Jody Williams

My second post honoring the remaining living legends of the blues. This time honoring Chicago bluesman and Howlin Wolf guitarist Jody Williams. Although an influential member of the Chicago blues scene he is not as well known as other guitarists of his time like Hubert Sumlin who got all the recognition from the British players like Clapton and Richards. Born in Mobile but moved to Chicago at an early age. In the early 50's he played with greats such as Otis Spann, Bo Diddley and Charles Brown before becoming a session player as Chess Records in Chicago. It was there where he met Howlin Wolf. He would play on a number of wolf tracks with Sumlin including "Evil (Is Going On)" and Forty Four. During the same period he would also play lead on songs by Otis Rush, Billy Boy Arnold and Jimmy Rogers. With work in the music field drying up and not getting credit by those who copied his style he retired from music and had a career as a technical engineer which he would do for 25 years. He would return to music in 2000 and release an album in 2002. He would continue to perform until 2014 but has since stopped due to health problems. His solo starts on Who do you Love starts at 1:19. I had never herd of him until a few years ago and he is never listed on any greatest guitarist lists which is criminal. We owe him a lot for his contributions to Chicago Blues and Rock 'n' Roll music. Below is a complete list of his appearances from Wikipedia.

• 1954 – Howlin' Wolf, "Evil Is Going On" / "Baby How Long" (Chess 1575)
• 1954 – Howlin' Wolf, "Forty Four" / "I'll Be Around" (Chess 1584)
• 1954 – Otis Spann, "It Must Have Been The Devil" / "Five Spot" (Checker 807)
• 1955 – Howlin' Wolf, "Who Will Be Next" / "I Have A Little Girl" (Chess 1593)
• 1955 – Howlin' Wolf, "Come To Me Baby" / "Don't Mess With Me Baby" (Chess 1607)
• 1955 – Sonny Boy Williamson II, "Don't Start Me Talkin'" / "All My Love In Vain" (Checker 824)
• 1955 – Billy Boy Arnold, "I Was Fooled" / "I Wish You Would" (Vee-Jay VJ 146)
• 1955 – Earl Phillips, "Oop De Oop" / "Nothing But Love" (Vee-Jay VJ 158)
• 1955 – Bo Diddley, "Diddy Wah Diddy" / "I'm Looking For A Woman" (Checker 832)
• 1956 – Billy Boy Arnold, "Don't Stay Out All Night" / "I Ain't Got You" (Vee-Jay VJ171)
• 1956 – Lu Mac, "Albert Is His Name" / "I'll Never Let Him Know" (Blue Lake 117)
• 1956 – Bo Diddley, "Who Do You Love?" / "I'm Bad" (Checker 842)
• 1956 – Floyd Dixon, "Alarm Clock Blue"s / "I'm Ashamed Of Myself" (Checker 857)
• 1956 – Bobby Charles, "Why Did You Leave" / "Don't You Know I Love You" (Chess 1617)
• 1956 – Billy Stewart, "Billy's Blues (Part 1)" / "Billy's Blues (Part 2)" (Chess 1625 and Argo 5256)
• 1956 – Billy Boy Arnold, "Here's My Picture" / "You Got Me Wrong" (Vee-Jay VJ 192)
• 1957 – Jimmy Rogers, "One Kiss" / "I Can't Believe" (Chess 1659)
• 1957 – Otis Rush, "Groaning The Blues" / "If You Were Mine" (Cobra 5010)
• 1957 – Harold Burrage, "Messed Up" / "I Don't Care Who Knows" (Cobra 5012)
• 1958 – Howlin' Wolf, "I Didn't Know" / "Moanin' For My Baby" (Chess 1695)
• 1958 – Otis Rush, "Three Times A Fool" / "She's A Good 'Un" (Cobra 5023)
• 1959 – Bobby Davis, "I Was Wrong" / "Hype You Into Sellin' (Your Head)" (Bandera 2505)
• 1959 – Bo Diddley, "Dancing Girl" (on Have Guitar Will Travel: Checker LP 2974)
• 1960 – Bobby Davis and the Big "3" Trio, "One Love Have I" / "She's A Problem" (Bandera 2508)
• 1964 – Billy Boy Arnold, "I Wish You Would" / "Prisoner's Plea" (Vivid 109)
• 2007 – The Mannish Boys, "Groan My Blues Away" / "Young & Tender" (on Big Plans: Delta Groove DGPCD 116)

Billy Boy Arnold

My first blog post honoring the remaining living legends of the blues starting with Billy Boy Arnold. He is the last of the great harmonica players of the 50's and 60's. Arnold started his music career in 1952 releasing a song titled Hello Stranger on a small record label. After that he worked with Bo Diddley in the mid 50's for Checker records playing on the Diddley classic I'm a Man.  His best known recordings were"I Wish You Would" and "I Ain’t Got You". Both of which would later be covered by the Yardbirds with the latter being their debut single. In the 60's he worked as a bus driver and, later parole officer when he couldn't find work. But by the 70s he was back making music. He toured Europe during that period as well. In the 90's he would release two albums with Alligator records and an album with Roomful of Blues guitarist Duke Robillard in 2001. His latest album The Blues Soul Of Billy Boy Arnold was released in 2014. I was lucky enough to see him in concert at a jazz club in Minneapolis for the the Blues Harmonica Blowout which featured Arnold and other harmonica greats Mark Hummel and Corky Siegel.  Go see him if you get the chance. He is one of the important pieces in the puzzle of the creation of Rock 'n' Roll music.

R.I.P Otis Rush, Eddie Clearwater, Matt Murphy, Lazy Lester and Eddie Shaw

 I haven't posted here in a while but thought I would do a quick post for the recent passing of Otis Rush and other blues greats who died this year. Sadly this year the number of living blues legends became fewer. Now only a small handful remain. Buddy Guy being practically the last man standing. There are a few others such Billy Boy Arnold(83), Jody Williams(83), Byther Smith(86), Eddie C. Campbell(79) and Bob Stroger(87). The blues laid the foundation for all modern music and I think it's important to remember those legends who contributed.  I would write more but always have trouble thinking of what to write so I will post pictures instead.