Apply whatever categories, whatever systems you want. It’s all about the voice.
Use the guitar riff for a commercial, it doesn’t matter.. it’s all about the voice.
Willie Dixon on bass, just to keep things grounded.
Now back to that riff. “Hubert Sumlin. Hubert was Wolf. Wolf was Hubert. That’s the way we had it. That’s the way it was.”
The othr thing I gotta say, watching this video, about 2:00 in, I’m yelling “THAT’S MY GUITAR!” It’s kinda unusual. Everybody wants Gibson’s or Martin’s. So seeing Hubert with my guitar was really cool. Of course he makes it sound a little better than I ever did.
Then there’s this from Peter Guralnick:
The TV schedule that morning indicated that the Rolling Stones would be appearing, along with a number of pop acts plus a ”Chester Burnett.” That was the 55-year-old Howlin’ Wolf’s given name, to be sure, but it was not one he had ever used professionally — so I could only wonder if this might not be some terrible misunderstanding, or perhaps a cruel joke.
My doubts were erased when Wolf came striding out on stage, all 6-foot-3 and 300 pounds of him, and without preamble launched into his magisterial ”How Many More Years (Have I Got to Let You Dog Me Around)?” There was not the slightest hint of self-consciousness or hesitation as he ripped into the song, his broad, handsome face providing dramatic counterpoint to the buzz-saw rasp of his voice, the unabashed gusto of his performance. He looked as if he were about to swallow the tiny harmonica in his mouth, he waggled his enormous hips in a wildly elephantine dance, then he leapt up and down, with the Stones sitting at his feet, and it appeared as if not just the stage but the entire world would shake.
It was a revolutionary moment — unscripted, unmediated, unbound. And in an era before VCR’s, it was gone, like a dream, almost as quickly as it had begun. Yet when I finally saw it again some 30 years later, unlike most dreams, it was exactly the same. The music retained its hypnotic power; the image of Wolf surrounded by all those relentlessly cheerful ”Shindig” dancers remains unfaded; the sheer enthusiasm and conviction of his performance never fails to bring a smile to the lips.
good stuff, bob and the Sumlin interview was a hoooowl.
I saw Howlin Wolf play at a weird place in Toronto in 1982 I think it was. A great but strange night. He was definitely not jumping around like he was in the 60s in the last video.
I think that if you saw Howling Wolf in 1982 there’s a very good explanation as to why he wasn’t jumping around much.
maybe it was screamin jay hawkins
I woulda guessed Muddy Waters but not many people were even near as big, physically big, as the Wolf. Guy was the size of an NFL offensive tackle.
Scott musta been royally ripped and time trippin
This is strange. I wasn’t living in Toronto until 82, so it couldn’t have been earlier. I remember it was a New Years Eve party and I definitely knew the difference between all the blues greats. I had an album that Keith Richards did with Howlin Wolf. He sang: We’re gonna pitch a wing-wang doodle, all night long, all night long. Maybe he died in 76 and then came down to Toronto for one night sci-fi style. But seriously, this is hard to figure. I don’t know what to make of it.
An imitator? I mean “impersonator.” Not inconceivable.
I don’t know. I might have to email my ex and see what she remembers.
remember anyone singing “Werewolves of Toronto”?
I emailed my ex and she remembers things the same way I do. Since the evidence is conclusive that it was impossible she thought maybe it was one of the other great blues guys but she remembered the dining hall and how depressing the place was and the guy who we thought was Howling Wolf just as I remembered it too. ?
Mutual dissosciation?
Viagra… that’s it. Hm. Might be something to be said about that.
y’ever try cooking up a couple Viagras, mixing it with some HGH and shooting it right inta that vein?
(hint: use a 27g needle if possible)
any way, bout two minutes after the shock wears off………YOWZER
that what they call no-fault divorce in Canada?