Latest Release
- MAR 8, 2024
- 2 Songs
- Calling All Blues · 1960
- Calling All Blues · 1990
- Buddy and the Juniors · 1970
- Heaven's Prisoners (Music From the Motion Picture) · 1965
- Buddy Guy & Junior Wells Play the Blues · 1972
- Buddy Guy & Junior Wells Play the Blues · 1972
- Delmark 70th Anniversary Blues Anthology · 1965
- Come On In This House · 1996
- Buddy Guy & Junior Wells Play the Blues · 1972
- All Blues'd Up: Songs of the Rolling Stones · 2002
Essential Albums
- At the behest of Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy and Junior Wells left Chicago for Miami's Criteria Studios (a Clapton haunt) to record this album in the fall of 1970. These are some of the most soul-influenced recordings of the duo's career. With Dr. John on piano, A.C. Reed on tenor sax, and Clapton himself on rhythm guitar, "A Man of Many Words," "T-Bone Shuffle," and "Messin' with the Kid" all have a distinct Southern-style R&B groove. Wells's reading of Sonny Boy Williamson's "My Baby She Left Me (She Left Me a Mule to Ride)" has a bit more of a typical 12-bar Chicago feel, while "Bad Bad Whiskey" features Clapton contributing some tasty bottleneck fills. With Tom Dowd assisting Clapton in the producer's chair, Play the Blues has a unique place in Guy's and Well's catalog, sounding as polished as they've ever sounded. Since only eight songs survived from the Miami sessions, Guy recorded two tracks with the J. Geils Band in 1972 to complete the program.
- Recorded when Buddy Guy and Junior Wells were still known as two of Chicago’s finest sidemen, Hoodoo Man Blues thrust the pair into the spotlight and marked a turning point for Chicago blues. Up to this point, Chess Records was the dominant influence on the local scene, and recordings of all the greats were often compromised by the regulations and unabashedly commercial intentions of Leonard Chess. Bob Koester — a blues nut who founded Delmark Records and ran the Blues Record Mart — intended Hoodoo Man Blues as the antidote to Chess’s regulations. Koester wanted to capture on record how electric blues was felt and played in South Side clubs, and in that mission, this album is entirely successful. There is exceptional weight and dignity to these recordings. Every instrument is captured with total clarity. Wells and Guy give the album its bite, but special mention should be made of bassist Jack Myers and drummer Billy Warren, one of the leanest, stickiest rhythm sections every put on record. This album should be experienced front-to-back, like a nightclub set, but you’ll want extra time with “In the Wee Hours,” “Chitlin Con Carne” and “Hoodoo Man Blues.”
Music Videos
- 2011
- 2011
Artist Playlists
- His gutsy harp leads embrace R&B and guide Chicago blues into the rock ‘n' roll era.
- 2012
- 2007
About Junior Wells
Junior Wells carved out a place in Chicago blues history with his expressive mouth harp, gruff voice, and R&B-informed attack. Born in West Memphis, AR, in 1934, Wells took to music at a young age: By the time his family moved to Chicago in 1948, the 14-year-old was already a hard-spitting harmonica player. After stints in The Aces and Muddy Waters’ backing band, he went solo and eventually scored his trademark hit: 1960’s “Messin’ With the Kid.” With his appearances at Theresa’s Lounge becoming one of the hottest gigs in Chicago, Wells teamed up with guitarist Buddy Guy to record his 1965 debut, Hoodoo Man Blues. Its ferocious swing reinvented Chicago blues, and the duo continued remolding the form on 1972’s soul-inspired Buddy Guy & Junior Wells Play the Blues. Wells and Guy would collaborate into the ’80s before refocusing on their solo careers. In the final decade of his life, Wells released adventurous sets like 1996’s Come On In This House. Arriving two years before cancer and a heart attack claimed his life, the unique mix of country blues and folk music exudes all the toughness and humor of his finest work.
- FROM
- Memphis, TN, United States
- BORN
- December 9, 1934
- GENRE
- Blues