Chester Burnett was born at White Station outside West Point in 1910. West Point is in the prairie area of eastern Mississippi, about 20 miles from Aberdeen (where yesterday’s subject, Bukka White was born).
Burnett, a large, imposing man, collected nicknames– Big Foot, Taildragger, and most famously, Howling Wolf. He first recorded for Sam Phillips at Memphis Recording Service, before Phillips had started Sun Records. I heard Phillips say once that Wolf was the greatest talent he had ever recorded (hold that thought in your head a moment and run through a list of Sun related artists– Elvis Presley, Little Milton, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ike Turner, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Rufus Thomas just for starters) and that he knew that if he did not get a great record from Wolf, it was Phillips own fault.
Wolf learned guitar and began performing while farming in the Delta, where he was influenced by Charley Patton, then moved to West Memphis, where in the early 50s he had a radio show. Initially, he recorded for both Chess and Modern Records, ultimately going with Chess and moving to Chicago. Here’s a Youtube video of Wolf from 1966, filmed by Alan Lomax at the time of that year’s Newport Folk Festival. Yesterday, I posted about Lomax’s father and a 1939 visit to Parchman.
Here’s some history of Wolf’s childhood in West Point, along with some information about local tributes to him:
NMC, didn’t know you were a blues fan like I am. Next time you are in the next county north of you, stop by and I’ll by you a cup of coffee. I see some of the Kimbrough’s and the Burnside’s quite often. CCC
Really enjoyed this one too, NMC. HW was a great singing actor too, huh?
He was a serious performer by all accounts.
All this blues talk has caused the ads to switch from Hillary to “juke joint blues ringtones”.
Fine by me, DN