Howlin' Wolf - Smokestack Lightning, Live 1964

[bluesbassman]

Last edited Sun Jun 10, 2012, 05:02 PM - Edit history (1)

Screw the boner pill commercial, this is some bad ass blues. Check out the man, Willie Dixon on stand up bass, and the recently departed Hubert Sumlin on guitar. Don't get much bluesier than this my friends.

[OriginalGeek]

1. kicking for the blues.

LOVE this stuff.

[bluesbassman]

2. Glad you enjoy it. This is my opinion of the female version of Howlin' Wolf...

Koko Taylor

[OriginalGeek]

3. aww hell yeah

I'm getting her albums. That was great.



I need to start looking for this kind of stuff live - I love live music but I usually go rock/metal shows. The closest I've been to to blues was a Buddy Guy set at festival last summer - he was fantastic but I need to see this stuff in smokey bars.

[bluesbassman]

4. Ain't nothin' like it live and up close.

The big festivals are cool, and likely the only opportunity most of us can get to see some of the big names like Buddy Guy, but the small venues, bars and roadhouses are a whole different vibe. Sometimes you can get lucky and see a top blues band in a small club. I was fortunate to see Jimmy Thackery once in a club that held about 100 people.Yet even semi-pro bands like mine can be a kick. The upside is if they're not, you're not gonna be out much scratch.

[hobbit709]

9. Some of the best blues I've heard was in little dives.

[HarveyDarkey]

12. I miss her

I saw her every chance I could.

[MooseMoore]

5. Happy Birthday Howlin' Wolf

Here is my tribute celebrating the life and music of
Chicago Blues master and icon Howlin' Wolf on his birthday, today.

Wolf's presence was felt by listeners on several levels
and his voice embodies the full and raw power of the Blues
and the human heart through sound.

Hours of Live Video in his honor
http://classicbluesvideos.com/video-details.asp?id=701&?Song=Happy%20Birthday%20Howlin%27%20Wolf

The Documentary "The Howlin' Wolf Story - The Secret History of Rock & Roll"
http://classicbluesvideos.com/video-details.asp?id=700&?Song=The%20Howlin%27%20Wolf%20Story%20-%20The%20Secret%20History%20of%20Rock%20&%20Roll

Just like a flower. You see, we're trampin' on this grass. We stay here a couple months and tramp right around here, we gonna' kill it. Just as soon as we stop trampin', the first warm sunshine, and then the grass gonna' start a growin' again. You don't never learn it all. " - Howlin' Wolf

[HarveyDarkey]

6. This video has been removed by the user

bummer, I was up for some blues.

[bluesbassman]

8. Fixed it.

[Tom Ripley]

7. I got a hug from Hubert Sumlin years ago, and I told him that I was never washing my back again

[kwassa]

10. Howlin' Wolf is my favorite blues singer of all time.

No one else comes close. His voice is just amazing.

I heard a great version of Little Red Rooster by him on Bluesville channel the other day, a live cut.

[retread]

11. Heard this story years ago. Supposedly it was one of those label package tours

and Fats Domino followed Wolf, so there was pressure to make plenty of time for the "star." On his way off stage he passed Fats Domino and sneered "top that!"


"When Wolf played Memphis in 1965 in a blues package show, many recall the performance as astounding. Here is the show, recalled from one of four white audience members:

The MC announced Wolf, and the curtains opened up to reveal his band pumping out a good old down home shuffle. Compared to the other acts in the show, this was the hard stuff. So where was Wolf?

Suddenly he sprang out onto the stage from the wings. He was a huge, hulk of a man, but he advanced across the stage in sudden bursts of speed, hid head pivoting from side to side, eyes huge and white, eyeballs rotating wildly. Just when you thought he was having a seizure, he lunged for the microphone.

He blew a chorus of raw, hard harmonica, and then began to moan. He had the hugest voice ever, and it seemed to fill the hall and get right inside your ears, and when he hummed and moaned in falsetto, every hair on your neck crackled with electricity.

The set went by like an express train, with him alternating from harp to guitar (which he played while rolling around on his back, and at one point, while doing somersaults) and he was – in all his glory – the Mighty Wolf.

Finally, an impatient signal from the wings let him know his portion of the show was over. Defiantly, Wolf counted off a bone crushing rocker, began singing rhythmically, feigned an exit, and suddenly made a flying leap for the curtain at the side of the stage. Holding the microphone under hid beefy right arm and singing into it all the while, he began climbing up the curtain, going higher and higher, until he was perched far above the stage, the curtain threatening to rip, the audience screaming with delight. Then in one fluid movement, he loosened his grip, slid easily and smoothly down to the floor, cut off the tune, and stalked off the stage.

He was then 55 years old."