Eddie Shaw & The Wolf Gang - Can't Stop Now

Album: Can't Stop Now
Size: 137,5 MB
Time: 59:24
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1997
Styles: Blues, Chicago blues
Art: Full

1. Greedy Man (3:31)
2. Can't Stop Now (4:19)
3. Casino Blues (4:21)
4. Howlin' For My Darlin' (3:10)
5. Stole My Daughter (7:07)
6. We're Gonna Make It (4:05)
7. Rockin' With Eddie (2:52)
8. Love Me Or Leave Me (7:15)
9. Chicago Man (3:29)
10. Playing With The Blues (5:33)
11. Don't Use Me Baby (4:21)
12. Country Boy (4:44)
13. I Gotta Tell Somebody (4:33)

Eddie Shaw's Wolf Gang is one of Chicago's hardest working blues outfits, with the deepest of roots. Frontman Eddie Shaw and pianist Detroit Junior were members of blues icon Howling Wolf's band, and the guitarist and drummer are both second generation bluesmen: Vaan Shaw is the son of Eddie, and Tim Taylor the son of guitar great Eddie Taylor. The Wolf Gang's Delmark debut showcases their patented one-foot-in-the-tradition, one-in-the-future sound.

Personnel: Eddie Shaw (vocals & tenor sax); Eddie Vaan Shaw, Jr.(guitar); Detroit Junior (piano); Lafayette "Shorty" Gilbert (bass); Tim Taylor (drums).

Can't Stop Now mc
Can't Stop Now gofile

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Chico Chism - Chico Chism's West Side Chicago Blues Party

Album: Chico Chism's West Side Chicago Blues Party
Size: 111,2 MB
Time: 47:45
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2006
Styles: Blues, Chicago blues
Art: Full

1. Eddie Shaw & The Wolf Gang - I Don't Trust Nobody (2:51)
2. Highway Man - I Walked From Dallas (2:55)
3. Chico Chism - Coo Fannie Coo (3:25)
4. Eddie Shaw & The Wolf Gang - I Got To Tell Somebody (2:24)
5. Eddie Shaw & The Wolf Gang - Bluesman Of Yesterday (2:55)
6. Eddie Burks - Operator (3:46)
7. Highway Man - Don't Laugh At Me (3:21)
8. Eddie Shaw & The Wolf Gang - This Little Voice (2:57)
9. Eddie Shaw & The Wolf Gang - Big Leg Woman (3:57)
10. Willie Davis - Why'd You Leave Me Baby (2:49)
11. Eddie Shaw & The Wolf Gang - I Can't Stop Loving You (2:47)
12. Highway Man - Louise (3:39)
13. Highway Man - Killing Floor (3:47)
14. Eddie Burks - Evelina (3:04)
15. Eddie Shaw & The Wolf Gang - I Got To Tell Somebody (Alternate Version) (3:02)

Blues as a macrocosm of music has an over-reaching arch that has influenced every American musical art form in some shape or another since its birth from the South. After spending time in the hands of the Delta Blues masters, it migrated north like many of its masters did after WWII in search of better pay and better work. Most of these masters came to Chicago. Chicago is the home of the blues. Blues as a microcosm on the South and West Sides has existed as a way of life since those early post war days. With many musicians coming and going either in or not written in the pages of history, the late 70s era was a very vibrant time for blues and blues musicians. Maxwell Street was still very alive and well, along with its many characters.

One of its many characters was Chico Chism. Chism is widely known as Howlin’ Wolf’s last drummer. However, there was much more to him than that. Shortly after Wolf’s death, Chism along with his fellow band mates sax man Eddie Shaw, guitar legend Hubert Sumlin, blues legend Detroit Junior, and Shorty Gilbert became the first incarnation of Eddie & the Wolf Gang. Probably recorded about a few months after Howlin’ Wolf’s death in 1976, the Gang recorded on Eddie Shaw’s Simmons label Have Blues Will Travel. It would be the only original recording the group would make. Forty years later, the album would make it out of the dusty alleys of the now vacant Maxwell Street and from the back corners to CD for the first time here.

To call this a piece of recorded blues history is an understatement. Hearing a young Eddie Shaw blasting away on vocals and sax, with the unmatched guitar prowess of Sumlin strumming away in the background, as Junior holds the underbelly rhythm with his piano is simply majestic. The remaining eight tracks also have been unearthed too. Many of the 45s and LPs of the remaining recordings were sold of Chico Chism’s briefcase and from bandstands at local gigs on the South & West Sides of Chicago; some of these tracks have probably never been heard out of that area.

Chism started his own label shortly after the disbanding of the original Wolf Gang and called it Cher-Kee after his mother’s Native American heritage. A virtual go-to guy for many of the unheralded musicians on Chicago’s blues scene, Chism recorded the remaining slices and time capsules of what the blues clubs were playing in the late 70s. Guys like Highway Man, Johnny Christian (who’s not included here), Eddie Burks, Willie Davis, and even Chism himself were what we would today consider regional musicians. Due to their location and their music, this recording is without a doubt essential for understanding blues at that time. Chism, like those who captured the godfathers of the Delta, is due some rightful respect for his efforts to record musicians we would otherwise not have heard.

Traditional blues specialist Bob Corritore, who supervised the production of this album, does a fine job in preserving the ambience of the recordings themselves. This CD is a great time capsule and a diamond in the rough of some of the late 70s blues CDs out there. For those new to the blues, these are artists you will probably have never heard of before. That’s okay. Make yourself familiar. Some of the guys playing on here are some names you’ll get to know. In other words, welcome back in time to Chicago. Listen and follow along. These under recorded players are going to give you a lesson on what it was like. Trust me, you’ll enjoy this history lesson. /Ben the Harpman, Juke Joint Soul

(For personnel details, see artwork included.)

Chico Chism's West Side Chicago Blues Party mc
Chico Chism's West Side Chicago Blues Party gofile

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Eddie Vaan Shaw - The Trail Of Tears

Size: 150.0 MB
Time: 64:24
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1994
Styles: Chicago Blues
Art: Full

01. Please Tell Me (5:43)
02. Geche Woman (4:23)
03. My Woman's Ugly (4:20)
04. Heart Of Yours (6:18)
05. Tears Are Falling (3:03)
06. I'm Ready (5:15)
07. Sky Is Crying (8:17)
08. Oh, How They Can Love (4:39)
09. I'm Crazy Now (5:55)
10. Luck Overdue (4:57)
11. Blues Men Of Yesterday (2:48)
12. Stone Cold Blue (5:21)
13. Bare Ass Slide (3:17)

Eddie Shaw did just about everything in the blues business. He was a sideman, singer, bandleader, songwriter, arranger, producer and tavern owner. In most of those roles, he worked on behalf of other artists. The whole West Side blues scene benefited from Eddie’s efforts, which included acting as bandleader and manager for the late Howlin’ Wolf from 1972 to 1975. After working for years behind the scenes, Eddie stepped out on his own as a band leader, proving himself to be one of the blues world’s premier horn players and a fine vocalist to boot. Before Wolf died in 1976, he urged Eddie to carry on the blues with The Wolf Gang. Eddie not only kept the core of the band together (later adding his talented son Vaan on guitar), but also forged a new identity for Eddie Shaw and The Wolf Gang.

Eddie’s career with Wolf began in 1958, but his varied activities brought him in contact with hundreds of other bluesmen, both in Chicago and in the South. Eddie was born March 20, 1937, in Benoit, Mississippi, and grew up in nearby Greenville, where his adolescent friends included a number of musicians who would one day become fellow Chicago bluesmen: Little Milton Campbell, Left Hand Frank Craig, Johnny “Big Moose” Walker and L.V. Banks, among others. Eddie and his close companion Oliver Sain were just two of the many blues and jazz horn players to come from Coleman High School. They joined other formally trained musicians in Greenville’s sophisticated, urban jump-blues bands, which featured four- and five-man horn sections. Eddie and Oliver made the rounds of the local nightclubs, schools, and dances, and often traveled through the Delta to play with bands such as Ike Turner’s and Guitar Slim’s. Eddie, who played trombone and clarinet before switching to saxophone, also put in some time with more traditional local bluesmen like Sain’s stepfather, Willie Love and guitarist Charlie Booker. In 1957, Eddie sat in with the Muddy Waters band in Itta Bena, Mississippi. Muddy hired him on the spot, and Eddie arrived in Chicago as a member of the top band in town.

The Chicago bands of Muddy and Wolf were built around amplified country blues, and Eddie found that he had to play differently in Chicago than he had in Mississippi. He was usually the only horn player in the band and no longer had section arrangements or short, set parts to play. But Eddie adapted to the new demands as a soloist. A few months with Muddy, a few months with Wolf, back to Greenville for a short stay, and then Eddie settled in Chicago for good. He rejoined Wolf for about two years, moved on to the Otis Rush band, and during the ‘60s worked most often with Magic Sam on the West Side. In between, there were plenty of weekend gigs with any band that needed a sax man for a night or two--“in and out of bands, up and down the highway,” said Eddie.

Eddie sang and fronted his own band from time to time, using guitar players such as Magic Sam, Luther “Guitar Jr.” Johnson and Jesse Robinson. He played on recording sessions with Wolf, Sam, Freddie King, Jimmy Dawkins and others, and occasionally took his band into the studio to record dubs for promotional use on jukeboxes and on Big Bill Hill’s local radio and TV programs. One such recording, an instrumental called “Blues For The West Side,” became a minor Chicago hit when it was issued as a single by Colt Records. In addition, Eddie wrote songs for Wolf, Willie Dixon, Magic Sam, and Andrew “Blueblood” McMahon, and contributed arrangements to sessions by Wolf, Muddy and others. In the midst of all this, Eddie was usually involved in some sort of independent business venture--an air conditioning and refrigeration service, a laundromat, a barbecue joint, a tavern on West Madison Street, which was famed for its all-star Monday jam sessions. For a number of years, Eddie operated the biggest blues club on the West Side, Eddie’s Place (The New 1815 Club), which featured such top-notch blues acts as Wolf, Otis Rush, Jimmy Reed, Luther Allison, James Cotton, Mighty Joe Young and Little Johnny Taylor.

Besides constantly touring for over two decades, Eddie recorded prolifically. His debut album, Have Blues, Will Travel, was released in 1977 on the Simmons label and later reissued by Rooster Blues. He cut four sides in 1978 for Alligator’s Living Chicago Blues series with the famed Hubert Sumlin on guitar. He cut a second album for Rooster Blues, one for the French Isabel label (issued in the USA by Evidence), four for the Austrian Wolf label and one for Chicago’s own Delmark Records.

Eddie Shaw brought his fat-toned, blues-drenched saxophone to blues fans for fifty years, thirty of them as a band leader and vocalist. He won fans all over the world, and performed constantly, carrying on in the Windy City spirit of his mentor Howlin’ Wolf and his friend Magic Sam, but above all as his own man, Chicago’s #1 blues horn player. Eddie passed away on January 29, 2018.

The Trail Of Tears MP3
The Trail Of Tears FLAC

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Howlin' Wolf & His Wolf Gang - Howlin' Wolf At 1815 Club 1975

Size: 185.5 MB
Time: 79:32
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2022
Styles: Chicago Blues
Art: Front & Back

01. Highway 61 Bound (Live) (Feat. Eddie Shaw) (3:41)
02. Fannie Mae Jones (Live) (Feat. Eddie Shaw) (4:43)
03. Built For Comfort (Live) (Feat. Eddie Shaw) (3:50)
04. Little Red Rooster (Live) (Feat. Eddie Shaw) (6:09)
05. Got To Go Now (Live) (Feat. Eddie Shaw) (3:12)
06. Big House (Live) (Feat. Howlin' Wolf) (6:20)
07. Take A Walk With Me (Live) (Feat. Howlin' Wolf) (5:30)
08. Laid Down Last Night (Live) (Feat. Howlin' Wolf) (5:09)
09. After A While (Live) (Feat. Howlin' Wolf) (6:21)
10. Don’t Deceive Me (Live) (Feat. Howlin' Wolf) (6:03)
11. Call My Job (Live) (Feat. Detroit Junior) (4:06)
12. Race Track (Live) (Feat. Detroit Junior) (4:20)
13. You’ve Been Laid (Live) (Feat. Detroit Junior) (4:20)
14. You Can’t Change Me (Live) (Feat. Hubert Sumlin) (6:53)
15. No Place To Go (Live) (Feat. Hubert Sumlin) (4:22)
16. I’ve Been Gone (Live) (Feat. Hubert Sumlin) (4:24)

Memories of hearing Howlin Wolf at the New 1815 Club are so strong that no one could ever forget what a privilege it was to be able hear such an iconic bluesman up close in a West Side club setting every weekend. But few may remember how few weekends he actually played there. Living Blues magazine reported on Wolf’s appearance at the club’s grand opening, June 6–8, 1975. Wolf’s bandleader, saxophonist Eddie Shaw, had leased the club and was presenting Wolf on weekends and Jimmy Dawkins, Casey Jones and Wolf imitator James “Tail Dragger” Jones on weeknights. The big club at 1815 West Roosevelt Road was, for a while, a mainstay of the 1970s Chicago blues scene. Usually just called the 1815, it became the New 1815, also known as Eddie’s Place or Eddie Shaw’s Place. It carried a West Side blues legacy as the Club Alex (or Alex Club) before that, when it moved from a location four blocks east where a blues fan once made tapes Magic Sam that ended up on a Delmark album. I was told that the long, sturdy bar on the east wall of the club had been salvaged from another historic club where Sam played, Mel’s Hideaway (the namesake of Freddie King’s hit single “Hideaway”). In 1963 the 1815 building served as the hall of the “Prestige Social Club of the Near West Side” and in an earlier era that block of Roosevelt Road was a residential zone. Wolf had been hitting the road with Shaw and the rest of the Wolf Gang in the 1970s, in between playing Chicago clubs on the North, South and West Sides, as he traveled to nightclubs, colleges and festivals in Canada, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, New Orleans and elsewhere and sometimes taking time off to spend in the West Point area of Mississippi where he was born. An enthusiastic, predominantly white audience often flocked to hear him, but he also put black venues like the Harlem Dukes Social Club in Prichard, Alabama, on his schedule, as well as festivals promoted by disc jockey Pervis Spann that attracted a black following.

In 1975 the New 1815 was drawing visitors from around the world who sat alongside bornand-bred Chicagoans to witness the howling of The Wolf. But Wolf felt a special connection to one segment of his audience. As he confided in his introduction to “Big House”: “I ain’t playin’ this music to you townspeople. I’m playin’ this music to the Mississippi people, down through Arkansas folk, Down South people. This is what I’m playin’, down where we used to chop cotton around.” Wolf was still one of the big names in the blues, and here he was in a West Side neighborhood when other blues stars were out touring, raking in much better pay at big venues in America and overseas—and even they couldn’t earn anything close to the popular rock bands who had recorded Wolf’s songs. Wolf had his own health-related reasons for coming off the road, but he chose to keep performing for his friends and neighbors even as he survived heart attacks and endured the rigors of regular dialysis. And in Eddie Shaw he found another Mississippi-born man he could trust not only to run his band but also to run a club where he felt comfortable performing. (Talk was that it was really Wolf’s club.) Ironically, despite the energy Wolf had to expend onstage, it was also a place where he could rest. I remember him sitting alone at that long bar, even when the club was packed. Many fans were too shy or intimidated to approach him (needlessly so since Wolf had a kind and gentle side regardless of the ferocity of his music or the tales we heard about him). And others recognized that he needed his moments of peace and privacy.

On the July 25–27 weekend the audience included Hannes Folterbauer and Christoph Steffl from the Vienna Blues Fan Club. Folterbauer writes: “We had a tape recorder (Sony TCD 5 PRO2) with cassettes, medium quality, but a good microphone. I talked to Eddie Shaw about bringing Wolf to Europe and other things – so he let me tape the Wolf concert for private reasons.” With the microphone placed to highlight Wolf’s vocals and harmonica, the rest of the band sounded more distant, but the recordings conveyed the sense of purpose and pride of a blues master who still had plenty to give, and the audible audience chatter imbued the tapes with a true West Side blues club ambiance. The songs selected for this CD reveal that Wolf was not content with a run-through of greatest hits. Sometimes, as on many of his records, he just seemed to sing whatever was in his thoughts and memories, often about heartaches, breakups and mistreatment. He also enhanced his repertoire with classics from Robert Lockwood (“Take a Walk With Me”) and Chuck Willis (“Don’t Deceive Me”). Four of his tracks were on the LP “Live In 1975” (Wolf 120.000) and have been remixed for CD release along with the previously unissued “Don’t Deceive Me (Pleas Don’t Go).” In the 1980s, when Hannes Folterbauer founded a record label in Austria he named his label Wolf Records and began making frequent trips to Chicago to record blues artists. He also met with Howlin’ Wolf’s widow, Lillie Burnett, who signed an agreement authorizing the release of Wolf’s live recordings. Back in July of 1975, as it happened, the Rolling Stones, who idolized Wolf, had also been in town that week playing concerts at the Chicago Stadium (July 22–24). Bob Greene of the Chicago Sun-Times talked to Wolf and quoted him as saying he hadn’t been invited to a Stones show and couldn’t afford a ticket—but the poverty ploy, at least, was a joke, according to Wolf’s friends and family who knew he had money and property. Bill Wyman of the Stones later recalled in the Express: “I gave him tickets for a Stones concert and, as I’d heard in the media that he didn’t have any money, I arranged a limo to collect him and his wife Lillie. He came backstage then when he went into the auditorium, they all stood and applauded him. “His wife said it was one of the most wonderful moments of his life and the next night he invited the whole band to his house. Can you believe that nobody wanted to go except me? So I ended up going along with my son Stephen, who was 13 at the time, and we had the most wonderful night – eating soul food and talking about music.” Several weeks later other Englishmen sought to see Wolf. A BBC-TV crew came to town and from September 2 to 4 filmed blues artists performing in clubs, including Otis Rush, Jimmy Dawkins and Fenton Robinson at the New 1815. But Wolf turned down their offer. According to Eddie Shaw, Wolf claimed he was “tired of making other people millionaires.” Shaw also said Wolf had declined an offer to record an album with the Rolling Stones. But at that point in his life, Wolf had decided what he wanted to do: play for his people. The Last Summer of The Wolf was a grand one, but as autumn and winter rolled around, health issues began to keep Wolf at home or at the hospital. He summoned his incredible strength to deliver a crowd-pleasing show at Pervis Spann’s International Blues Festival on November 7, and made one final appearance at the New 1815 the following night. But soon he was back in the hospital. U.S. Army veteran Chester Arthur “Howlin’ Wolf” Burnett passed away at the Edward Hines, Jr. Veterans Administration hospital in Hines, Illinois, 10 miles directly west of the 1815 Club, on January 10, 1976. The New 1815 era soon came to a close, but Wolf’s bandsmen carried on, especially Eddie Shaw, who ventured out with the Wolf Gang and probably traveled more highway miles than any other bluesman for the next several decades. Songs about life on the road like “Highway 61 Bound” and “I Got to Go Now” featured prominently on many albums he recorded, as did songs by or about Howlin’ Wolf. Shaw recorded three albums for Wolf Records over the years, and the tracks on this CD are drawn from those releases. Hubert Sumlin, whom Wolf regarded as a son, enjoyed some celebrity status after Wolf’s death in the company of various rock, blues and Hollywood stars. Though he basked in the adulation of fans and musicians who had been astounded by his electric guitar wizardry on Wolf’s classic records, Sumlin had never been a front man or featured vocalist and could rarely summon similar musical magic when on stage or in the studio on his own. But he found sympathetic backing on the Wolf Records CD he shared with Billy Branch, especially from guitarist John Primer (a prolific Wolf Records artist himself). His selections with Primer in an acoustic guitar duet setting yielded some of his most appealing results. His “No Place to Go,” incidentally, is not the same song Howln’ Wolf recorded by that title in 1954 but he does throw in a verse from Wolf’s “I Walked From Dallas.” His tracks are from the 1991 CD “Hubert Sumlin & Billy Branch: Chicago Blues Session, Vol. 22.”

Detroit Junior (Emery Williams Jr.) had his own solo career apart from his few years in the Wolf Gang, and though he never enjoyed the same acclaim as many of his fellow bluesmen, he had a creative songwriting talent that few of them could match. He recorded a live version of his best-known song, “Call My Job,” for the Vienna Blues Fan Club in Austria in 1978, while the accusatory “You’ve Been Laid” and the gambler’s blues “Race Track” are from the 1994 CD “Chicago Blues Legends (Chicago Blues Session Vol. 17).” Even though Shaw, Sumlin and Detroit Junior have passed on, the Howlin’ Wolf legacy lives on, not only in his records and theirs, but in the repertoires of countless bands in Chicago, Mississippi, Arkansas, and around the world—even in Vienna. After Howlin’ Wolf’s funeral in Chicago, Amy van Singel (then Amy O’Neal, my wife and Living Blues magazine co-publisher) wrote an obituary describing how the preacher himself was inspired by Wolf: “In his eulogy the young and fiery Rev. Henry Hardy passionately improvised on Howlin’ Wolf’s evocative song titles, creating an atmosphere not of resignation and despair, but of Wolf’s power to deal with reality and live life. Howlin’ Wolf lives on.”

Howlin' Wolf At 1815 Club 1975 MP3
Howlin' Wolf At 1815 Club 1975 FLAC

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John Primer - 2 albums: It's A Blues Life / Cold Blooded Blues Man

Album: John Primer & The Real Deal Blues Band - It's A Blues Life
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 66:09
Size: 151.4 MB
Styles: Chicago blues
Year: 2000
Art: Front

[5:31] 1. I've Been Abused
[4:49] 2. Maggie
[6:22] 3. Last Night
[4:23] 4. Mama Talk To Your Daughter
[5:47] 5. Party Girl
[4:17] 6. Empty Arms
[8:35] 7. Lonsome For Your Love
[5:27] 8. Sweet As A Georgia Peach
[4:22] 9. Every Time You Leave Me
[5:43] 10. Can't You See What You're Doing To Me
[4:29] 11. Give Me Back My Wig
[6:18] 12. Rock Me

JOHN PRIMER - gtr/voc, TOM HOLLAND - gtr, STEVE BELL - hca, KEN BARKER - pno, NICK HOLT - bass, BERT ROBINSON - drums.

Tradition, style, mentor, leader, storyteller, veteran--all these words describe bluesman John Primer. Song after song, show after show, year after year, Primer delivers intense, soul-grabbing music straight from the heart.

It's A Blues Life mc
It's A Blues Life zippy

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Album: Cold Blooded Blues Man
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 60:46
Size: 139.1 MB
Styles: Chicago blues
Year: 1997
Art: Front

[5:49] 1. Dreaming
[4:39] 2. Cuttin' Loose
[4:03] 3. Cold Blooded Blues Man
[5:30] 4. What Love Will Do
[5:01] 5. Meet Her In The Dark
[7:10] 6. Sad, Sad Day
[4:42] 7. Mojo Hand
[3:23] 8. Cairo
[4:18] 9. I'm Worried
[4:20] 10. Malted Milk
[4:01] 11. Waitin' For My Time
[4:45] 12. Love In Vain
[2:59] 13. Red House

JOHN PRIMER - gtr/voc w/ LITTLE MACK SIMMONS - hca, DETROIT JR. - pno, NICK HOLT - bass, EARL HOWELL - drums, EDDIE SHAW - sax, MAGIC SLIM - gtr, BILLY BRANCH - hca, CHRIS SANDERA - hca.

Singer/songwriter/guitarist John Primer surrounded himself with a bunch of Chicago Blues all-stars (George Baze, Nick Holt, Earl Howell, Billy Branch) for this mid-'90s release. It was easy to attract these stalwarts for his fifth solo record since Primer himself was already established on the who's who list of Chicago blues. In 1963, he relocated from Mississippi to the Windy City and slowly secured his place in the blues pantheon. By the time these recordings were made, he had already finished regular stints with Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters and Magic Slim (who makes a guest appearance on one track).

On this self-produced disc, John chooses to mix traditional acoustic Delta with electric Chicago blues over the course of 13 tracks that last 60 minutes. The material was recorded between 1991 and 1994. It captures the intensity and vivacity of John's live performances which his other studio material has struggled to deliver.

Cold Blooded Blues Man mc
Cold Blooded Blues Man zippy

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Various Artists - Chicago Blues From C.J. Records Vol. 1

Year: 1997
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 51:06
Size: 118,5 MB
Styles: Chicago blues
Scans: Full

1. Big Moose Walker - Tend To Your Business (2:43)
2. Big Moose Walker - Things I Use To Do (4:32)
3. Hound Dog Taylor - Christine (2:10)
4. Hound Dog Taylor - Alley Music (2:10)
5. Hound Dog Taylor - You Don't Love Me (2:30)
6. Hound Dog Taylor - Christine (2:14)
7. Little Mac Simmons & James Cotton - Jumping At Cadillacs (2:27)
8. Little Mac Simmons - I Need You (2:56)
9. Little Mac Simmons - Come Back (2:33)
10. Little Mac Simmons - My Walking Blues (3:14)
11. Eddie Shaw - Ridin' High (2:09)
12. Eddie Shaw - Blues For The West Side (2:33)
13. Freddie Hall - Love & Affection (2:39)
14. Freddie Hall - You Were My First Love (2:38)
15. Betty Everett w. Al Perkins Band - Please Come Back (2:52)
16. Al Perkins & Band - You Cost Too Much (2:28)
17. Ike Perkins & Band - Ike's Boogie (2:47)
18. The Daffodils w. Ike Perkins' Band - Walk (2:40)
19. Lady Jean & Her Swinging Cats - Teenie Jeannie (2:41)

On this first volume of Chicago Blues from the vaults of C.J. Records we are treated to recordings originally produced by Carl Jones who started in the music business in the mid-1940s as a singer-songwriter. Carl first recorded for Mercury in 1945, where he was accompanied by Lonnie Johnson on guitar. Carl recorded some fine Chicago Blues, Doo Wop and Gospel for his C.J./Colt and Firma labels as Narvel Eatmon a.k.a. Cadillac Baby had done for his Bea & Baby, Keyhole and Miss labels.

Carl and Cadillac Baby were two black music business entrepeneurs who carved out a nitch for themselves by working and helping to establish homegrown talent, many who went on to build nice careers for themselves with a few like Hound Dog Taylor and Betty Everett who achieved national recognition. /Excerpt from the liner notes by Ron Bartolucci

Chicago Blues From C.J. Records Vol. 1 mc
Chicago Blues From C.J. Records Vol. 1 zippy

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Nora Jean Bruso - Sings The Blues

Year: 2003
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 69:16
Size: 159,6 MB
Styles: Electric blues, Chicago blues
Scans: Full

1. When You Leave Don't Take Nothing (5:48)
2. I'm Leaving You (3:39)
3. Howlin' For My Baby (2:56)
4. If That's What You Wanna' Do (5:55)
5. Doin' The Shout (3:25)
6. Members Only (3:54)
7. Untrue Lover (3:41)
8. I'd Rather Go Blind (4:51)
9. Can't Shake These Blues (5:38)
10. Who's Been Talking (3:52)
11. It Makes Me So Mad (6:15)
12. Spoonful (3:17)
13. All Your Love (3:57)
14. Big Boss Man (4:36)
15. Killing Floor (4:16)
16. He Belongs To Me (3:09)

Vocalist Nora Jean Bruso has been an up-and-comer in the blues world, but go and see her perform live at a club or a festival, and you'll quickly discover she's a polished professional, a stone cold pro. Bruso, or Elnora Wallace, was born and raised in Greenwood, Mississippi, a town famous for producing a variety of blues and gospel greats. Her father was Bobby Lee Wallace, a blues singer and sharecropper; her mother was Ida Lee Wallace, a gospel singer.

In high scool, Nora Jean won the West Tallahatchie High School Talent Show grand prize for singing, and she began to perform in other area schools with small groups. Realizing her opportunities for recognition and recording were limited in Mississippi, Bruso moved to Chicago in 1976 and began her professional singing career with Scottie and the Oasis. Six years later, Scottie passed away and the band broke up, but Nora Jean began singing with other West Side bands she had already developed relationships with, including Little Johnnie Christian. By 1985, she joined Jimmie Dawkins' band and recorded her first single, "Untrue Lover" for Dawkins' own record company, the Leric Label. (Some of Dawkins' Leric sides were reissued by Delmark Records.) She also sang on Can't Shake These Blues, an anthology released by Earwig Records.

In 1991, she recorded with Dawkins on his album for the British JSP label, Feel the Blues, which was later re-released in 2003 with a bonus track from Bruso. In 1992, she retired from the rigors of regional touring to concentrate on raising her two sons, but by 2001, she was called back into the studio by fellow Jimmie Dawkins band alumnus Billy Flynn. She provided four vocal tracks on Blues and Love, a 2002 release, and later that year, she resumed her blues career, such as it was, appearing on the main stage at the Chicago Blues Festival with Dawkins' band. Later in 2002, she recorded her first album, Nora Jean Sings the Blues, and was awarded a "Keeping the Blues Alive" citation by the Black History Association in Chicago. In 2003, she released Sings the Blues on the Red Hurricane Records label and the album garnered critical praise from radio programmers around the U.S. and Canada. She performed again at the 2003 Chicago Blues Festival and headed to Europe that summer for a tour.

By 2004, Bruso was nominated for two W.C. Handy Awards, one for Best New Artist and one for Best Traditional Female Artist. Later that year, she signed a deal with Maryland-based Severn Records and released Going Back to Mississippi, which debuted at number five on the Living Blues magazine radio charts and climbed to number one on XM satellite radio. In June, 2004, she performed again on the main stage at the Chicago Blues Festival, with her own band, and in 2005 she made a slew of other festival performances around the U.S. and Canada, including the Cape May Jazz Festival and the Pocono Blues Festival.

During the 2000s, the Nora Jean Bruso band included Carl Weathersby on guitar, James Carter, drums, Bruce Belgin, bass and Brian Lupo, guitar. When they weren't on the road, Nora Jean was based in LaPorte, Indiana. /Bio by Richard Skelly, AllMusic

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Eddie Shaw & The Wolfgang - Papa Told Me

Year: 2001
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 69:52
Size: 161,2 MB
Styles: Electric blues
Scans: Full

1. For You My Love (4:15)
2. We're Gonna Make It (4:58)
3. Operator (5:21)
4. I'm Blue (4:28)
5. Mr. Westside (3:59)
6. Papa Told Me (6:41)
7. Stranded On The Highway (4:56)
8. Hurts Me Too (4:19)
9. Rainy Night In Georgia (4:54)
10. I'll Play The Blues, For You (7:30)
11. Don't Start Me Talking (5:47)
12. Chicken House Shorty (3:41)
13. It's Alright (4:23)
14. Blues Dues (4:35)

When it comes to blues, Chicago's strictly a guitar and harmonica town. Saxophonists who make a living leading a blues band in the Windy City are scarce as hen's teeth. But Eddie Shaw has done precisely that ever since his longtime boss, Howlin' Wolf, died in 1976.

The powerfully constructed tenor saxist has rubbed elbows with an amazing array of luminaries over his 50-plus years in the business. By the time he was age 14, Shaw was jamming with Ike Turner's combo around Greenville, MS. At a gig in Itta Bena where Shaw sat in, Muddy Waters extended the young saxman an invitation he couldn't refuse: a steady job with Waters's unparalleled band in Chicago. After a few years, Shaw switched his onstage allegiance to Waters's chief rival, the ferocious Howlin' Wolf, staying with him until the very end and eventually graduating to a featured role as Wolf's bandleader.

Eddie Shaw also shared a West side bandstand or two along the way with Freddy King, Otis Rush, and Magic Sam. The saxist did a 1966 session with Sam that produced his first single, the down-in-the-alley instrumental "Blues for the West Side" (available on Delmark's Sweet Home Chicago anthology). Shaw also blew his heart out on Sam's 1968 Delmark encore LP, Black Magic.

Shaw's own recording career finally took off during the late '70s, with a standout appearance on Alligator's Living Chicago Blues anthologies in 1978, his own LPs for Simmons and Rooster Blues, and fine recent discs for Rooster Blues (In the Land of the Crossroads) and Austrian Wolf (Home Alone). Eddie Shaw, who once operated the hallowed 1815 Club on West Roosevelt Road (one of Wolf's favorite haunts), has sired a couple of high-profile sons: diminutive Eddie Jr., known as Vaan, plays lead guitar with Eddie's Wolf Gang and has cut a pair of his own albums for Wolf, while husky Stan Shaw is a prolific character actor in Hollywood. /Biography by Bill Dahl, AllMusic

Personnel: Eddie Shaw (tenor saxophone, vocals, harp); Eddie "Vaan" Shaw Jr. (guitar, vocals), Lafayette "Shorty" Gilbert (bass); Timothy Taylor (drums).

Recorded live May 21st and October 1st, 2001, at the Time Out Pub, Rockland, Maine.

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Eddie Shaw - Too Many Highways

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 48:20
Size: 110.7 MB
Styles: Chicago blues
Year: 1999
Art: Front

[3:45] 1. Built For Comfort
[3:42] 2. Sack Full Of Blues
[3:10] 3. Since I Met You Baby
[4:28] 4. Playing The Game
[3:02] 5. Goin' Back To Greenville
[4:21] 6. Ode To Howlin' Wolf
[3:42] 7. Can't Stand To See You Go
[4:34] 8. Too Many Highways
[5:28] 9. Rainy Night In Georgia
[3:56] 10. Ain't Superstitious
[3:09] 11. I'm Tired
[4:59] 12. What Came First

EDDIE SHAW - sax/hca/voc, EDDIE 'VAAN' SHAW, JR. - gtr, JOHNN B. MOORE - gtr, SHORTY GILBERT - bass, TIM TAYLOR - drums. Recorded at ACME Recording, Chicago, IL (11/14/1996/11/15/1996).

"Too Many Highways" is the latest recording by Howlin' Wolf bandleader Eddie Shaw and his version of the Wolf Gang. Shaw has been at the heart of the Chicago music scene since he first joined Muddy Water's band back in 1957. With a musical resume that includes work with such blues luminaries as Freddie King, Magic Sam, Earl Hooker and Otis Rush, Shaw's greatest claim to fame has been the seventeen years he spent with the immortal Howlin' Wolf. When Wolf died in 1976, Shaw kept the band together as a tribute to the departed leader.

Of the twelve songs on "Too Many Highways," seven are written by Eddie Shaw, including "Ode To Howlin' Wolf," written in memory of the bluesmaster. The CD also includes excellent covers of "Built For Comfort" and "Ain't Superstitious," two songs that were made famous as original Howlin' Wolf recordings. Covers of Brook Benton's classic, "Rainy Night In Georgia," James Peterson's "Playing The Game" and Joe Hunter's "Since I Met You Baby," round out the recording.

Shaw's regular traveling band of Vaan Shaw on guitar (Eddie's son), Shorty Gilbert on bass and Tim Taylor on drums is fortified with additional guitar by Chicago blues stalwart Johnny B. Moore and a guest appearance by Michael Pevey, who trades saxophone solos with Shaw on his original, "Sack Full Of Blues."

While the covers on the CD are all well done, particularly the two Howlin' Wolf tunes, the best reason to buy the CD is the excellent group of Eddie Shaw original numbers. "Goin' Back To Greenville" provides some hot saxophone by Eddie Shaw and sharp guitar fills by Vaan Shaw. The title of "Ode To Howlin' Wolf" clearly describes the intent of this well done tune which features a Howlin' Wolf signature riff and praise for the man who contributed so much to the blues and to Shaw's career. Midway through the CD, Shaw takes the opportunity to demonstrate his skills on the harmonica. His best harp work on the CD can be heard on the title cut, "Too Many Highways," which also features some excellent guitar by both Vaan Shaw and Johnny B. Moore. "Too Many Highways" ends as strong as it starts with two Eddie Shaw compositions, "I'm Tired" and "What Came First." "I'm Tired" has a nice shuffle beat with fantastic guitar and saxophone. "What Came First" has a mid-tempo boogie beat and sounds like a tune that might have been performed by Howlin' Wolf himself. ~Dave "Doc" Piltz

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Hubert Sumlin & His Friends - Kings Of Chicago Blues Vol. 2

Year: 1971/2011
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 40:24
Size: 95,0 MB
Styles: Chicago blues
Scans: Full (front, back, cd)

1. Blues For Elmore James (2:41)
2. Funky Roots (3:48)
3. I Can't Lose (3:42)
4. One Down (3:41)
5. Willie's Back In Town (2:48)
6. Minor Feelings (3:14)
7. Everyday I Have The Blues (3:32)
8. Straight Talk (3:45)
9. Little By Little (3:34)
10. When Evelyn's Not Around (4:04)
11. It Hurts Me Too (5:30)

Quiet and extremely unassuming off the bandstand, Hubert Sumlin played a style of guitar incendiary enough to stand tall beside the immortal Howlin' Wolf. The Wolf was Sumlin's imposing mentor for more than two decades, and it proved a mutually beneficial relationship; Sumlin's twisting, darting, unpredictable lead guitar constantly energized the Wolf's 1960s Chess sides, even when the songs themselves (check out "Do the Do" or "Mama's Baby" for conclusive proof) were less than stellar. Sumlin started out twanging the proverbial broom wire nailed to the wall before he got his mitts on a real guitar. He grew up near West Memphis, AR, briefly hooking up with another young lion with a rosy future, harpist James Cotton, before receiving a summons from the mighty Wolf to join him in Chicago in 1954.

Sumlin learned his craft nightly on the bandstand behind Wolf, his confidence growing as he graduated from rhythm guitar duties to lead. By the dawn of the '60s, Sumlin's slashing axe was a prominent component on the great majority of Wolf's waxings, including "Wang Dang Doodle," "Shake for Me," "Hidden Charms" (boasting perhaps Sumlin's greatest recorded solo), "Three Hundred Pounds of Joy", and "Killing Floor". Although they had a somewhat tempestuous relationship, Sumlin remained loyal to Wolf until the big man's 1976 death. But there were a handful of solo sessions for Sumlin before that, beginning with a most unusual 1964 date in East Berlin that was produced by Horst Lippmann during a European tour under the auspices of the American Folk Blues Festival (the behind-the-Iron Curtain session also featured pianist Sunnyland Slim and bassist Willie Dixon).

Personnel:
Hubert Sumlin - lead guitar
Jimmy Dawkins - second guitar
James Green - bass
Freddie Below - drums

Special guests:
Billy Boy Arnold - harmonica, vocals on tracks 3 & 7
Eddie Shaw - saxophone, vocals on track 9
Joe Carter - guitar, vocals on track 11

Recorded on January 20, 1971 at the P.S. Recording Studios Chicago, Illinois

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Magic Sam - Magic Sam Live

Year: 1990
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 73:08
Size: 168,5 MB
Styles: Chicago blues
Scans: Full

1. Every Night About This Time (4:30)
2. Don't Believe You'd Let Me Down (4:29)
3. Mole's Blues (5:14)
4. I Just Got To Know (4:23)
5. Tore Down (3:23)
6. You Were Wrong (5:47)
7. Backstroke (4:41)
8. Come On In This House (5:50)
9. Riding High (1:41)
10. San-Ho-Say (3:16)
11. I Need You So Bad (4:37)
12. Strange Things Happening (4:16)
13. I Feel So Good (I Wanna Boogie) (5:08)
14. All Your Love (5:09)
15. Sweet Home Chicago (4:14)
16. Looking Good (3:48)
17. Looking Good (Encore) (2:33)

No blues guitarist better represented the adventurous modern sound of Chicago's West side more proudly than Sam Maghett. He died tragically young (at age 32 of a heart attack), just as he was on the brink of climbing the ladder to legitimate stardom, but Magic Sam left behind a thick legacy of bone-cutting blues that remains eminently influential around his old stomping grounds to this day.

While the sound quality leaves something to be desired, fans of electric Chicago blues should hear Magic Sam live. Recorded at two separate locations, the Alex Club in Chicago in 1963 and 1964 and the Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival in 1969, this disc captures the raw energy not only of the musicians, but the crowds' tremendous response to them. Sam is in his natural environment at the Alex Club with an interchanging quintet, including electric pianist Tyrone Carter and tenor saxophonists Eddie Shaw and A.C. Reed, playing in front of a rowdy audience, ready to party.

The Ann Arbor performance, on the other hand, finds him playing with a stripped down trio at an outdoor festival to a mainly white hippie crowd; performer and audience are somewhat unfamiliar with each other. This doesn't stop Sam's trio from blazing through their set and once again igniting the crowd. It should be noted that the energy level of the audience and band was exceptionally tense after Sam arrived late to the festival site without a drummer. Sam Lay was called upon at the last minute to fill the drum seat, as Charlie Musselwhite's band filled in for them while they set up.

Ignore the rotten sound quality, this is raw blues power and provides a priceless document of Sam Maghett's vital showmanship.

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Liz Mandeville - Heart 'o' Chicago

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 48:20
Size: 110.6 MB
Styles: Chicago blues
Year: 2014
Art: Front

[5:18] 1. Cloud Of Love (Feat. Eddie Shaw)
[4:44] 2. These Blues (Feat. Joan Gand)
[4:46] 3. Don't Dobt My Love (Feat. Charlie Love)
[5:08] 4. So Called Best Friend (Feat. Billy Branch)
[4:44] 5. Quit Me On A Voice Mail (Feat. Eddie Shaw)
[4:17] 6. Party At The End Of Time (Feat. Billy Branch)
[4:25] 7. Silver Lining (Shirley's Blues)
[4:48] 8. Tic Tok (Feat Joan Gand)
[3:52] 9. Why Would A Woman Sing The Blues
[3:32] 10. Smart Woman Foolish Choices (Feat. Wade Baker & Charlie Love)
[2:41] 11. ( Life Is Like A) Wave (Feat. Dizzy Bolinski)

A fixture on the Chicago blues scene for more than thirty years, Liz Mandeville has brightened many a stage with her husky voice and energetic performances. After four releases for Earwig Records, she released Clarksdale on her Blue Kitty Music label in 2012. Her latest project on that label is a heartfelt tribute to the musical influences from Chicago that have inspired her from the start of her career.

One strength of the disc is the beautifully crafted program of eleven original songs. Mandeville is an award-winning songwriter, not content to recycle the basic 12-bar format. On “These Blues,” her voice rides the lightly swinging beat from drummer Jeremiah Thomas. Gradually the rest of the band joins in as Mandeville relates the comforting presence that blues music has in her life. She takes things uptown on “Silver Linings (Shirley’s Blues)” pushed along by Darryl Wright’s sturdy bass line; bright accents from the horn section comprised of Wade Baker on trumpet, Eric Campbell on trombone, and Oz Landessberg on sax punch it up. The song chronicles the singer’s attempt to quit smoking. Guitarist Minoru Maruyama underscores her struggles with one of his notable six-string interludes. Mandeville belts out her frustration as she impatiently waits for her man to return on “Tic Tok,” a driving number with Joan Gand giving her Hammond B-3 organ a real workout.

Several guest artists make significant contributions, starting with the legendary Eddie Shaw. His brawny sax finishes off the opener, “Cloud of Love,” the final horn embellishment around Mandeville’s red-hot vocal. He shares the solo spotlight with Maruyama on another high point, a modern version of the break up song, “Quit Me on Voice Mail”. Singer Charlie Love joins Mandeville for a magnificent soulful duet on “Don’t Doubt My Love” and sticks around to lend a helping hand on “Smart Women Foolish Choices,” a strutting shuffle with another exuberant vocal from the leader. Another highlight is “So Called Best Friend” with Billy Branch playing sinuous harp lines to accent Mandeville’s blunt tale of cheating in the next room. He also makes an appearance on the good-time romper “Party at the End of Time”, making his harp dance on his solo slot. It is definitely appropriate that Mandeville gets a chance to show off her guitar skills on the autobiographical “Why Would a Woman Sing the Blues”. Her distorted, soaring solo is powerful statement demanding the respect she deserves. The grinding pace of the closing track, “(Life is Like a) Wave,” gives Mandeville plenty of space for another taut solo while guest Dizzy Bolinski blows some mean harp in response.

An impressive effort from start to finish, this one deserves the label “All killer – no filler”! Mandeville’s songs connect on a very human level, especially when delivered by her commanding, soulful voice in combination with the magnificent efforts by the entire supporting crew. This one comes highly recommended! ~Mark Thompson

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Various - Living Chicago Blues Vols 1-4

Every night in Chicago, the sounds of blues bands reverberate from narrow barrooms, basement taverns, and small, modest lounges throughout the city. At black neighborhood bars on the South and West Sides, decorated with Christmas tinsel, day-glo zodiac posters, handwritten signs on the walls; at the more publicized, fashionable nightspots on the North Side; or just at house parties out on the streets- the blues men and women of Chicago are singing, shouting, crying, laughing, celebrating. Songs of hard times, heartbreak, loneliness; songs to drive the blue feelings away, to rock the night and let the good times roll.

This is the living, continuing blues tradition of Chicago. Vibrant music with rich heritage of legendary names and classic songs from years gone by--but music not resigned to mere history. The blues still speaks to neighborhood crowds at clubs like Theresa’s, Florence’s, The Checkerboard, Pepper’s, Porter’s, Queen Bee’s and Morris Brown’s on the South Side, Eddie Shaw’s New 1815 Club, Ma Bea’s, The Majestic, The Golden Slipper, and The Poinciana on the West Side. And in recent years blues has drawn white audiences to popular North Side clubs: The Wise Fools Pub, Elsewhere, Kingston Mines, Biddy Milligan’s and others. The North Side clientele and décor differ, and the atmosphere is not so loose as in the black taverns. But, black or white, the blues clubs are much the same size and offer fine entertainment at similar prices. The small bands echo the sounds of the 1950s and ‘60s, but they’ve updated the music, too, with new patterns, new rhythms. In an era of pervasive rock, soul and disco trends, blues has thrived in the Chicago bars.

On weekends, clubgoers can find live blues at 20 or 30 clubs. Hundreds of singers and instrumentalists appear in the blues joints every year, just as they have ever since the 1940s and ‘50s, when thousands of blacks were arriving in Chicago from Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, and Louisiana. Today, black Southern musicians no longer migrate to the city in such numbers, but a whole new generation of bluesmen has grown up in the urban streets. And on the North Side, young white performers from the suburbs, the East and Midwest have moved in to participate with the blues veterans, sharing bands as well as bandstands.

The blues men of the ‘70s, like their predecessors, are men who live the blues, and live for the blues. Many have to work in factories, steel mills, or garages to make ends meet when the local blues gigs pay a man only $15 or $20 a night. But the blues is more than a weekend hobby to these musicians. The wages may be low, but the quality of the music is undeniably high. Chicago tavern musicians have set standards which have influenced popular music the world over. They may be featured as singers and bandleaders one night, while on the next gig they might work as sidemen in another band. Even on their nights off they’re likely to show up at a blues club, where patrons are continually treated to spontaneous jams and unadvertised guest performances. The crowds in the black clubs are mostly working people from the neighborhood. Sometimes they’re still dressed in work clothes. But the cab driver at the next table might also be a blues singer just back from a tour from France; maybe the mechanic sitting at the bar will suddenly be up on stage, blowing a harmonica or rocking the house with a guitar boogie.

Actually, “on stage” is a misnomer when it comes to most blues clubs. Bands often simply stand in a corner, or sit on their amplifiers, just a few feet from the audience. If there is a bandstand, it’s probably tiny and cramped, with barely enough room for four or five musicians at a time. Dressing rooms and special lounging areas for the stars are almost unheard of. Bluesmen share drinks and conversation with friends and neighbors between –and during-sets. In the blues bars, it’s a 9 p.m.-to-2 (or 4) a.m. world of live musical excitement, good natured-banter, friendly crowds, musicians who always have time for their fans, and honest songs wrought with power and emotion. And usually, all it costs to hear some of the world’s great music is a dollar at the door, if admission is charged at all, and 75 cents or a dollar a beer.

Yet most bluesmen have played their blues in taverns, week after week, year after year, unknown to all but the local patrons. There was a period of commercial blues recording in the 1950s, when companies like Chess and VeeJay were turning out hit singles, and the R&B disc jockeys and promoters were pushing the blues artists. But even then, the great majority of Chicago’s bluesmen were never able to record with any regularity, if indeed they recorded at all.

Today the powerful recording conglomerates show little interest in blues, and most blues singers must depend on small, independent companies which operate from storefronts or producers’ homes. The occasional 45s are distributed to ghetto record shops, jukeboxes, and amateur DJs who shout and spin records in the corner taverns. With luck, or enough money, a record might get a little airplay on the radio. The few Chicago companies which issue blues albums deal mainly with a market of white fans, students and collectors. Success in this market can mean gigs in college towns, or European tours which are more grueling than glamorous. Labels such as Delmark, Arhoolie, Prestige/Bluesville, Testament, and Vanguard were instrumental in putting many major Chicago bluesmen on LP for the first time during the 60s. Alligator’s Living Chicago Blues series, in fact, owes its inspirations to a historic sent of Vanguard albums (Chicago/The Blues/Today!), produced by Sam Charters in 1965/66. The men Charters recorded--Otis Rush, Junior Wells, James Cotton, Homesick James, the late Otis Spann, and others--went on to win international recognition and record several albums apiece for other labels. But today, many other excellent artists remain unrecorded, or with a mere handful of obscure releases to their credit. From this deep pool of overlooked or undiscovered talent come the artists who appear on the Living Chicago Blues series.

When Charters produced and annotated Chicago/The Blues/Today! he wrote, “In Chicago, on the South Side, it’s still today for the blues.” More than a decade later, it is still today for the blues in Chicago. As it was yesterday, as it will be tomorrow. Living Chicago Blues.

Album: Living Chicago Blues Vol 1
Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 64:40
Size: 148.1 MB
Styles: Chicago blues
Year: 1978
Art: Front

[5:48] 1. Jimmy Johnson - Your Turn To Cry
[3:56] 2. Jimmy Johnson - Serves Me Right To Suffer Aka Memory Pain
[3:11] 3. Jimmy Johnson - Ain't That Just Like A Woman
[4:42] 4. Jimmy Johnson - Feel Like Breaking Up Someone's Home
[2:50] 5. Eddie Shaw - It's Alright
[3:18] 6. Eddie Shaw - Out Of Bad Luck
[3:59] 7. Eddie Shaw - Stoop Down, Baby
[3:40] 8. Eddie Shaw - Sittin' On Top Of The World
[3:27] 9. Eddie Shaw - My Baby's So Ugly
[4:00] 10. Left Hand Frank - Come Home, Darling
[2:29] 11. Left Hand Frank - Blues Won't Let Me Be
[4:28] 12. Left Hand Frank - One Room Country Shack
[4:10] 13. Left Hand Frank - Linda Lu
[2:39] 14. Carey Bell - Too Late
[4:29] 15. Carey Bell - Laundromat Blues
[2:48] 16. Carey Bell - One Day
[4:40] 17. Carey Bell - Woman In Trouble

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Album: Living Chicago Blues Vol 2
Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 65:05
Size: 149.0 MB
Styles: Chicago blues
Year: 1978
Art: Front

[4:13] 1. Lonnie Brooks - Don't Answer The Door
[3:26] 2. Lonnie Brooks - Two Headed Man
[4:42] 3. Lonnie Brooks - Cold, Lonely Nights
[4:11] 4. Lonnie Brooks - Move Over, Little Dog
[3:23] 5. Johnny 'Big Moose' Walker - Would You, Baby
[4:14] 6. Johnny 'Big Moose' Walker - Worry, Worry
[2:48] 7. Johnny 'Big Moose' Walker - Sunnyland Blues
[3:19] 8. Johnny 'Big Moose' Walker - Cry, Cry Darling
[4:23] 9. Magic Slim - Stranded On The Highway
[5:06] 10. Magic Slim - Dirty Mother For You
[4:19] 11. Magic Slim - Spider In My Stew
[3:41] 12. Magic Slim - Don't Say That No More
[3:28] 13. Pinetop Perkins - Take It Easy, Baby
[5:00] 14. Pinetop Perkins - Blues After Hours
[5:15] 15. Pinetop Perkins - Little Angel Child
[3:30] 16. Pinetop Perkins - How Much More Long

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Album: Living Chicago Blues Vol 3
Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 70:43
Size: 161.9 MB
Styles: Chicago blues
Year: 1980
Art: Front

[3:16] 1. A.C. Reed - Hard Times
[4:15] 2. A.C. Reed - She's Fine
[3:51] 3. A.C. Reed - Moving Out Of The Ghetto
[3:35] 4. A.C. Reed - Going To New York
[3:38] 5. Scotty & The Rib Tips - Big Leg Woman
[3:00] 6. Scotty & The Rib Tips - Careless With Our Love
[2:47] 7. Scotty & The Rib Tips - Road Block
[3:13] 8. Scotty & The Rib Tips - Poison Ivy
[2:45] 9. Lovie Lee - I Dare You
[5:15] 10. Lovie Lee - Nobody Knows My Troubles
[3:12] 11. Lovie Lee - Sweet Little Girl
[3:00] 12. Lovie Lee - Naptown
[4:37] 13. Lacy Gibson - Drown In My Own Tears
[2:46] 14. Lacy Gibson - Crying For My Baby
[3:51] 15. Lacy Gibson - Feel So Bad
[2:53] 16. Lacy Gibson - Wish Me Well
[6:06] 17. Sons Of The blues - Have You Ever Loved A Woman
[4:23] 18. Sons Of The blues - Berlin Wall
[4:11] 19. Sons Of The blues - Prisoner Of The Blues

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Album: Living Chicago Blues Vol 4
Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 69:28
Size: 159.0 MB
Styles: Chicago blues
Year: 1980
Art: Front

[4:02] 1. Detroit Junior - If I Hadn't Been High
[3:03] 2. Detroit Junior - Some Nerve
[5:19] 3. Detroit Junior - Somebody To Shack
[2:35] 4. Detroit Junior - I Got Money
[3:01] 5. Luther 'Guitar Junior' Johnson - Somebody Have Mercy
[3:17] 6. Luther 'Guitar Junior' Johnson - Got To Have Money
[3:01] 7. Luther 'Guitar Junior' Johnson - Just Like Mama Said
[3:48] 8. Luther 'Guitar Junior' Johnson - Look What You Done
[4:57] 9. Queen Sylvia Embry - Going Upstairs
[2:05] 10. Queen Sylvia Embry - Blues This Morning
[2:52] 11. Queen Sylvia Embry - Tired Of Being Pushed Around
[4:29] 12. Queen Sylvia Embry - Please Let Me Stay
[3:31] 13. Big Leon Brooks - Blues For A Real Man
[3:03] 14. Big Leon Brooks - Thirteen Years In Prison
[4:21] 15. Big Leon Brooks - Country Boy
[3:16] 16. Big Leon Brooks - My Life Ain't The Same
[4:58] 17. Andrew Brown - I Got News For You
[3:40] 18. Andrew Brown - Morning, Noon And Night
[4:00] 19. Andrew Brown - Two Years

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Liz Mandeville - 2 albums: Clarksdale / Red Top

Album: Clarksdale
Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 35:09
Size: 80.5 MB
Styles: Electric blues
Year: 2012
Art: Front

[2:38] 1. Roadside Produce Stand (Feat. Willie Big Eyes Smith)
[3:03] 2. Mama & Daddy Blues (Feat. Willie Big Eyes Smith)
[1:53] 3. No Fear Everything
[3:42] 4. Walking & Talking With You (Feat. Willie Big Eyes Smith)
[3:58] 5. A Soldiers Wife (Feat. Donna Herula)
[3:44] 6. Clarksdale Riverside Hotel Blues (Feat. Willie Big Eyes Smith)
[2:21] 7. Bye Bye Blues (Feat. Donna Herula)
[3:04] 8. Sweet Potatoe Pie (Feat. Willie Big Eyes Smith & Eddie Shaw)
[4:44] 9. 4 20 Blues
[2:45] 10. Sand Baggin (Feat. Donna Herula)
[3:13] 11. My Mama Wears Combat Boots (Feat. Nick Moss)

April 28th, 2013, Liz Mandeville was honored for her life long commitment to the blues with induction into the Chicago Blues Hall of Fame! Liz, who started her career in 1983 with a string of gigs at the notorious “Deadwood Dave’s Saloon” on the city’s north side, won the Windy City Blues Society’s 2011 Blues Challenge. Liz’s highly engaging shows often end in standing ovations; at the 2011 Lansing Blues Fest they were dancing in the street. They were on their feet in South Carolina, in Florida, and at WCBS’s show at Buddy Guy’s Legends in Chicago.

Clarksdale, her first release for the new Blue Kitty Music label, an idea fostered by Grammy winner Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, dropped in May of 2012. Smith, best known for his work with the late Muddy Waters, contributed five tracks to the new disc. Clarksdale also features a riotous performance by long time friend and Howlin’ Wolf alum, the Legendary Eddie Shaw and includes tracks with Nick Moss and Donna Herula who was Liz’s partner in the IBC challenge.

Clarksdale mc
Clarksdale zippy

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Album: Red Top
Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 58:23
Size: 133.7 MB
Styles: Electric blues
Year: 2008
Art: Front

[3:20] 1. Red Top
[4:25] 2. Corner Bar Blues
[5:27] 3. Dog No More
[2:59] 4. Spanky Butt
[5:21] 5. My Baby's Her Baby Too
[3:21] 6. Rub My Belly
[6:03] 7. So Smart Baby
[3:14] 8. Scratch The Kitty
[3:25] 9. Whoa, Whoa, Whoa
[2:47] 10. Bad Man Blues
[4:35] 11. Hold Me
[2:32] 12. Home Cookin'
[5:16] 13. Illinois National Guard Blues
[3:12] 14. Guilty Of Rockin' All Night
[2:19] 15. Little Queen

Liz Mandeville’s Red Top builds up a contemporary blues sound based on the stylistic bricks from its past.

Liz Mandeville draws her inspiration from more traditional sources, not just the electric blues from the 1950s on, but also from the swing and jazz of the 1940s, and, on “Rub My Belly,” from the blues rags of the 1920s, and on “Home Cookin’,” from the double-entendre acoustic folk blues of Mississippi John Hurt. (His classic “Candy Man” comes readily to mind.) Red Top is a CD of artist-penned music, 15 tracks of Mandeville originals that comprise contemporary electric blues, jazz swing, a rocked-up 1920s Bessie Smith-style rag, a straightforward acoustic folk blues, and on the last cut, “Little Queen,” a musically eclectic number that’s a mixture of country-rock with Chuck Berry influence.

Mandeville is not only an accomplished songwriter. She’s also an excellent guitarist and compelling vocalist with a style that’s her own, another showing of the diversity within contemporary blues on the distaff side. ~George Fish

Red Top mc
Red Top zippy

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Eddie Shaw - Movin' & Groovin' Man (Reissue)

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 38:06
Size: 87.2 MB
Styles: Chicago blues
Year: 1982/1993/2014
Art: Front

[3:09] 1. Highway Bound
[5:55] 2. Blues Dues
[3:20] 3. Blues For Tomako
[2:42] 4. Dunkin' Donut Woman
[4:57] 5. Louisiana Blues
[2:09] 6. Movin' And Groovin' Man
[6:08] 7. Sad And Lonesome
[3:16] 8. Big Leg Woman
[2:43] 9. I've Got To Tell Somebody
[3:43] 10. My Baby And Me

Tenor saxophonist Eddie Shaw is a rarity in blues circles--a first-class instrumentalist who is not a guitarist or pianist. Shaw is a soulful, exuberant player whose lusty licks make a solid counterpoint to his rough-hewn vocals and narratives. While Shaw carries the majority of the load on this 10-cut date from 1982 previously recorded for Isabel (reissued on CD by Evidence) it is guitarist Melvin Taylor who is the revelation as second soloist. Between his work with Lucky Peterson, his own CD, and his brisk, sizzling solos and accompaniment here, Taylor merits high praise as a workmanlike, flexible contributor. The others, with the exception of the great Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, are heady pros capably handling limited support duties. ~Ron Wynn

Feat. Melvin Taylor, Ken Saydak, Harlan Terson, Merle Perkins, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson.

Movin' & Groovin' Man mc
Movin' & Groovin' Man zippy

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Eddie Shaw - Home Alone

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 45:46
Size: 104.8 MB
Styles: Chicago blues
Year: 2011
Art: Front

[2:40] 1. Walkin' In Moonlight
[3:07] 2. Got To Go Now
[3:31] 3. Lickskillet, Mississippi
[3:11] 4. Blues In Paris
[4:08] 5. Miss Tangy
[3:25] 6. Hey Mule Boy
[2:42] 7. Rock This House
[4:46] 8. Home Alone
[3:14] 9. Motel Six
[2:53] 10. Midnight Blues
[2:09] 11. Skinny Minnie
[3:15] 12. A Man's Gotta Do
[6:42] 13. One Room Country Shack

Although it's pressed on an Austrian logo, Eddie Shaw's rollicking recent disc was waxed in his Chicago hometown with the Wolf Gang (son Vaan on guitar, longtime bassist Shorty Gilbert, and drummer Tim Taylor) summoning up solid support. Once again, Shaw tackles some interesting subjects -- he fantasizes about "Blues in Paris," and decried being "Home Alone," and searches out an endorsement deal with "Motel Six" via his sprightly musical tribute to the budget chain. ~ Bill Dahl

Eddie Shaw (vocal, harmonica, saxophone); Vaan Shaw, Johnny B. Moore (guitar); Detroit Junior, Kent Barker (piano); Willie Kent (bass); Cleo Williams, Tim Taylor (drums).

mc
zippy

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Eddie Shaw - In The Land Of The Crossroads / The Blues Is Nothing But Good News!

Album: In The Land Of The Crossroads
Size: 111,1 MB
Time: 47:19
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1992
Styles: Chicago Blues
Art: Full

01. Delta Bound (Highway Bound) (4:11)
02. Tears Are Falling (2:42)
03. Fannie Mae Jones (4:59)
04. I Got To Go (4:06)
05. She Didn't Tell Me Everything (4:30)
06. My Friend Rosco (Friend Called Rosco) (2:30)
07. Dunkin' Donut Woman (3:31)
08. Take Home Pay (2:19)
09. Wine Head Hole (5:06)
10. Chicago Man (3:43)
11. Operator (5:10)
12. Blues At The Crossroads (4:27)

The best contemporary Shaw offering, cut in his old Mississippi stomping grounds with his trusty combo, the Wolf Gang. Lots of lyrically unusual originals -- "Dunkin' Donut Woman," "Wine Head Hole," and "She Didn't Tell Me Everything," for starters -- and Shaw's usual diamond-hard horn lines and commanding vocals make this a standout selection. ~Review by Bill Dahl

Thanks to Marc.
In The Land Of The Crossroads

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Album: The Blues Is Nothing But Good News!
Size: 96,0 MB
Time: 40:53
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1996
Styles: Chicago Blues
Art: Full

01. The Blues Is Good News (2:56)
02. Fannie Mae Jones (4:40)
03. Highway 61 Bound (3:38)
04. Come Home Baby (4:12)
05. I Wonder Why (4:16)
06. Big Fat Woman (3:29)
07. 44 Blues (5:11)
08. Evening Sun (3:31)
09. Red Rooster (6:07)
10. Blues Men Of Yesterday (2:49)

When it comes to blues, Chicago's strictly a guitar and harmonica town. Saxophonists who make a living leading a blues band in the Windy City are scarce as hen's teeth. But Eddie Shaw has done precisely that ever since his longtime boss, Howlin' Wolf, died in 1976.

The powerfully constructed tenor saxist has rubbed elbows with an amazing array of luminaries over his 50-plus years in the business. By the time he was age 14, Shaw was jamming with Ike Turner's combo around Greenville, MS. At a gig in Itta Bena where Shaw sat in, Muddy Waters extended the young saxman an invitation he couldn't refuse: a steady job with Waters's unparalleled band in Chicago. After a few years, Shaw switched his onstage allegiance to Waters's chief rival, the ferocious Howlin' Wolf, staying with him until the very end and eventually graduating to a featured role as Wolf's bandleader.

Eddie Shaw also shared a West side bandstand or two along the way with Freddy King, Otis Rush, and Magic Sam. The saxist did a 1966 session with Sam that produced his first single, the down-in-the-alley instrumental "Blues for the West Side" (available on Delmark's Sweet Home Chicago anthology). Shaw also blew his heart out on Sam's 1968 Delmark encore LP, Black Magic.

Shaw's own recording career finally took off during the late '70s, with a standout appearance on Alligator's Living Chicago Blues anthologies in 1978, his own LPs for Simmons and Rooster Blues, and fine recent discs for Rooster Blues (In the Land of the Crossroads) and Austrian Wolf (Home Alone). Eddie Shaw, who once operated the hallowed 1815 Club on West Roosevelt Road (one of Wolf's favorite haunts), has sired a couple of high-profile sons: diminutive Eddie Jr., known as Vaan, plays lead guitar with Eddie's Wolf Gang and has cut a pair of his own albums for Wolf, while husky Stan Shaw is a prolific character. ~Biography by Bill Dahl

Thanks to Marc.
The Blues Is Nothing But Good News!

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VA - It Ain't Over!: Del... Celebrates 55 Years Of Blues

Size: 147,1 MB
Time: 63:46
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2009
Styles: Chicago Blues
Art: Front

01. Zora Young - Til The Fat Lady Sings (7:38)
02. Jimmy Johnson - Cold, Cold Feeling (5:37)
03. Jimmy Johnson - You Don't Know What Love Is (6:49)
04. Aaron Moore - Wading In Deep Water (3:43)
05. Little Arthur Duncan - Pretty Girls Everywhere (5:38)
06. Lurrie Bell - Don't You Lie To Me (5:17)
07. Shirley Johnson - As The Years Go Passing By (5:45)
08. Eddie Shaw - For You My Love (5:00)
09. Eddie Shaw - Sun Is Shining (5:43)
10. Tail Dragger - Tend To Your Business (5:29)
11. Tail Dragger - My Woman Is Gone (7:02)

In 1953 a 21-year old jazz fan in St. Louis started a label, naming it after his street address - Delmar. Five years later, Bob Koester moved to Chicago, opened a record shop and revived his label (with a 'k' added). The blues catalogue he initiated with old-timers such as Big Joe Williams and Sleepy John Estes would accrue Magic Sam, Junior Wells, Luther Allison and many other up-and-coming names in Chicago blues of the '60s and '70s. Those greats are gone but Delmark lived on, to be celebrated in a 2008 gig featuring stalwarts of the label: Lurrie Bell, Zora Young, Eddie Shaw, Shriley Johnson, Aaron Moore, Tail Dragger, Little Arthur Duncan (who died soon afterwards) and the underrated Jimmy Johnson, heart piercing in Cold, Cold Feeling and You Don't Know What Love Is. Such time-honored songs symbolize Koester's role as a solid supporter of Chicago Blues - a blues rock impervious to blues-rock. --Mojo, March 2010

Delm...'s 55th anniversary blues bash at Buddy Guy's Legends on March 7, 2008 featured most of Delm...'s local blues roster, a Delmark Day proclamation from Mayor Daley and a Grammy Hall Of Fame Award for the groundbreaking Hoodoo Man Blues album. Live performances by Lurrie Bell, Tail Dragger, Zora Young, Jimmy Johnson with Dave Specter, Aaron Moore, Little Arthur Duncan, Eddie Shaw and Shirley Johnson.

It Ain't Over!

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Eddie SHAW - Moovin' And Groovin' Man / Have Blues Will Travel

Album: Moovin' And Groovin' Man
Styles: Modern Electric Chicago Blues
Recorded: 1982
Released: 1993
Bitrate: 320k/s
Size: 90.36 MB
Time: 38:41
Art: Full

1. Highway Bound (3:13)
2. Blues Dues (5:59)
3. Blues For Tomako (3:23)
4. Dunkin' Donut Woman (2:45)
5. Louisiana Blues (5:00)
6. Movin' And Groovin' Man (2:12)
7. Sad And Lonesome (6:11)
8. Big Leg Woman (3:19)
9. I've Got To Tell Somebody (2:46)
10. My Baby And Me (3:43)

Personnel: Eddie SHAW - Alto, Tenor Saxophones, Harmonica, Vocals
Melvin Taylor - Guitar
Ken Saydak - Piano
Harlan Terson - Bass
Merle Perkins - Drums
with:
Eddie "Cleanhead' Vinson - Alto Saxophone tr.3

Note: Tenor saxophonist Eddie Shaw is a rarity in blues circles- a first-class instrumentalist who is not a guitarist or pianist. Shaw is a soulful, exuberant player whose lusty licks make a solid counterpoint to his rough-hewn vocals and narratives. While Shaw carries the majority of the load on this 10-cut date from 1982 previously recorded for Isabel (reissued on CD by Evidence) it is guitarist Melvin Taylor who is the revelation as second soloist. Between his work with Lucky Peterson, his own CD, and his brisk, sizzling solos and accompaniment here, Taylor merits high praise as a workmanlike, flexible contributor. The others, with the exception of the great Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, are heady pros capably handling limited support duties.

                                                     Moovin' And Groovin' Man
____________________________________________________________________________

Album: Have Blues Will Travel
Styles: Modern Electric Chicago Blues  
Recorded: 1966 & 1977
Released: 1977
Bitrate: 320k/s (Vinyl ripp!)
Size: 67.21 MB
Time: 29:20
Art: Full

1. I've Got To Tell Somebody (2:19)
2. This Little Voice (2:53)
3. Blues Men Of Yesterday (2:52)
4. I Can't Stop Loving You (2:42)
5. Big Leg Woman (3:53)
6. Back Door Wolf (3:58)
7. I Don't Trust Nobody (2:47)
8. Blues For The West Side (2:51)
9. Riding High (2:07)
10. I've Got To Tell Somebody-tk.2 (2:58)

Personnel: Eddie SHAW - Saxophones, Harmonica, Vocals
Hubert Sumlin - Guitar
Detroit Junior - Piano
Lafayette 'Shorty' Gilbert - Bass
Chico Chism - Drums
on tr.8,9 from 1966 SP
Magic Sam - Guitar
Mac Thompson - Bass
Bob Richey - Drums

Notes: This is first release of Shaw, after his Master - Howlin' Wolf died. On tracks 8, 9 to release on this album added his first single (45 rpm) released on Colt with Magic Sam on guitar(!). Album is a little vocals and instrumentals.

                                                            Have Blues Will Travel
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Chris James & Patrick Rynn - Barrelhouse Stomp

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 52:59
Size: 121.3 MB
Styles: Chicago blues
Year: 2013
Art: Front

[4:26] 1. Goodbye, Later For You
[3:51] 2. Just Another Kick In The Teeth
[3:44] 3. I Feel So Good
[5:08] 4. Messin' With White Lightnin'
[4:24] 5. Before It's Too Late
[4:08] 6. A Fact Is A Fact
[3:15] 7. It Always Can Be Worse
[5:10] 8. I'm Gonna Stop Fooling Myself
[5:30] 9. Vicksburg Blues
[4:46] 10. Bobby's Rock
[3:44] 11. Take It Easy (A Tribute To Pinetop Perkins)
[4:48] 12. Last Call Woogie

Barrelhouse Stomp, Chris James and Patrick Rynn’s third album for the Earwig label, is firmly rooted in traditional Chicago Blues, yet the San Diego-based duo continues to evolve and take chances in the studio, as this collection attests in eloquent fashion. This is tough, real-deal electric Blues to party to, to dance to, to sit down and savor.

Chris and Patrick have recruited three of the finest Blues pianists on the planet, Henry Gray, Aaron Moore, and David Maxwell to take part in this project, along with a pair of Chicago legends, guitarist Jody Williams and saxist Eddie Shaw. That’s some heavy guest talent, and each of those Blues greats makes their mighty presence strongly felt on the set.

Even though their high-energy attack reflects their love for postwar electric Blues, Chris James and Patrick Rynn are decidedly of this moment and Barrelhouse Stomp lives up to its title and then some.

Barrelhouse Stomp

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