Comments on: Howlin' Wolf on the YouTube and related links

Howlin' Wolf on the YouTube and related links

y2karl — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 21:47:35 -0800

Howlin' Wolf - How Many More Years
Howlin' Wolf - Meet Me in the Bottom
Howlin' Wolf - Highway 49
Howlin' Wolf - Smokestack Lightning
Howlin' Wolf - Dust My Broom
Howlin Wolf - I'll Be Back Someday And here is Howlin' Wolf -A Personal Recollection from The (unofficial) Howlin' Wolf Web Site . Wolf sometime in the late 1940s. Howlin' Wolf, bluesman, force of nature, historic figure--where the soul of Man never dies. Not mention his second career as human mutate and Marvel comic book super hero.

By: Hugonaut

Hugonaut — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 22:00:24 -0800

Best blues related superhero evarr. Every time you think that something couldn't possibly be a real comic, it was...and it ruled.

By: sleepy pete

sleepy pete — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 22:20:06 -0800

Thanks, y2karl. Howlin' Wolf is one of my favorites performers. The studio version of "Meet Me in the Bottom" has the greatest groove with Jimmy Rogers* and Wolf playing the guitar... that song made me realize that there was a lot you could do with time and a slide. Not to mention the 3, 567, 891 (conservative estimate, of course) that have used the riff to "Smokestack Lightning" (you can stare at the record while listening to the studio version!). Man, that song.... Or the fact that the Ren and Stimpy theme always sounded exactly like "Killing Floor". Sorry, I'll stop now. Anyone who would like to know more about Howlin' Wolf should pick up The Howlin' Wolf Story. It's full of archival footage (most of the above appears) and interviews with his daughters and people who played with him. *Once, when I was in Blue Heaven Studios, I was actually able to touch one of Rogers guitars. His son, Jimmy D. Lane, helps run the studio and the label associated with it, or at least used to, I'm not sure if he does anymore.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 22:29:57 -0800

Some great clips you've linked to here, y2karl. This DVD, The Howlin' Wolf Story, is highly recommended for Wolf fans. Lots of performance footage, of course, and the interview segments with his daughters are charming. Chester Burnett was a solid family guy, and his children speak very lovingly of their dad.

By: melissa may

melissa may — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 22:43:45 -0800

Thanks for this, y2karl -- you are the undisputed king of music posts.

By: madamjujujive

madamjujujive — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 22:54:27 -0800

Such great historical pieces, y2karl. YouTube proved itself for me when I started being able to find these vintage blues clips. And the first person I started searching for was Howlin' Wolf, the old taildragger. The clips you unearthed are thrilling. I'd seen two, but they keep getting deleted, grrr. Hadn't seen the others. Note the cameo of the rather intoxicated Son House in the first video and Dust My Broom. I love the close up of Wolf's facial expressions in Highway 49 - I can almost feel myself in the audience. What a powerhouse, what raw energy - love the Wolf man. I didn't know about the comic thing, what a hoot. Shake it for me - one of my favorites, taped from a 1964 German TV show, missing a few seconds on the front end, but still fabulous. I got a crazy woman, shake like jelly on a plate...

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 22:57:16 -0800

Excellent early Howlin Wolf y2karl. Sweet post. Oh man, some of my favorite songs ever were written by him. Killing Floor - The Electric Flag He had a mean mother. The Howlin Wolf story site with some sound clips. His grave. Howlin' Wolf's voice has been compared to "the sound of heavy machinery operating on a gravel road" Solid head on his shoulders, I like that: After he married Lillie, who was able to manage his professional finances, Wolf was so financially successful that he was able to offer band members not only a decent salary, but benefits such as health insurance; this in turn enabled him to hire his pick of the available musicians, and keep his band one of the best around. According to his daughters, he was never financially extravagant, for instance driving a Pontiac station wagon rather than a more expensive and flashy car. Love his London Howlin Wolf Sessions.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 23:29:54 -0800

He had a mean mother. Yeah, she seems to have been a real piece of work: super devout Christian, convinced that the blues was the tool of Satan himself. Wouldn't even speak to her son, right to her grave. The DVD I linked to above touches on this, and it was apparently really, really hard on Burnett.

By: hifiparasol

hifiparasol — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 23:36:09 -0800

Somewhere in my collection is a Sonny Boy Williamson CD whose liner notes tell a story of how Sonny Boy had the ability to make his voice sound a lot like Wolf's -- he's even got a song called "Like Wolf," where he demonstrates this. Occasionally, the story goes, Sonny Boy would actually pretend he was Wolf, to draw crowds. When Wolf found out about this, he started telling people that he'd better not run into Sonny Boy, because Sonny Boy would be a fucking dead man if he ever saw him.* Whenever someone turns on American Idol, I close my eyes, think of this story, and smile. Music wasn't always crap, and neither were the narratives that surrounded its creation. *There's a small chance it may have been Muddy Waters, but I'm pretty sure it was Sonny Boy.

By: cogneuro

cogneuro — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 23:52:08 -0800

What Flapjax said about the DVD. You don't think of him as a dad, but the daughters are great and fill in the picture. Lots of historical footage. I heard him once as the opening act for, like, Frank Zappa. Wolf and Muddy Waters: two greatest voices in the blues? Two of the greatest singing voices evah?

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 00:54:43 -0800

...how Sonny Boy had the ability to make his voice sound a lot like Wolf's... Hey, Captain Beefheart turned that into a whole career! Not to say, though, that Beefheart isn't deserving of all sorts of high accolades: he is after all, one of the great eccentric genius iconoclasts of 20th century American music.

By: MinPin

MinPin — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 00:58:41 -0800

y2karl, everything about your posts is good

By: Wolof

Wolof — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 02:22:23 -0800

*howls a bit*

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 03:03:51 -0800

Howlin' Wolof! Hey, somebody had to say it, right?

By: fearfulsymmetry

fearfulsymmetry — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 03:10:14 -0800

Keep Howlin'

By: poppo

poppo — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 03:59:23 -0800

Howlin' Wolf - How Many More ~~Years~~ Times Howlin' Wolf - Meet Me in the ~~Bottom~~ Morning Howlin' Wolf - Smokestack Lightning Covered

By: rdone

rdone — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 04:59:07 -0800

A fine Wolf bio: Moanin' At Midnight: The Life and Times of Howlin' Wolf

By: psmealey

psmealey — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 05:08:58 -0800

convinced that the blues was the tool of Satan himself You mean it's not? I'm going to have to rethink my love of the blues in that case. [This is awesome]

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 05:25:34 -0800

Thank you, y2karl.

By: quietalittlewild

quietalittlewild — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 05:38:21 -0800

Wow, thanks for this. Who was it that said "The blues ain't nothin' but a good man feelin' bad"? Yet when I hear the blues, it makes me feel so very uplifted and...good! I will now go through the day happily humming "Smokestack Lightning" to myself.

By: Ironmouth

Ironmouth — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 06:41:20 -0800

I'm sick of these Led Zeppelin posts.

By: sleepy pete

sleepy pete — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 07:16:20 -0800

Hey, Captain Beefheart turned that into a whole career! According to Frank Zappa, Van Vliet (aka The Captain) actually used to run around with a wet head to give himself a cold in order to make his voice sound like that. One day his voice cracked and never went back. he is after all, one of the great eccentric genius iconoclasts of 20th century American music The story goes that Muddy Waters once apologized to Don for having an off night when Van Vliet had come to see him. If Muddy Waters cares that much about you, you're doing something right.

By: Rangeboy

Rangeboy — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 08:35:11 -0800

Brilliant. I love the Wolf, even more than Muddy. Great post.

By: msalt

msalt — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 08:44:47 -0800

Who, oh who, can find me a clip of "Do the Do"? Arguably the first modern rock song.... And with Hubert Sumlin please, not British rock stars.

By: y2karl

y2karl — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 10:25:40 -0800

Note the cameo of the rather intoxicated Son House in the first video and Dust My Broom. Both are clips from the dvd Devil Got My Woman:Blues At Newport 1966 , the greater part of which was filmed by Alan Lomax. Lomax attempted to recreate be a roadhouse atmosphere by filming the Newport peformers and their companions after hours in a restaurant or a set created backstage at the Festival. Son House, a notorious alcoholic, had gotten drunk and then belligerent and wouldn't stop shouting interjections during Wolf's monologues between song. Wolf bore this for a few moments, and tried to brush it off with a <>em>Now, here's a man with the blues. But House wouldn't shut up and the Wolf became visibly angry and said You had a chance with your life, but you ain’t done nothing’ with it--you don’t love but one thing, and that’s some whiskey... It's a rather intense dressing down--Wolf is mad--especially considering that Son House ran with Charley Patton, who had been Wolf's mentor. He once had a great deal of respect for the man. It was quite a legendary encounter among blues circles before these films made it to first VHS and then DVD.This is also mentioned and discussed in the Howling Wolf Story film that sleepy pete linked above. Between Devil Got My Woman: Blues At Newport 1966 and the the American Folk Blues Festival series of dvds you will find the bulk of Wolf's performances on video. All three are worth getting. Hubert Sumlin's recollections in The Howlin' Wolf Story alone are priceless.

By: joseph_elmhurst

joseph_elmhurst — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 10:53:43 -0800

Howlin' Wolf's Cadet Concept LP. If you hate Electric Mud, you'll despise this.

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 11:19:40 -0800

Rewatching those videos. What an elegant man. Hypnotic presence.

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 11:38:55 -0800

Yaa -Hooo-oooh. Wolf does a hauntingly slow version of “Smokestack Lightning.” My dad caught that a long time back. Only thing that comes close (for me) is John Lee Hooker’s low version of “Father was a Jockey.”

By: y2karl

y2karl — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 12:19:17 -0800

And let it be noted that Wolf's original Smokestack Lightning is one of two--I Asked For Water (She Gave Me Gasoline) being the other--songs he did that were takes on Tommy Johnson's Cool Drink of Water. If you go by their repertoires, both Muddy and the Wolf were far more influenced by a Johnson by the first name of Tommy rather than Robert.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 21:12:39 -0800

Evil.