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)