The Rolling Stones unearth the Chicago blues sound
Rick Fulker
December 1, 2016
The blues was a formative influence not only for groups like the Rolling Stones but for rock and roll altogether. Here are the artists being covered on the Stones' new album.
Image: picture-alliance/jazzarchiv/H. Schiffler
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Blues greats covered by The Rolling Stones
Rock 'n' roll grew on the fertile soil of the blues. Going back to the roots, The Rolling Stones are covering songs by these blues greats.
Image: picture-alliance/jazzarchiv/H. Schiffler
Mathis James Reed, alias Jimmy Reed (1925-1976)
Forsaking Mississippi for Chicago in 1943, he generated a string of hits. His style can be described as accessible, danceable and easy to sing and play. Musician colleagues scorned his alcohol-induced escapades. Nevertheless, it was said that "nobody liked Jimmy Reed but the people." Reed was a formative influence for both Elvis Presley and The Rolling Stones.
Marion Walter Jacobs, alias Little Walter (1930-1968)
The first to present an amplified harmonica sound, his musical innovations place him on a par with musicians such as Django Reinhardt, Charlie Parker and Jimi Hendrix. His hit single "Juke" of 1952 was followed by 14 other top 10 hits in six years. His sound was excessive - as was his life. Little Walter died at age 37 due to the after-effects of a fight.
Chester Burnett, alias Howlin' Wolf (1910-1976)
The raw, powerful voice was a testimony to the stage name. Eric Clapton and the Stones joined him on his bestselling album, "The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions" from 1970. Record producer Sam Phillips, who later discovered Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash, once said that Wolf was the most profound artist he'd ever worked with.
Image: Getty Images/Hulton Archive
Johnny Lamont Merrett, alias Little Johnny Taylor (1943-2002)
Not to be confused with Johnnie Taylor, this singer was born in Gregory, Arkansas and traveled to Los Angeles in 1950, forsaking gospel singining for the blues. Greatest hit: "Part Time Love" (1963). With his spontanous, insistent vocal style, Little Johnny Taylor continued to perform until his death in 2002.
Image: Ace Records
Otis Hicks, alias Lightnin' Slim (1913-1974)
Down home country blues and raw, expressive vocals were his trademarks - and the dark mood of his songs, from his first hit "Bad Luck Blues," where he sings, "If it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have no luck at all." The farmer boy from Louisiana learned the guitar from his older brother and embodied the lazy, rolling Louisiana blues style all his life.
Image: Ace Records
Otis Rush (1935-)
At 81, he's the only blues artist on the Stones' new album that is still alive. Spine-tingling guitar riffs made him famous - as did his expressive tenor voice and his songs. A left-hander, he plays the guitar backwards and upside down. His six decades in the business included a return to the studio in 1994 and a Grammy four years later.
Image: picture-alliance/jazzarchiv/H. Schiffler
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An group of English rock septuagenarians playing the blues: Does that fit? Does it ever! The strict rhythmic and harmonic structures and sheer emotionality of the genre were not only the wellspring from which jazz flowed forth, but also rock and roll - and the Stones even performed together with some of their blues idols.
Developing in the late 19th and early 20th centuries out of the songs that slave laborers once sang in the fields to make their work more endurable, the blues was once the domain of African-American musicians, but has meanwhile spread far beyond. The feelings in the music range from sad to exuberant.
In the late 1940s and early 50s, a new blues style with electric guitars and amplification emerged mainly in Chicago. Many blues musicians like Samuel Gene Maghett (1937-1969), alias Magic Sam, and Eddie Taylor (1923-1985) left the southern states of Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas behind and went to Chicago to shape the scene.
Some died young, like blues guitarist and singer Magic Sam, claimed by a heart attack at age 32. Others were long productive, like Eddie Taylor - and this artist probably sold even more records after his death than during his lifetime. Taylor, the versatile guitarist, singer, band leader and accompanist, was a formative influence on the Chicago blues style. In his youth, he taught the guitar both to himself and to his friend Jimmy Reed - and long remained in the shadow of Reed and others until he finally landed a hit in 1972: "I Feel So Bad."
Click through the gallery above for more on the other artists being covered by The Rolling Stones.
