“Amos Wells Blakemore Jr. arrived in Chicago as a boy and made his first records in his own name in 1953, aged just eighteen. Elmore James and Muddy Waters served as session men. He learned to play harp at the feet of Sonny Boy Williamson, and he fronted The Aces—Louis and Dave Myers, and Fred Below—one of the finest of all Chicago blues bands. By the mid-1960s Junior Wells was at the forefront of the city’s blues scene, a veteran of the Muddy Waters band and the resident headline at Theresa’s Tavern…He was a genuine star, born to perform: a brooding and almost sinister presence during a slow blues, an eccentrically electrifying dancer, and a mesmerizing singer who would punctuate an impassioned tenor wail with weird, guttural clicks and growls. He sang and played as if totally possessed. When Junior Wells was up on stage, nothing else in the room could hold your attention” (Alan Harper, Waiting for Buddy Guy: Chicago Blues at the Crossroads, 2016).
Junior Wells with Buddy Guy “Hoodoo Man Blues”
Junior Wells with Buddy Guy “Hoodoo Man Blues”
This post first appeared on Rock My Soul: An Audio History Of Rock & Roll, please read the originial post: here
