Blue Monday, Howlin' Wolf edition

"Conditions make these things happen"

Blue Monday, Yardbirds, Chester Burnett edition

Blue Monday, Sam Cooke edition

Blue Monday, Howlin' Wolf

Blue Monday, Howlin' Wolf, Mick Jagger, Jeff Beck edition

Blue Monday, Howlin Wolf edition

RIP, Phil Chess.

Blue Monday, Howlin' Wolf edition

Blue Monday, Howlin' Wolf edition

"Whatever 'R&B' is..."

Blue Monday, Howlin' Wolf introduced by Brian Jones edition

Blue Monday, Howlin' Wolf edition

Psychedelic Wolf

Blue Monday, Howlin' Wolf edition

Hubert Sumlin, 1931-2011

Very few have been as influential.

Mr. Sumlin began appearing on Howlin’ Wolf’s recordings in 1953, first as a rhythm guitarist and then, beginning in 1955, on lead guitar. Mr. Sumlin’s eerie guitar counterpart to Howlin’ Wolf’s unearthly moaning on the 1956 hit “Smokestack Lightnin’ ” has lately been featured in a television commercial for Viagra. He also played lead on “Back Door Man,” “Spoonful” and “The Red Rooster,” all written and arranged by the Chicago blues trailblazer Willie Dixon.

“Dixon’s often astute novelty lyrics and shrewd arrangements were topped off by Sumlin’s imaginative, angular, taut attack, frequent glisses, maniacally wide vibrato and percussive chords, all drawn with an exaggerated brush,” the producer Dick Shurman observed of Mr. Sumlin’s relentlessly inventive playing in his liner notes to a 1991 boxed set of Howlin’ Wolf’s work for Chess Records.

“Back Door Man,” “Spoonful” and “The Red Rooster” were later made even more famous in versions released, respectively, by the Doors, Cream and the Rolling Stones. All three originally appeared on Howlin’ Wolf’s 1962 LP “Howlin’ Wolf,” which the critic Greil Marcus called “the finest of all Chicago blues albums,” largely because of Mr. Sumlin’s contribution.
Though at times tempestuous, Mr. Sumlin’s partnership with Howlin’ Wolf lasted until the singer’s death in 1976. Mr. Sumlin’s intuitive, empathetic accompaniment typically spurred his mentor to unpredictable and frenzied heights.

Speaking of their collaborations in a 1989 interview with Living Blues magazine, Mr. Sumlin said: “Hubert was Wolf, Wolf was Hubert. I got to where I knew what he wanted before he asked for it, because I could feel the man.” 

Blue Monday, Howlin' Wolf edition

How many more years?

Happy Labor Day

Blue Monday, Howlin' Wolf edition

Blue Monday, Chester Burnett edition

Cadillac Records

Here's to hoping that a new generation will come to appreciate the music of Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf, Etta James, and Chuck Berry, and the words of Willie Dixon. In the meantime, go see it. While it plays a bit fast and loose with history (Leonard Chess had a brother in the business, f'rinstance), it's terrifically acted (especially totally convincing performances by Eamonn Walker and Columbus Short as Wolf and Walter, Mos Def is a blast as Berry, and that Ms. Knowles woman sure got pipes), and the film makers clearly love the music.

Blue Monday, Howlin' Wolf edition

"Evil." Chester Burnett makes a political statement, "It's the conditions."

Blue Monday, Howlin' Wolf edition

Christmas? What Christmas? It's always summer in Newport to me.