellv the swingis so complicated. So Jim anLlJa]' are r\r,o greet dmmmers who know howto blurcach other: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

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 frind aDd an arlist perhaps more wcll known to present day rock and rollers than some of the other bluesmcn whon Kingcovcrs. So not only is onerind Fdror a brilliant recording in its own right but alsoa first-rate education in the b1ues, edify 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

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 thestudio, find an arra[gement and go for atake.Amaz ingly, all ofKinis 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 uriously 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 opcnint its doors in King,s homc tou,n oflndianola, MS. f-sce sidcbdrl 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 i bclicve that." 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 _d vi 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.(lNG I wasa boy.l don't fcmembercxact 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 rhrr.heI. : 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 J that's a gospel chord proglession. \ \ e l l . I s r r n r J , , r . rp 1 . ' 1 i r ' g , ^ p c l . { s o s Ktr{c 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 L n r r . l - r . rr r r r r r i p me.Ald the peoplervhoasked m 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 r u rv. cw Did !c'u evcr meet Lonnic Johnson? KING I met Lonnie beforehe dicd.lsawhim 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 comnlunlcate \{ 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 Lonnie 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, fitinwll 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 youngr,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 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 the woll? Klt{c I knew lim, but we wasn't as friendly as I wishwe couLdhave been. cw Ollr rl ingihJryou ,nJ rhc Wolfharein common is that you both recorded at Sam Phil l i p s ' s t u d i o e a r l yo n . KNGThe first time I ever saw a studio was Sam Phillips' studio. "Sun Records" it was latercalled, but at thc tirn itu-asjust a studio. He didn't have a record company at the time. Before then, I'd made some records just at people's houses or a YN,ICA. They'd bring in ar Ampex 600 lrdpe machinel erd put some quilts on the walls to 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

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fof the chessbrothers[t eonard aru1Phitl? (rNcYou'll haveto askthemthat.Somepeople give the Biharibrothersa bad lame and saytheystolefron the artists.But I think ofit thisway:a businessperson ain'tgonna tellyou muchaboutthebusi you askthem. ness unless To them it's just blrsiness. Thev know they bcatin'you, but it's just business with thern. And that'swhrt the U.S.A. is tike-We gotbeat. Soifyou do['t know anybetter,you don't learn any better.There was other people-Jimny Reed, Muddy waters...e\.en Muddywasietting a better shakefrom the Chess brothersthan I was.And I wasselling a lot of records then.I solda lot ofrecords wLenI wasyoung. cwSoyouandMuddywouldkind ofcompare noteson thingslike that?
loilc No, no, we didn't have to do that. It u,as easyto find out$ithout havingto dothat. Mudd-y and I never did talk about what they did for hinl. But I almost u'ent $ith Chess Records once. I wanted $5,000 for some reason.Can'tremember whatitwas for. And the Biharis wouldn't give it to me. So I told MuddyWaters to tell Chess that if they wanted me, ifthcy ga1'eme $5,000, I'd record forthem. Muddy called them. And Leona 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 signed a contract $.ith him. B t \r,hen the Bihari brothers heard rbout that, the_\' ran. Thev come and told me thy u'ere sorry and this al1d that. And I stayed with them. we'dbeen together for a longtime.I real)yliked JulesBihari eventhough Iwas onlygettinia halfa cent a sidc for records. givc me an If I was in trouble, Jules u'ou1dalwa,vs

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advance on 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{c John and I were verygoodfiiends.Only he was popular long before I was. John Lee

deada whilel when didyou lastsee cw Thacswhat I mean: him beforehe died? abouteight or nine months KnGOh; I guss (osee him a8rin before hedied. BurI aint ready yet. I don't want my grave to be kept clern that much! One of the sadthings about us traveling musicians is we get a chance to run across one anotherfrom time to time,but rarelydo we get

are other things I believetoo. I'm not an athe istj I do believe.But I think that nowadays it'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

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 people from the Southdu ng would the earlyFortiesand I ifties.trarmhands hear about getting work up north. Now I made my first record in 1949,but John Lee Hooker wasalready recording then.MuddyWaterswas Muddy waterc then. So lot of those guys,asfar asthe blues is concerned,they were stars at the time.ButI wasnt. Soinstead ofme goingto ChiI stopped in Memphis. cago, cwwhen was the last time you sawJohn Lee Hooker? |(rrc I hope I don't seehim soon.He's been

a chance to gettogetheranddo like golf players or chessplayersdo-we don't get to get together 'cause andhavefun likewe did inthe earlydays, now we busytryingto makea living. cw Pops Staples recently said, "TheDevilain't gpt no music.All musicis God'smusic."Would you go alongwiththat? K GI'm a believer, because I 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, I havererd roomanylhings l d gowithevolurion. 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

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. I'll give it back to them. And That's all. 'Cause 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.'cause I don't do anythinEto themthat I wouldn'twant themto do to me.ihaes my way oflife. Bl

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F A STATUE OF Muddy waters big enough to truly reflect the power and range of his influencewere ever to be built, it would needone foot in Clarksdale, tlre other in Chicago, andthe headsethigh enoughto be seenfiom around the globe. In the world of blues, hence rhythm and blues,blues rock, rock, soul, funl< and all of the other bluesrelatedsubcategoriesof popularmusic, Muddy remairs apowerfrrlfigure more than 15yearsafterhis death.His career spannedmassive musicaland social transitions, fiom acoustic to electric, {iom south to north, and liom farm to city. Evenif not for his distinctivevoice on the guitar, bodl slide and standard, Muddy would still be remembered as a singer,performer, interpreter, bandleader and all-around inspirational force.He has madea profound differencein our lives. the farmyarddirt. He showedan early talent for harmonicaand guitar, and he was lucky enough to have accessto that still recentinvention,the 78-rpm record player. While still a budding player,Muddy found a living mentor in SonHouse,aspellbindingDeltaguitaiist and singerwidr a regional reputation as well asa few recordingsofhis own. By the ageoll8, Muddy had married and moved out of his grandmother's houseinto his own cabinon Stovall's.On Saturdaynights he turned it into a juke joint, dispensingbooze to the locals,pro viding the music andstarting to build his owlr reputation asablues singer. Library of Congress field recorder Alan Lomax found him still living in that joint in 1941. Along with ahandtul ofothers,Lomax had beencomrnissioned by the Library to capture for posterity the folk music ofAmerica, a project that requiredtoting a 300-poundrecording machineto remote,rural locationsto document nearly anyone with a musical reputation-The intendedgoalofthis field trip had beento find and record Robert Johnson, who unbeknownst to 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 andplayingmusic on weekends, but when he heard his own voiceplayedbackfrom Lomax'recording machinefor the first time, he wasfinally ableto overcome the doubtsin his own mind. Now he knew for sure he hnd the stuf, and he wasreadyto ma}e it as period. MuddyWaters, The first step was to get off the farm and get to where there was a better chanceof being heard,

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ON APRIL 4,T9T5,IN ROLLING FORK,

Mississippi,McKinley Morganfield wasborn into aworld ofboth grinding materialpovertyandimmeasurable musicalpromise. Early 20th century Delta farming life was hard and played monotonous, outin the twin shadows ofJim Crow andKing Cotton. But therewere alsojagged, brilliant seeds ofcreativity startingto flower ln a regior that was becomingboth literally and figurativelya musical crossroads. Within a few years,McKinley was sent to lrve with his grandmother on Stovall's Plantation outsideClarksdale, wherehe soonacquiredthe nickname"Muddy waters" hom his habitofplayng in

FIGUBE 1 OpenC Tuning(lor to high,D C D G B D)

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the glitar Delta-style,meaninghe had no formallessons. He simplyhad to pick up the instrument,look at andlistento those who could play it better, and start making 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 During the mid FortiesMuddy made hu \t,c.ttrc t\t,h 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 tenShume(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 electric guitar. Muddy took full advantage ofthe charge in instrumentsby evolving a new slide glitar sound,swoopirg up and down the neck,biting into notes and wringing them dizzy on tuneslike "HoneyBee,""CanaryBird" and "WalkingBlues."To the limited extentthathis 0000000 soundcanbenotedon the page, FIGURE I showsa qpical phrasein openctuning, Mudd/s favodtefor slide. Muddyalso capitalized on thesound of playingcom the electric in his non-slide 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.Attiand ofmakinga real record.In 1943Muddy finally Wolf,Sonny Boywilliamsonandlater, James Cotton, tude counts;cleanliness doesn't. boarded an lllinois Centraltrain boundfor Chjcago Junior wells andBuddycuy madeChess the centerof and left the plantation behind for good.working by the bluesuniverse,and Muddy wasthe shining star. dayand playinghousepartiesat night (andswitching waters' recorded outputduring the earlytrifties to electric guitar in the process),Muddy was able to readslike tonight's set list for any one of a thousald BY THE TIME HE STAXTED recorcllng earngoodmoney, but the dreamof beingarecording bluesbands: "Rollin'andTumblin',""Rollingstone" in Chicago,Muddy had a cretsch with a (th songthat namedthe bandand the magazine), DeArmondpickup.Later,hecouldbe seen star remaineddistant. pianistSunnyland pltryinga Les Paulcoldtop with P90 pickIn 1947, Slim,oneofMuddy's "Hoochie CoochieMan," "I\n Ready," "Cot My Mojo partners, g)t him on a session new musical {or a new working," "MannishBoy" and a dozenothers. The upsandfinally his nademarkinshrment, a label calledAristocrat,run by a pair of immigrant quality and consistency of theserecords, often cut '57 Telecaster. He tuned to standardpitch Polish brothers namedLeonard and Phil Chess. The tluee andfour in a day,wa-s astonishingand within a for normalplayingand to openc tuning youngwhite musicians Chess brothers,alsolookingfor a "modern"sound, decade like the Rollilg Stones, (D G D G B D) for slide,and he usedheaq' yearwentbybefore Yardbirds,John Mayall and PaulButterfieidwere strirys (ou or .or3for the high E) andhigh werenot impressed, andanother Muddy'snext chance. This time,while warmingup studyinghis music. action.Ior an amp,he favoredthe Fender beforethe session, Muddy alrdbassist By the mid Sixties, waters'very identity asthe icon superReverbwith four l0-inch spealent. "Big" Cnwford ran through somematerial like he had cut for lomar ofgritty, ghettobluesblought aboutacompletechalge yearsbefore-the deep, seven Deltabluesinstead of in his audienceasyoungblacksturned away,drawr thepolished, modemvariety. Still skeptical, l-eonard by the more sophisticated stylesofsoul and Motown, took a chance on tapingtwo of the sougs, out his "ruthenticity." A TO UNDERSTAND MUDDY'SIMPACT, "I Can'tBe while youngwhitessought satisfied"and "I Feellike coingHome," ind had a fairb successful 1969 tribute album,Fathersdndsons, you have to go back to his early Chess few thousandcopiespressed. The recordhit the stores featured sincere Muddy protdg6s Mike Bloomfield recoldings,where you'll hear the revelaoDSaturday morning,andby 2:00 Saturdayafternoon andPaulButterfield sittingat his feetjust ashe had tions that inspired cl'icago, England and it was sold out. Muddy Watershad anived. satby SonHouse,but other attenrpts to panderto rock eventually the world. Somegoodplaces over the next few yearsMuddy refined his electric audiences bypackaginghim with rftk stars were disas- to start: The Besf o/Mllaldy waters, His soundashe worked steadilyand continuedto record trous.Althoughthe JobnnyWinter-producedrecords Best:1947-19sS a\d TheChess Box,which for the rechristenedChess label.He assembled aband ofthe Seventies revildized hiscareerandhecould still includes a tasteof everlthing from 1947 put on a captivatingshow,Muddy began up to 1972.The CotnpletePlantation that defineclthe new Chicago blues,including Jimmy occasionally presentsMuddy in 1941/42 Rogerson grlitar, Little walter Jacobson harmomca $owing into an elder statesman role, performing Rcordins |nd "BabyFace"Leroy Fosteron drums.Muddy was mostlywhile sittingon astoolandletting hisroad-band olr the porch at Stovall's, with recorded a magnetfor talent, attmctingthe creamofmusisidemen handlethe guitars. interviews.IJdrd Agdin is the Johnny ciansnot only to his group but alsoto the chesslabel. A{Ier his deathin 1983, Muddy the manpassed into winter-producedrecordthat revitalized Besides walter andRogers, artistssuchaspianistotis legend, but throughhis timeless recordings Muddy Muddy'scareerin the Seventies andone Spann,producer/writer/bassistwillyDi\on, Howlin' the musical forceremains, ofMuddy'sown favorites. B[

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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? cLAPTo\ N ieh, it was a Holcr-:rcolrstic. cwDid it hrvc n,-lon stfirgs or lndal? (LAPToN l 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

(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 s in somekincl oi inneL 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 r ^ l l , lr , . r l r l l r l , , r r c . r r r J r n r . . l ; c r :,u,rr . ,.rc 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 lI . 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! $tich \r'.rs die right nusicxl t:rste. rrorc. and so I coYered it in black rlblon h,r ,/ c w l i s r h i s t o f i c . r lf n c t t h a t , i r t h c e r r l v p . r r t o f dd/rcsilc slclfpdpfrll C.rn vou imaginc Nhat t h e S i x t i c s .i t w a s p f e c t i c e l l v i m p o s s i b l er o g e t . il l , , , f t | . l . r ' 1 , , r l . , t ir.,,rrr'rcl r L tlre elcctric guitif soLrnds h e r l c l L r nb l u c s r c "1..r krrkcd Iikc? I ended up \ritb rhc ES,3:5l DC cords using Ilrjtish .rdcamps.Ho$' 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 sI . h . r d . rT c l c c r s r c f clAPToN.Just br 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 sr tbolrl (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 hos to play.anyinstrurnrent could just about 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 hold their os.rr, 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 rts hrt ifvoLrIniked thc amp 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 e thar could plll,\' put thc lnic r long wc\. l\!r\' and gct the r.o(nn

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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 Bluesbrerkers? cLAProNI was usinliVox AC.3OS and thir$j likc that, but thcy didr't do it for me. lhey were too 'r0pp1 : r h e 1J i J r r ' ' h l r . a 1 ) n r ; d r a n g e a t - . cwDo you harbor rny romantic feeling'sforthat pcriod at rll? I think it was Mark Knopficr who said that in sonc ways he nlisses the old days, where you could show up at a club with rn amp and a rtitar and just do .r gig. ( L A P r o NW e l l , y e a h , that's true- Altbough I don't picturc mysclf doing that thcse deys. It's funny lor me now to think of walking into a club and sccing rnother band play.I do it every now and then and it all comes back to rnc, and I fccl like this ;s whcre I be lonfi. I menn,I grew up playing in ciubs; that is my spiritual stonlp inggro0nd- And every tinrc I walk into a club, I fecl likc I'm goingto b c a s k c d t o p l a y ,b u t I d(,n'f get.rsked to plat Back in rhe Sixtics, ifyou did go inro a club to sce someone p l a y ,y o u a l r e a d yk n e w those people; there $,as ro irtinliclation, n0 inhibitions at all. lt wNsjustthrt you hung out n,ith thesepeople and you playcd with t h c m a l l t h c t i r n c ,s o i n that rcspect I nriss that c:rmiraderie. Therc wds compctition, but it was flicndly; norv I "--/-think ifs much more rligressive. I went through rhar ll,cing dl "dinosuur" thing lO yerrs rg0, s0 God knowswhat it'slike ior mc to show up somcwhcre nowl r dlJn't kn()w what they think ofDr no',r,if I walk into a ciub. What do I reprcsent ro young pla)'ers'i I h r v e n o i d e a .I d o n ' l k n o * , whcfc thcy'vc gonc in thcir heads now, what 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 h:rsnothing to do !vith what my contributror was. I haveno ider. cw Leas talk about the s hole "Clapton is God ' thirg. werc you urcomfortabie $,ith ii? cLAProN I thought it was quitc justilicd, to bc honest with youl [/augfi.E I suppose I felt that I 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 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 whaf I was doing. I th{rught cvcryonc clsc rvas

cither in it just to be (]n Top ofrhc Pops or to score girls or for some dodg,y reaslrn. I was rn rt to sxvcthe fucking worldl I wanted to tell the world aboutblucs and to sct it risht. [vcn then 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 . \o in r wry I rhnugh,.Ye\. |,'/i' cod Quir< right. My hcad was huge! I was unbcafablv rf' rogant and not a fur pcrson to bc arouncl mosi 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 veryjudgmental. I didn't hrve any time for any thingthat didn't fit into my pattrn or. scheme

ofthings. cw Beiore that time, you'd:rctually playcd wirh Muddy watc.s. How did thrt conrc about'? 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 (f Blues B.cakcrs $,ith Eric Clrptonl put the 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 , t r r , l r , ,r.n , lr l i | , . r r r ' ,n r , r r r h r , r " j r . . th , r r r r n 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 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 , thc blues thing was goinsthrough somc funny 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 .olJ o;r J".h \ hits hrJ Jnn. r Lot "l'nur:Ig in Lurope, and Big Bill Bmonzy hrd, too.Josh would go on and do "Down bl' thc Rivcrsidc'

and "Scarlet Ribbons" and things; it was vcry middle of the road blues and folk, and it was all acoustic. Thn Brownie Mcchee rnd sonny Terry would tour and thcy madc it palatable; they 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 t h e a c o u s t i cp i u i t a r , andso Tthink when Muddy , 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 ' . s'uitar and it wasn't vcry wclt rcccivcd. So hc $ , 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 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 . cw It must have been xn ovclwhcJming thing for' you to play with him, s l n c e y o u w e r e o nl y about 20 at the time. c L A P r o NY c a h , i f t h a t . I couldn't takc it jlll in. I felt really stupid becauseI wrs a little bov trying to play a man's music, and these were rh men. Th ey were actually just past their prime, so thcy'tl donc iti they'ddone what I'm still trying to do- I lelt rcnlly clumsy. I thought r didn't really bclong, but I felt very grateful for the opportuniry cw Evcrybody assumcs you were with the Y a r d b i r d si l o n g t i r r e or that you were with the Blucsbrcakcrs r l(nrg tilnc, but in actual fect it tvas a rtter (,f months;n both cases. (LAPTo Ycs, I went through all thosc thins's very quickly. I fiean, Crerm wrs like r year rnd a halfor something, rnd cven with John Mayall, I was only hrlf there, I was ro unreli a b l e ,s o i r r e s p o n s i b l e .I w o u l d s o m c t i D r c sj u s t rot show up at grgs, cnd thel's how Peter crcen u'ould bc:rskcd t0 phy bcclusc I was not thcre. I wcnt to scc John lr\r_\erf tu.r(t,, _:": rlly make rnends. I'd bccn looking hack and realized how badly I cl behaved. cw llou'does Crcrn fir inro tour perspectivc no\r'? It must havc bccr il vcfy intcrsc I9 (taPlo|r It was vcrJ intenscj it actual]y scenls like we were together fir three or lour yerrs. I 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 a glori{rus lnistakc. I had a (ompletely dif lcrent ideaofwhrt it would be before I starled i t .r r d i t e n d e C u1, h e ' r ' gJ u o n J e r f i r lr l -i r El , u l nothinglikc irwas meantto bc. cw lt wls melnt to be your brnd, wrsn't it? (LAPToN I r $ " \ I F . , n rr , , l - ' J h l u r . r - i " . l j u . l didn't havc thc rsscrtii,cncssto take control. Jack 13r .rl and clinscl palerl rvcrc thc pol.

erful, dominantpersonalities in the band;they Chandler.I don't know how long he'd beenin sort ofran the show and I just played. I just England, mrybe a coupleof days, but he got up went with the flow in the end and I enjoyedit and played. ue wasdoingHowlin' wolf songs, gteatly,but it wasn't anything like I expected ard I couldn t beliere t hisguy.I couldn'r believe {'iOh, it to be at all. it. Part ofme wantedto run awayand say, cw In the Creamperiod,you virtualty rrn the now this is what I want to be I can't handle gamur of Cibsons. Youplayed a Firebird. r 335, this."And partofmejust fellin love.ltwas areLes Pauls, the very famouspsychedelic SG. ally difficult thing for me to dealwith, but I just Were there any paiticular favorites?Apparentlt had to surrenderandsay, "This is fantastic." you'vestill got your 335. goodfiiends,didn't you? cw Youbecame 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 fantastic sound.I think that SGwent through the Creamthingjust aboutthe longest.It was rcrlly a very very powerfuland comfonableinstrumentbecause of its lightness and the width and the fl.rness ofrhe 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 acflrally 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 Creama bit more fluent, a bit more conEdentmaybe. {r*. But what's clear to me is thatthen I was much morein touchwirh Ihe acrual malingofmusic, 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 musician wasmy way ofmalingthe moneyto beon holiday. cw That whole thing started with Jimi Hendrix's death,in a way.The datesare almostcoincidental, 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 supposethis maybe a bit presumptuousit kind of opened the doorfor punk,because therewasno continuity{iomthe musicalpattem thatevolved in the Sixties. It kind ofgot scrambled and lost with all the drugs arrdopenedthe door for all lhe rrchy.bittemess andanger. The musicians ofthe Seventies didn't really havea very clear CrAtTOi Oh yeah,instantly, instantly. legacy.Thc legacygot very fucked and very self- cwI don't think peoplerealizehow much ofa indulgent.Ithink that the wholething aboutthe bluesplayerHendrix was.ln a lot ofways it's SexPistolswasthat they were reallypissedoff obvious now,but in thosedaysit didn'tseemto at ouI indulgence the indulgence andthat self- comeinto it. ghteous stance of the Sixties. aLAPToi No, I know. I think n lot of people jammedwith Cream, cw Jimi actually didn't thought,Oh yeah,the Bandofc),?systhingwas he? thebest.Or theylook at differenterasofhis mu(tAPIOi Yes. First time I evermet him, we were sic makingin terms ofhis "peak" or his "most playing a t r h eC e n t r a l London P o l y t e c h n i c . prolific" or his "mostcreative" periods. Butthe and Jimi camealongwith [his mdndgerlChas coreofall his playingwasblues, andwhat really

used to upsethim the most was that he got this fixation about selling out. He got very down on himselfandvery cynical about his acceptance. He thought he was going commercial all the time, and yet he couldn't stop himself, in a way. cW You've recorded Jimi's "Stone tr ree" and "Little Wing" in the past. Why haven't you recorded moreofhis songs, seeingas you were so close? cLAtTOi I got veryjealous of Jimi. I was very

;
possessive abouthim when he was alive, and when he died I was very angry and got even morc possssive. Ifpeople talked to me about Hendrix, I would just turn away; I wasn't interested in their perceptionof Hendrix becauseI felt like they were talking about an ex girlfriend,or abrotherwho had died. tjust thought,I'm not talkingto you about it; I knew him and he was very dear to me, and it's very painfulto hearyou talk about him as ifyou knew him you tuckingdidn't!

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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 connection 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 Stve 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

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cw when did you start playingslide? craProx I've always played slide notelectric 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 I nlso tried to b a little bit like Muddy. Then it sortofwentto oncsidc,butit's always come and 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 na gb 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

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a very clevermixer ofpeople;he'salways been a great one for being a catalyst and putting different 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 beentaJkins aboutDuane, be cause I'd heardhimplayonWilson Pickett's recordingof"Hey Jude,"andI kept askingpeople who he was. So Tom took me and all the rest of tle Dominos play in to seerhe AllmanBrodrers Coconut Groveand introduced us. I said, "Lefs hang out. Comeback to the studio." 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 rememwhile, 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. Because I'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 abouL the music placedat the door ofdrugs or relationships we'd comein and just argue all day or anymore. 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 mata 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,

bullshitting people: all I really want to do is to play with dignity and self-respect. I'm maling a blues album because things have come full circle. It's been 30 years and I'm doing what I've alwayswanted to do. I'm fulfilling myself for other peopletoo, because I've alwaysbeen badgered aboutthis. Peopleare alwayssayin& 'nvhen are you going to do this blues album that you're alwayson about?"And I'm doing it! It then fiees me up, opensthe door for whatever's next, and itwill be interestingto seewhat that is goingto be, crYHow did you go about choosingthe tack for this record? CrAPror{ Well, they're just the songsthat I've alwayslovedout ofmy recordcollection:blues masteryieces that havehad somekind ofprofound effect on me, like the Jirnmy Rogerssong "Blues All Day Long." Therc's something about 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 alwayswill.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 w tten todaywhich do the samekind of songs 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 thousands of them that all havesomething that 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 you don't havethat much opportunity waswrapped recognition and applause up in players, And my guitar playingtook abackseat.I'd got- another gesture-vrhich is beautiful and I don t to makesomething original. 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 Morsure 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 evrhingelse wouldemerge. AndallLhat didemerge, 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 necessarknow 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 ambiI'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 wasliterally anybody s,deI 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 unaffectedly aspossible. I'm not live that long l[ wherever that was,wherever I'd beentalen. cw That period ended dramatically around 1984-1985. suddenly,there were projectslike Edge of Darknessand,the Roger Waters album ?he Prosand Consof Hitcl a*ing, which saw you playingwith much more fire and power.But it was probablyLive Aid that was responsible you in malrypeople's for reestablishing minds. Did the reactionyou received surpriseyou? clAPTox Yeah!I'm not sure I was evenable to take it all in. I've alwaysbeena very,very selfeffacing or low-self-worth sort ofperson. when they told me where I was going to be on the bill, I didn't get iL I thought, what? Really?And that reallydid a lot for me.And that reception-it was mind blowing! from that point on, I stared to give myself a bit more of a pat on the back and to be kind to myself. Gw Did the multiple crammys for Unplugged

it was with a different point of view, a ftsh enthusiasm and a kind ofopen mindedness to learn about new music, becausethat's when I heard reggae. I wasjust like a kid in a sweet shop again. clryYou toured a hell of a lot throughout the Seventies. <r.APro Touredand recordedandgot out ofit! I hada great time,bur it wasall fairly direction less.I mean,I don't re$et any ofit, to be honesg I think rherewasno orherwayfor metogo, in a way. I'm just very gateful that I suruived it and didn t die.because I wasoftenin someveryseri ouslydangerous situationswith boozeand drugs. would bail I usedto do crazythingsthat people me out of, where I was risking life and limb in carsor in different life-threatening situations. And I'm just grateful that I survived.But the music got very los! I didn't knowwhere I was going and I didn't really care.I was more into

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REDDIE TING, THE "Texas cannonball," was large and powerful in stature,soundand influence. Although he sharedhis surname with guitarists B.B. and Albert King, Freddie carved out his own distinct territory asa modem electric-bluesguitar stylist. Sculptinghis country roots and aggressive, inventive phrasing into classicguitar instrumentalssuch as "Hide AwaY' and balladslike "Have You Ever Loved a Woman,"Freddie King was one of the few urban bluesmen who broughtthe electdcguitar into the modernworld. Now,however, he couldseetheseplayers perform up-close. King soon fell underthe spellof Reed's accompanist, Eddie Taylor, and Waters' guitarists, Jimmy Rogersand Robert "Junior" Lockwood. All three players were adeptat the electdfied blend ofrhlthm and melody found in the Chicagobluesguitar style.It was an approach that dovetailed nicelywith King's own down-home, bare-fingers approach. Lock\rood, in particular, was helpful to the youngster. He had absorbed some of the harmonicsophistication of jazz and showedKing a few adventurous chordvoicings. Within a year, the teenagedKing had his first electricguitar and began to earncashasa sideman, He was also workingwith a group ofhis own, the Every Hour Blues Boys, and by the middleofthe decade he wasplayingon sessions for the ParrotandChess labels. His firsr single under his own name, "CountryBoy,"was cut in 1957for the El-Bee label.Althoughitfailed to click with listeners, King was beginning to cementhis reputationas a singer and player. yearsofworking in After seven the steelmills and clubs, he was able to quit his dayjobandwork exclusivelyasa musrcian. He had alsobegunto find his own identity as a guitar stylist,crafting a cohesivesound that combinedhis Texascountryroots with the hardknock experience he gainedin Chicagobarrooms and B.B. King influenced single-string finesse. g!itarist King's break came in l960 $ henChicago sylJohnsonintroduced him to sonnyThompson, < A&R representative for King Records. Locatedin Cincinnati,Ohio,the King labelwasthe Midwest'slargest independent blackmusicproducer,

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FREDDIE NAMErrAs sometimes been spelled"Freddy') was born in 1934 on a farm outsidethe eastTexas town ofcilmer. His stepmotherand uncle were both guitar playerswho schooled him in the basics of playing the instrument Like mostyoungsters playing country-bluesguitar in Ter.as in the Forties, King grew up under the pervasive influenceofBlind LemonJefferson and Lightning Hopkins.In additionto their influences, Kingpicked up his electric"uptown" blues stylefrom his idol LouisJordan,ajump-blues saxophonistand singerwhoselighthearted, sophisticatedbluessryledominaled the black-music airwavesin the mid Forties. King movedwith his family to Chicago in 1950, right in the middle ofthe golden ageofChicago blues.He wasalready familiarwith the recordings ofChicagogiantsMuddyWatersandJimmyReed.

FIGURE 1 "The Stumble" MediumShume ( ' : = J . l )

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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 automatic pilot. Today,B.B. and Albert King are the two most-cited "Kings" of blues, but FreddieKing stoodastheir equal,earning his placesquarely betweenthe first generationof swing-based electricguitarists and the blues-rock tidal wave that followed. King showed his disciples how to fill the airy cavitiesofa bluesphrase with raw energy,and how to turn a handful oflicks into a pieceofreal music.Icsa Iesson that bearsrepeating.

secondonly to Chicago-based ChessRecords. 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, (released, "You'vGot to Love Her with a Feelingi' like most of King's wor( on the label's Federalsubsidiary), was a minor hit and King followed it with a similar vocal ballad, l96l's "I Love the woman." To everyone's surprise,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 showcased his 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 Stumble." "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 wellknown vocal tune), Lnocking out a riveting solo, .eturning to the melodyand wrapping it all up in under threeminutes. By 1963, Kingwas financially stable, and bought a housein Dallas.His reputation amongwhite audiences wasjust startingto build, mainly throughcovers of his tunes performed by British guitarists like Edc jn prrclapton.MickTaylofandPelercreen.Clapron ticular was taken by King"sinventive and energetic phrasing, and asidefrom his late-sixties fling with AlbertKing-isms, hetouted Freddie King'sinfluence more than that of anyother singleplayer. In 1968, King jumped to the Atlantic-Cotillion label. Thanksro European toursand his growing reputationon the collegeand festivalcircuits,his careerwashumming. His recordingsbeganto show mo.esheen thangrit,but hislive soundcontinued to be loud and aggressive, and he bumed morethan a guitarheroes few blues-rock duringonstage duels. Unlike the manybluesmusicians whosecareers

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 cibbegEn to suffer in the mid seventies, King continued son ES-345with humbuckingpickups, to work steadily. Perhaps no 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. For amps, Kingliked'em loud, andnone t IKE MOST YOUNGPLAYERS 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 Fendeschewedthe open-tuning-and-capostyle of Texas er QuadReverb,a massive 4x12,300-watt Albert Collins for a more standard combo alsofavored by Albert Collins. As contemporary guitar setup.After arriving in Chicago and closely for effects,nothing other than reverbwas observingJimmy Rogers, Muddy waters and Eddie a considerationfor playersofthat era. Taylor, King followed their examples and started using a plastic thumb pick alongwith a metal fingerpick on his index finger. He alsolearnedto dampen the st ngs with the heel of his picking hand, which THE CORE OFFREDDIE KING,S legacy periallowed him to play loud while maintaining control was cut during his initial 1960161 ofhis dlnamics. This combination ofbiting,metallic od on trederal, Hewas a very consistent playerand singerthroughouthiscareer, tone on the high strings and muted toneson the low stringsbecamehis fiademark sound. but as the production style and mateKing:soverall approachmight be describedas rial changed,much of his later output combiningas it did the rhlthmbecame lessemotionally arresting. Some "uptown Chicago," based, electrifiedDeltastyleof Jimmy Rogers and 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 Freddie King.Bl differentphrases from King'srepertoireshowshis variousinfluences, THI STUMEIE Musicby Fredd]e Kingafd Sonn] FIGURE r, an excerptfiom 1960's "The Stumble," Thompton.Copyr 8ht O D6r by ForiKnoxMusic nc. is a melodicphraseplayedover the last four barsof a andTrloMuscCompary. Copf ght Renewed and oMuslcCompany, l2-barblues in E. This example illusuates the suong A$ignedto FortKnoxMls c Inc.,Tr Jimmy Rogersinfluenceon King's style.Notice how carbertMusiclnc andArcMur c colPoEtion(8Ml)in he coversthe neck from l2th fret to open position. the U. ted States.A RghtsfortheWoddexduding the U. ted states Controled byFortKnoN lvlusich. More than mostofhis contemporaries, King made andTrioMusiccompany. hternationacopyriSht effectiveuseofthe entire f?etboard. Reseryed. secured AllRights Used by Pe.mission. FIGURE 2 sho\rs an exampleof King's single-note Reprlnted by Permiss on of HalLeonardCorporaUo. phrasing fiom "Side Tracked," another 1960instmS|DEIRACKEDword5 and Musk byFreddie K ng mental.In tiis phrase, the influenceofT-BoneWalker andsonryThompson. copyrighio r96, by Fort is seenin the continuous, linear melody,but King (noxMusic Inc.andTrioMut c Compa.y.CopyrlShi attackedthe notesmuch more aggressively than the Renewed andAsi8redio ForlKnoxMls c 1n.., Tr o M u s i c C o m p a n y , C a r b e r t M u sa ic nA c r.Mu5c nld rela-xed, swingingWalker. Corporation(BMl)intheUnltedstates.A Ri8htsfof The classic stop-chorus breakfrom "Hide Away' theWor d excludingthe Un ted States Controlled (shoen on page74in sectionE,bars49 52) is a$eat byFortKnoxMlekhc andTroMus.Company. exampleofKing's sophisticatedharmonic sense and ntem3tonalCopf thtS.ured AllRightsReseryed fretboard knowledge. Thejazzy Eo chord is a \oic' UsedbyPermisslon. Reprnied by PermstonofHaL ing that King learnedfrom RobertLocl-wood. The

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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,vcd u'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 Sul11lin stylc.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 yourbackglound that's almost uniquc anlon!i bluesmen:\'ou studied g!itar rtthc (lhicego Consel'vaioryof^{usic. Whatwas the extent of vour folmal training? sunlr l studied for six months $'ith this old guy rvho u.asrvith the Chicago SymphonyOrchestra. Itwes the firsttinre I ever sau-a dude u'ho played h n r h o p e c r a n , rh l u p so r \ i . g ! i r 1 r . t r h r d a h u g e ' n p a c t o r n r c .b c i : u s e I d i d n r kno$ tl-epirn^ ke,vboardand I didn't kno\r'how to read Ididn't 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 C. Thatgu).sho\l'ed me so much in six months. Gw Even rhough you always played lectrrc guit:rr {'ith Wol{ vour sound often had a bit ofa colrntn bllLesvibe.Is thatnhere vou come fi on, musicallv? suMLlN Aduallv, when I u,as a kid I $.anted to be a jazz plaver like Charlie Christian morc 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 blues. f?fi osepln-r,ersl were all around me, and at a certnin point,I realized how gtcat all these

dudes I listcned towere: Cherlel Patton, Lonnie Johnson, Robert Johnson...allthose gu)'s.Peetie wheatstrarv-the "devil's son-in larv" JesLrs, n1aD,he was somethingl Then u'hen I got r-ith wolf and N,Iudd]' I realized that they acrually plaled with thcsc gu,vs,and that blcu, my mind. I tried to ask \\'olf aboui Char]ey Patton, and he said, "A\r', you voung punk, vou'r.e too loung o understand." It alu'ays huft nlc that I missed out on seeing and phving uith thosc old guys, 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 \,Iudd,vclectlified and expanded. Gw It sorlndslike \ rolf was vcry consciousofd1c agediffefence bctween you t\vo. 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 years bcfor he died, that he $.as "40,vears too 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 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 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 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 .

Things ale gettingbctter all rhe fime." The ncxt vcar he got sick and \r'cnt on a kidnei dialvsis n1acline. cw It can be said thrt volr ire the link Lrehveen the Delta bluesnen and lock and ro11. On thc onc hand, vou pla)'ed rvith $rolf, who u,as a c o n r L n p o rf., o ' R o L e r t J o l ' r r . , , r 1' r ' d l h e ^llef g!r- tou In'I li.Ied. \r rhe.lIr| rime, ,vo also exerted a hlrtjc influence on thc ncxt gencfation rock g!ltadsts u'ho weren'r reallv : rll that much lounfier than you. tuMlr I'n1 very proud ofthat, ancl I got to meet those g!i's. I met Eric Clapton in 1970 \\.hcn I playerl on \\'olfs london Sessions. I u'asn't : s l r p p o s e dt o b c t h e r e , b u r C l e p t o n s a i d , " I f a H | | h e r r ' . n o r r h e f A ,I d o r r - e c o - J T h e n ! \ o l f said hc couldn'r record r.ithout me, so they hed to bringl11e. \ rolf$ ason a dialysis machine dght in the studio- with doctors tendinghim night ancl dav. He lr.asso sick that on a couple ofDights rvc

didn't evenrecord;we just satin the studioand gor hrgh. Mick Jagger andBillwymancanre rn, all nighrlong, nrn. Theclearing andwe partied in the next morningandeveryone was ladycame laying there on the floor. Mick Jaggerhad his headup insidethe bass drum. loughs] cwDid you spendmuch time with Clapton? Sumur Yes.One day,E c senta limousinefor me, and we drove for 30 oFlO milesoutsideof Lorrdorr ro hir bigold mansion in fhecounrry. A place,likea castle. gorgeous We had abeautiful dinner,then he took me down to the basmen! where hc had all thesegllitars.lt lookedlike a

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 house all nightlong.I went out me moneyto fix there and he apologized andgEve my mouth-I left to playwith Muddy because he tripled my salary. Theywere rivals,and Muddy wanted to take me away from Wolf. cw was the rivalry betweenwolf and Muddy to everybody? apparent Sure. The) werejealou. of oneanother: SuMrlx 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.Theyshookhands and 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 that jealousy. It's music.Who cares understood who's the best? cw what areyour memories of Jimi Hendrix? 'u'rrur He wasju5r a lirrle ol dude living in wasbefore hisband. t he Erperience. England.lt hit it big, we playedin Liverpool,the Beatles' home,and in walked Jimi Hendrix, a liitle ol' wolf hip guy wearingearrings and a bandanna. is rhisg!y? T ain t sa,ing said,'What the fucl< nothing to that motherfucker."He cameright up toWolf and askedifhe couldplay his guitar. factoryrthree and a half walls of a room ljned with everykind ofguitar you canimagine. Wolfnodded and Hendrix pickedit up, turned He said,"Pick out a coupleofthose guitars, it over and playedit with his teeth.[dughs]He played the hell out of it. wolf looked at him, Hubert.I'm givingyoutwo ofthem."I walkedall big-eyed, andsaid,"You hired,man,youhired!" thewayaroundthe room,lookingat everyone of He said,"No thankyou,Mr. woll But I admrre them.Tben I sawthis case sitting in the middle you and the blues.You guys are 10Opercent. of the room. I opened the caseand took out man." this beautiful Fenderstratocasterand started Beautiful, playingit there,sitting on the floor. I neverplayedwith him afterthat, but I saw him do his thing in New York, after he hit, and He said, "Hey,man,I toldyou to pick anytwo you want liom thosethat arc up against the wall." I fell in love.The guy wasgreatlJust a little ol' skinnyyoungster. He wasin his tl!'enties, but he I said, suresoundsgood. "I know,but thisFender looked16or 17,and he was good,man.I mean, Is ityour regllar?"He said,"It sureis."I said,"I reallygood. knew it, because that'sthe one."He said,"You wealua1.gurrighrbacl togerher. mern ro sa) you re goingro trke it trom me, manered; cw Hendrix called you a big influence.Your playing on sever'altracks fron the Fifties man?" Isaid,"No,I can'tdo it.I don'twantnone cw You foughtwith Wolf He wasa hugeman. 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'd run wabashamp, which I usedfor alongtime.Itwas I kept it for twoyearsandhardlyeverplayed the truck, and I wasn't there because speakers. I it. Then we were both at the Montreaux Jazz offwith this cute girl who'd beensitting on my oneof the fi rst ampsto have15-inch Festival, and I broughtit overto him. He asked amplifief, smiling at me all night long. When alsogot an Echoplexrightwhen theycameout, with those15-inch speakers,that 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 g l o a d i n g . andcon'rbined 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 g o n r o p o f r h e ' r a g e . made"distortion." your guitar,Don't embarrass me."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 playedthem. I alsohad a Kay guitar. For four cw Did you have a senseyou were making imagine-because he had to load my gear.I this was right years, Wolf didn't havea pianoor evena basshistory when you recordedthoseclassic tracks was embarrassed, man,because ju.r two g!irarsand drum5,so Jody William. in front ofthe whole band. with wolf guitaristland I coordinated SoI thought,He can'tdothis to me.He can't lwolfs second our tUMu No, and I really didn't care.But I knew 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 He justtumed backreal I sure do wish that I had it now. ftaughs]B[ the top. when you're recordingfor peoplethe I could.H didn't move.

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.Therehadbeen somedaysinthe pastwhen my stomach ached from not havingan)'thing to those eat.when I recorded, I would remember daysand rememberhow I neverwantedto go backtothem.And I would playl cw what kind ofpersonalrelationship did you havewith wolf? sultuil We were like father and son,although we had sometremendousfights. He knocked my teethout, and I knockedhis out. Noneofit

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
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While Kilg rvas inalguably a blucsman, his eefliest recordirgs fof Bobbin Record s feeturcd \ i g \ . r r J r r r J n g < r n e n r .L hafJ .s ing.rrg .rter. he u'ould fecord his most influential uork 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

comc up u'ith diiferent st]'les io lio behind : , ' 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 three or four rhythms behnrd a song, find the one thatfeelsjust right and recordit.I canhear lrl E,{"1. r r d I r ' p \ p r . r $ r h Ff o i r r o i i n r r cut Sawr'-for Stax, backeclby Itooker T anclthe ing ('hat l listcred to. Lots oftimcs I heard 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 Butrvharevel the musicrl setting, Kings lerd Cr-opper, 6dssistrondld'ru.l" kritdrist Src1,e p l . . ri y r 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 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 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 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 tar held upside do$.n, tlcblc stlings up, u.hich, bccausc they \r'eregood idea people they'cl

Roland l2o because it s easiel to handlc and it puts out lor me, Gw Therc hlls nl*.ays been so much srving to 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 ? 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.pf 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 lot of orchcstrrti(nr anLlbig-banLl arrangements to lnix thc jazz \,' iih thc blucs. I r.'nt fof the s\\'ingingjrzz arfrngen1cnts end thc purc blucs gurraf. cw Your lcad $itrr has al*,a1 s been ver'1l,vIicr I. Do you think ofthe ltuitar as a sccoDd l,oicc? Krt{c Yes,I do.I pla,\'the "singing$ritar" thrt'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 Lv D I ,, rL.u_led I terv 'viJc r rri 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( Ir 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 cw Your guitar stt'le changed roticeably from lour eally recordings \r'ith rhe Bobbin label to 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 vibrato 0 ginallv, for instance. xlNGNo, I didn't. I ne\.er made a decision ro change my st_vle. Some of it I forgor and sone 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 stay the same {orer.ef.I do allofthe vibrato u,ith my hrnd-I don't use no gadgets of anythirg.I used to onlv use,{coustic arnps,but I went to a

$41atl\.c alwals callcd it. I also sing xldrg\ th my notcs. lt's ho$. I think about rvhere l'rn goingcw YorLdon't play r lor ol chords. Klt{cNo, I play single note. I crn pl;ry chords bur I dont like 'em.I don t have tine for thenr. I'm palirg cnough people rlound me to plal chords.llauJ]ihj 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 r1('osrnngs ar one flme. Kr c Yeah.Lots of rimes I don't I ntend to do that,

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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 anlnvhere it feelsright. There are no rules. cw I've heard stodes ofpeople who tried to copy your soundbut didn't knowthat youwere playing upsidedown. |(lrlc UdughslYeah, I've heard that, too. And peoplewho try to restring their guitarsto get my sound.and everyrhing elseyou can imagine. 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 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 speed them 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 I wantto playrealsoft,Then the way up, unless I zip it down. cw You really do utilize dlnamics effectively. Do you think thacs something a lot ofyounger playersmissthe pointof Krf,cDefinitely.Because they 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 trebleandbass. There'sa high, to mix volumes, there'sa midrangeand there'sa bottom.Ifyou don't ever mix that stuffup, you're not a completeplayer. 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 overplay, you get too loud and people are gonna mistakewhat you'redoingfor a hole in the air. laughsl qw You appeared on GaryMoore'sSfiil Got fhe Blues album. What did you think of Moore's guitar work? l(lt{cGary'sa goodplayer.To me,Garyand Stevie 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?

r(|f,c Yeah. I learned a few Lhing" fromhim. he learnedafew thingsfromme.I told him to slow it down,double up onhis licks-playeveryother o n e s ol h a ry o uc o u l d f e ew l hathesdoing l l. you play too fast or too loud, you cancelyourselfout.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 players hit the right note and playrhe right changes. Yet,somelhing's missing.whatis that something? Klx I'm goingto askyou. You're the listener. what do you hearor nothear? cw It's hard to describe.It's more 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 yourselflick-even if you'rejust rehearsingto 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 instance over the fact that B.B.is alwayscalled "The Kingofthe Blues"? Kt{cohcod,no. Me andB.B.andBobbylBldnd] got alonggeat. we go all overthe counalways r D a n d s e lo l ute\erythearerwet go o.N o m i . understandings, no arguments.I'll open the show for anybodyaslong as I get paid off. Ill in my horelwhile B.B. s <rill playing. be asleep and rhar's finewilh me.B.B.s a nightowl. He closes the showbecause he staysup mostofthe night talking, anyhow. Ua ghsl Gw Has the fact that you once played drums your guitar stylemuch? affected |(lrc Not really,exceptthat I can tell immediately if atempo is ofl Being left-handed affected

'lcilr plly cttonn$ BttT lnorT Lnfi Tu.

one and anotherone.The next thing you know you got 15or 20 differentlicks you canhit, and they all feel good.But if you rush right through, hitting them all, you'rc not even going to know whatyou did. You'vegot to takeyour time and learnyour bagone lick at a time, andtale your my style more than an''thing.I startedplaying I got agig with Jimmy Reed drumsjustbecause and neededthe money. GwWhy haven'tyou everuseda pick? Kt c I couldn't hold one-my fingerswere too big. I kept trying and the thing would fly across riha in w^!'r.loliwaF, rhe house. I jusr always had a real hard time cw Your first appearance at the Fillmore F9681 grippingit, soI learnedto playwithout one. qw what type ofmusic did your first band,the opened up a whole new audience for you,were you surprisedthatthose people werewaitingto 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 rehearsed to myselfforfiveyearsbeforeI the biggest th lls of his life when you recorded playedwith anothersoul.That mayaccountfor hissong, ." l'I'm in a Phone Booth, someofmy style.I knew that playingthe blues "PhoneBooth Bab!," 19841 was a life I choseto lead.And when I started l(l[c Yeah,I did one ofhis songsbecause the 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 happen to many, manypeople, andit'soneofthe doing,still feelinggoodandstill in goodhealth. saddest things 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 15years thereseemsto be ablues your records, that'swhen you loseit. renaissance andpeoplesaythere's onehappencw 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? realize that they canmakemoneybookingir. Ktxc No. If it's my show, it's my stage,and I You didn't hear aboutyoung bluesmanfor won'tlet anyone me. a while until stevie Ray and Robert hit, but messwith me.Believe cw when did yousranusing rheFlying v? they were always around. It's just a matter Kt c Oh, man. Way back around 1958.Just of exposure. BI

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end Bds Fis. I sinile

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Bds

repedt

B6s

Fis I sinile

(see bq 1)

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Lordand Wednesday's wo.s AbmTAmT

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2ndVers0:55) 2.The eagle flissonFriday

Salurday I goout to play Ab9

B6s plars Bs

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3rd vrse (2:45) 3.Lordhavc mercy

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Lordhave msrcy onme G9

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R6s Ftg. I sm

e (see bar a)

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Lordftavmcrcy Lordhave

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B6s plays B6s Fig. 2 simile (see bq 64)

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4th velse (7:42) Lordhavemercy G9

Lordftavemercy

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