Eddie Taylor Jr's So Called Friends

One of several blues playing and singing children of the late Chicago blues guitarist legend Eddie Taylor, Eddie Taylor Jr. has followed in his father’s footsteps in playing the Delta rooted Chicago blues style that his father was known for. Taylor senior was best known as Jimmy Reed’s guitarist and worked/recorded with others including John Lee Hooker (on Bluesway), Harmonica Hinds and Carey Bell along with a number of fine recordings for Vee-Jay, Advent and other labels. Eddie Junior picked up much from his father and has been prominent amongst those old school Chicago blues musicians of today. He has recorded five albums for the Austrian Wolf label which has issued So Called Friends: His Best 15 Songs, compiled from those earlier releases along with five newly issued recordings. The selections derive from 5 different record dates with Eddie Jr. backed by brother Tim Taylor on drums along with Harmonica Hinds, Roosevelt Purifoy, Detroit Jr., Ken Barker, Johnny B Moore, and others. 

The first five selections are from a recent session with Purifoy and guitarist Anthony Palmer opening with Hound Dog Taylor’s Wild About You Baby, and includes the topical Welfare Blues, as well as a cover of Jimmy Rogers’ You Sweet. This latter number best suits Taylor Jr.’s introverted vocal approach as opposed to the rocking slide guitar Wild About You Baby, which misses the fervor of an Elmore James or the exuberance of Hound Dog Taylor. They are not bad performances, just that Taylor is strongest on certain material. If his vocals are on occasion bland, the music is wonderfully played classic Chicago blues. The title track is an original that borrows the music of Willie Mabon’s Poison Ivy, with Taylor singing that nobody can hurt one but one’s so-called friends with a nice guitar break.

From his prior sessions comes a number of nice performances including his reworking of a Sugar Pie DeSanto recording Use What You Got, as he sings how he keeps his woman satisfied. His father played on Jimmy Reed’s original of Upside Your Your Head, and Eddie Jr. does his father proud on a relaxed cover, as well as a rendition of Magic Sam’s Easy Baby. There is a relaxed shuffle version of Stop Breakin’ Down, on which his playing and singing evokes his father. His brother Larry contributed a nice philosophical slow blues Blues In Your Life, that suits his introverted vocal. Also nice is his rendition of Sonny Boy Williamson I’s My Little Machine, modeled after Jimmy Rogers’ recording. It sports nice slide guitar and strong playing from Harmonica Hinds. More slide is heard on a Shake Your Money Maker variant, Gotta Make This Money, as he tells us about playing his Gibson all around town.

If not always a compelling vocalist, Eddie Taylor Jr. is always engaging and his playing is terrific. So Called Friends is a welcome introduction to a Chicago blues singer and guitarist that does deserve to be better known amongst the general community of blues enthusiasts.

I purchased this CD. Here is Eddie Taylor Jr. in performance.

With Eddie Taylor Jr, Blues Runs In The Family

A second generation bluesman of note is Eddie Taylor, Jr. One of several children of the late Eddie Taylor, best known as Jimmy Reed’s guitarist, but also an unheralded and under appreciated Chicago blues artist on his own whose music never lost its delta roots. Eddie Jr. has a new CD on the Austrian Wolf label, I Got To Make This Money, Baby. On this his brother Tim handles the drums and sister Demetria (who recently released a well received album on Delmark) sings one song while Harmonica Hinds is present with Greg McDaniel on bass and Anthony Palmer on second guitar.

Its a pretty straight Chicago blues album with Taylor performing several songs in homage of his father, other classic Chicago blues numbers and others in this style. On the opening title track, there is an opening quote of Lester Leaps In, before Taylor and the band launch into a Shake Your Moneymaker groove and sings about playing his guitar and playing the blues. This selection has him playing some nice controlled slide in the vein of Elmore James mixed with Homesick James. Hinds wails in support in support on harmonica here. Echoes of his father’s “Bad Boy,” as well as the lazy Jimmy Reed shuffle groove, are heard in his loving Salute to Eddie Taylor. Hinds is particularly outstanding on this track. 

There is a nice mix of songs including his father’s Train Fare Home, John Lee Williamson’s My Little Machine (from Jimmy Rogers rendition), and a slowed down rendition of Tommy McClennan’s Whisky Headed Woman. There are also a few other originals like his salute to the late bass player and vocalist, Goodbye Willie Kent,” where he notes Willie was a blues solider, a blues soldier going home.” Sister Demetria handles Ruth Brown’s big fifties smash, Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean, with the band providing solid support and an arrangement that does not slavishly copy the original. Similarly the interpretation of Rosco Gordon’s Just a Little Bit, makes that number a walking Chicago shuffle.

This isn’t the first record by Eddie Taylor, Jr. I heard. His earlier recordings had me wanting more and I purchased this. This is a solid, traditionally oriented blues recording. He sings from the heart and plays the old school style of Chicago blues guitar that fewer and fewer still play.

Here is a video of Eddie Taylor Jr, performing Jimmy Rogers' "You're the One."

John Primer's Blues Life

There are few blues performers as accomplished in a traditional blues vein as John Primer. A member of Muddy Water’s last band as well as long-time stint with Magic Slim, Primer has certainly produced a number of really fine recordings starting with the Atlantic/ Code Blue CD “The Real Deal” and including last year’s excellent All Original (Blues House Productions) that Primer produced himself which is a 2010 Blues Music Award Nominee with some really terrific originals and solid playing including Harmonica Hinds adding his sympathetic accompaniments. Among Primer's other releases was a  tribute to Elmore James, Blue Steel (A Tribute to Elmore James) on Wolf. The Wolf label has been a supporter of Primer and have issued other discs by him in addition to Blue Steel and Delmark also has issued some strong stuff by him.

Here are three older reviews of his music I have done over the years. First up is a 1993 review of Stuff You Got to Watch that was issued on Earwig when he was second guitarist in Magic Slim & the Teardrops. This originally appeared in the May, 1993 Jazz & Blues Report, issue 181:

Fans of straight ahead Chicago blues should check out John Primer’s Stuff You Got to Watch on Earwig. The Mississippi born Primer was in the houseband at Theresa’s Lounge where he was befriended by the late Sammy Lawhorn. Later he was in Muddy Waters’ last band and has been with Magic Slim and the Teardrops for the past few years. While he has an album for the Austrian Wolf label, this US debut certainly makes one wonder what took him so long to get hooked up with a US label.


Among those on this date are fellow Teardrop, Nick Holt, on bass, Harmonica Hinds on harp and Carl Snyder on keyboards. It is an excellent studio band which strongly supports Primer’s delta rooted vocals and guitar . While much of this is comprised of Primer’s originals, his covers are imaginative with a strong nod to Muddy on the title track. His renditions of Freddy King’s See See Baby and Magic Sam’s That’s All I Need are wonderfully paced performances while he personalizes Otis Rush’s Double Trouble, giving it a fresh cast that almost is as good as Rush’s original (which had Ike Turner’s guitar in addition to Rush’s).


Jimmy and Jeannie Cheathem’s Meet Me With Your Black Drawers On, is answered by Primer’s original Bring Your Clothes Back Home. Less expected is his transformation of Texas country bluesman Little Son Jackson’s Cairo Blues into a Chicago band blues.The instrumental Lawhorn Special is a fitting nod to the late guitar giant and his mentor. To these ears, the only misguided effort is Rhinestone Cowboy (the Glen Campbell pop-country hit), but perhaps it will get him on Nashville Now.


This is first-rate album of Chicago blues that comes from (to borrow a Bob Margolin phrase) “The Old School.”

In the March 1996 Jazz & Blues Report, Issue 209, I reviewed the Mike Vernon produced The Real Deal:

John Primer certainly has paid his dues, having been a member of perhaps the top Chicago party band, Magic Slim & the Teardrops, as well as stints in Willie Dixon’s Chicago Blues All Stars and Muddy Waters’ last band. He also spent several years in the house band at the legendary Chicago club, Theresa’s, working with the late Sammy Lawhorn, and Lawhorn’s influence can be heard in Primer’s strong, focused guitar work, with a cutting tone, and a crisp delivery.

He is also no slouch as a vocalist, and his new Code Blue release,The Real Deal, is actually his fourth album, two being highly regarded imports on the German Wolf label, and the other a strong album on Earwig. Producer Mike Vernon has put together a strong backing band here: Billy Branch on harp, Johnny B. Gayden on bass, Dave Maxwell on piano (coming on like Otis Spann) , and Teardrops’ Jake Dawson on guitar and Earl Howell on drums.

Primer and the band grind out some old-fashioned Chicago blues with tasty covers of Willie Dixon’s Good Understanding and Lafayette Leake’s Blind Man Blues,relatively obscure Muddy Waters recordings, along with his own originals. Oddly, Muddy’s influence as a guitarist is more evident on Primer’s original Still in Love With You, than on Blind Man Blues, and while the influence of Muddy’s vocals can be detected, Primer has developed into an authoritative, forceful ‘deep blues’ singer in his own right. Elmore James’ music reverberates on Still in Love With You, with some broomdusting slide guitar. Branch is outstanding throughout, particularly his crying accompaniment on the Walter Davis-Henry Townsend standard, Come Back Baby, while Maxwell (veteran of Freddie King, James Cotton and other bands) is strong throughout.

John Primer is indeed the real deal and this is a splendid set of straight ahead Chicago blues.

In the March-April 2001 Jazz & Blues Report (issue 250), I examined the Wolf release It’s a Blues Life:

Leader of Muddy Waters last band, and for thirteen years a member of Magic Slim and the Teardrops, John Primer has been developing into one of the strongest traditionally based blues artists out of Chicago. He has also been building a very impressive catalog and the enterprising Austrian Wolf label has issued this 1998 session by Primer and The Real Deal Blues Band. Primer’s band of rhythm guitarist Thomas Holland, harp player Steve Bell (Carey’s son); and drummer Bert Robinson are joined by bassist Nick Holt and pianist Ken Barker for a rocking set of no-nonsense Chicago blues.


There are covers of songs from Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Albert King and Hound Dog Taylor (though Give Me Back My Wig is more inspired by Lightnin’ Hopkins than Taylor) and strong, idiomatic originals from Primer who can take things down in the alley on Albert King’s Can’t You See What You’re Doin’ to Me as well as get a rollicking groove going on his own Sweet As a Georgia Peach. Primer’s direct style is devoid of artifice or overwrought emotion. His crisp, stinging guitar complements his forceful vocals, and with solid backing has produced another release that showcases his abilities quite nicely.

Reading these reviews years later, I am struck by some of the same points coming out including his straight-ahead style with solid singing and playing. The same points can be made about All Original, which shows why Primer is a favorite among fans of straight-ahead Chicago blues. Solid no nonsense numbers with echoes of Muddy, Elmore and others in Primer’s singing and the solid Chicago blues bands he has assembled. And he remains “The Real Deal.”


For purposes of FTC regulations, I believe I received review copies of these from the recording companies or a publicist for the company. I purchased All Original.

Chicago Blues Harmonica Project showcases Rare Blues Gems

This review appeared in Jazz & Blues Report (July 2009, Issue 318). I have made a few minor wording changes.

Severn Records has followed up its prior release of lesser known Chicago Blues Harmonica Players, Chicago Blues Harmonica Project: Diamonds in the Rough with "More Rare Gems.” Its another collection of lively performances by a variety of lesser known harp players who continue to ply their trade in the clubs and bars of the Windy City. Once again the backing band is The Chicago Blues Masters: guitarists Rick Kreher and Illinois Slim; pianist Mark Brumbach; bassist E.G.McDaniel and drummer Twist Turner who provide solid idiomatic traditionally oriented backing throughout.

Seven performers are heard on this collection, some who come off stronger than others but all are entertaining. Reginald Cooper opens with a strong vocal on his rendition of a Z.Z. Hill recording, “Shade Tree Mechanic,” with a simple harp solo that rides the disc out. His other performance reworks Lightnin’ Hopkins’ “Give Me Back That Wig,” with the band giving the song a Muddy Waters styled flavor with more harp.He is a particularly expressive vocalist and his harp adds solid flavoring to these performances. Charlie Love really tears into his harp at the beginning of the extroverted and rollicking shuffle rendition of Howlin’ Wolf’s “Ooh Baby, Hold Me.” His vocal perhaps is a bit melodramatic on the cover of Elmore James’ “Twelve Year Old Boy,” although the track sports more fine harp. What is interesting is that Love is known as a guitarist so he likely could put together an interesting album.

Harmonica Hinds has recorded with Koko Taylor several years and has several self-produced albums. His harp playing is his strength as displayed on his original, “Kill That Mouse,” but his gruff vocals suffers from a somewhat stiff delivery despite his obvious enthusiasm, The instrumental shuffle, “Sunday Morning Blues,” displays his musical strengths. The recordings by the late Little Arthur Duncan, perhaps the best known of those heard here, were his last and he turns in capable performances of “Can’t Stand It No More,” derived from Little Walter’s “Hate to See You Go,” and Muddy Waters’ “Gone to Main Street.”

Jeff Taylor handles the vocal on “Gangster of Love,” derived from a funkier uptempo spin that Johnny Guitar Watson gave the number from the seventies on. Russ Green’s superb harp accompaniment helps make this performance one of the top ones here. Taylor takes up the harp for his rendition of Jimmy Reed’s “Honest I Do,” with his effective playing evoking Reed’s simple harp style and kudos for whichever guitarist is adding the nice fills. Big D is in his 20s, but his rendition of Slim Harpo’s “I’ve Got to Be With You Tonight,” shows a maturity in his relaxed vocal and smooth playing. It rounds a generally second sampling of lesser known Chicago harp players who have plenty to offer fans of Chicago and harmonica blues.