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Home » Little Walter

Tag: Little Walter

Chandra Cooper outside the Muddy Waters home, speaking into a microphone and wearing a bright fuschia top and a hat with a matching band; inset is a black-and-white photo of her mother, Amelie Cooper, and Muddy Waters
Posted inMusic

Living with Muddy

by Deitra Farr July 21, 2022July 28, 2022

In 1954, McKinley Morganfield bought his first house, located at 4339 S. Lake Park Avenue in Kenwood. Better known as Muddy Waters, the Father of Chicago Blues shared the south-side […]

An illustration of blues guitarist and pianist Lazy Bill Lucas embedded in the title card for the Secret History of Chicago Music
Posted inMusic

Lazy Bill Lucas came into his own as a bandleader in his last decade

by Steve Krakow January 11, 2022January 11, 2022

Snowstorms, cold snaps, the most contagious wave of COVID-19 yet—it’s clearly time for the Secret History of Chicago Music to begin its yearly Winter Blues series. That’s where I cover […]

Posted inMusic

The Aces helped invent the sound of electric Chicago blues

by Steve Krakow January 28, 2021August 18, 2021

The Aces are best known as a backing band, but they took the lead when it came to the future of the blues.

Posted inMusic

Two Chicago institutions bridge jazz and blues

by James Porter August 27, 2019August 18, 2021

Guitarist George Freeman and harmonica player Billy Branch demonstrate the common roots of the sounds they love.

Posted inMusic

Louis Myers cofounded one of the great backing bands in the blues

by Steve Krakow April 9, 2019January 5, 2022

The guitar and harmonica master from the Aces played with Junior Wells, Little Walter, Otis Rush, Magic Sam, and many more.

Posted inMusic

Blues bassist Calvin ‘Fuzz’ Jones made Muddy Waters sound his best

by Steve Krakow March 26, 2019August 18, 2021

Calvin “Fuzz” Jones, who spent most of his five-decade career in Chicago, was one of the most prominent sidemen in electric blues.

Posted inMusic

The Reader’s guide to the 2018 Chicago Blues Festival

by Bill Dahl and David Whiteis June 5, 2018August 18, 2021

The fest expands its footprint in Millennium Park with a diverse lineup that includes boogie-woogie pianist Erwin Helfer, southern soul-blues star Ms. Jody, and the Rising Stars Fife & Drum Band with Shardé Thomas.

Posted inMusic

The complete schedule of the 2018 Chicago Blues Festival

by Chicago Reader May 31, 2018August 18, 2021

Every Blues Festival set on all five stages in Millennium Park, from Friday morning through Sunday night

Posted inBlogs

Ten great photos taken during the heyday of the blues

by Dave Newbart April 17, 2018August 18, 2021

Images of Muddy Waters, James Cotton, and Bob Dylan are among 1,000 searchable photos by Raeburn Flerlage that are now online.

Posted inMusic

Blues guitarist Joe Carter electrified Chicago’s 1950s club scene, but he never recorded in his heyday

by Steve Krakow March 29, 2018August 18, 2021

Joe Carter’s only LP came out in 1976, and original copies of the raw-as-hell Mean & Evil Blues now fetch more than $100.

Posted inBlogs

Blues harmonica legend Little Walter recorded one of his best singles in 1954, when he was just 24

by Peter Margasak March 21, 2017August 18, 2021

Little Walter’s 1954 classic “Mellow Down Easy” combines rudely soulful singing, lilting guitar, furious harmonica, and a quasi-Cuban groove.

Posted inBlogs

The Third Coast—turning a bunch of stuff that happened into drama

by Michael Miner July 16, 2013August 19, 2021

Thomas Dyja’s history of Chicago finds the story line in 30 years of city life.

Posted inBlogs

Historical Sound and Vision

by Peter Margasak December 15, 2009August 19, 2021

A beautiful Dust-to-Digital book/CD set about early American immersion baptism earns a Grammy nomination.

Posted inMusic

Grady Freeman

by David Whiteis October 14, 1999August 19, 2021

Blues vocalist and harpist Grady Freeman spent the 50s alongside such future legends as Junior Wells and brothers Dave and Louis Myers, and in the early 60s he gigged around […]

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