Antone’s, the blues club Clifford Antone opened in Austin, Texas, in July 1975, has wrapped up its 50th anniversary with a record cut live to tape, no polish: Antone’s 50th Presents Chicago Bound: Honoring Muddy, Cliff & Blue. It came out on August 28 on Blues Till 2 Recording Co., distributed by Select-O-Hits, and it’s back in the conversation this week thanks to a review in Blues Blast Magazine. I listened with a harp in my hand, so that’s the angle I want to take.
Two Men and a Whole Chicago Band
The title track is a Jimmy Rogers song. The original 1954 Chess recording had Little Walter on harmonica, as the North Jersey Blues Society review points out. Here John Primer, Muddy Waters’ last guitarist, strips it down to his guitar and the harp of Steve Bell, son of Carey Bell, another Muddy band alumnus. According to the release notes published by Grateful Web, the whole album started the night co-producer Zach Ernst heard Primer cut that duo on the spot at Electrical Audio in Chicago.
If you play, that duo is a lesson in job description. With no bass and no drums, the harp has to carry the pulse and the harmony at once: chords, rhythmic chops, short answers to the vocal. Steve Bell is back at the end on “Got My Mojo Working”, this time with a full band, Lil’ Ed Williams on guitar and Kenny “Beedy Eyes” Smith on drums, son of Willie “Big Eyes” Smith. Muddy’s family, handing the music down.
Jimmie Vaughan Picks Up the Harp
The surprise is “One Step at a Time”, a Clifton Chenier tune with Ivan Neville, CC Adcock, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood. Jimmie Vaughan left his guitar at home and played harmonica, a side of him that almost never shows up on record. Blues Blast hears high notes in the Jimmy Reed vein, and that’s right: harp way up top, unhurried, just poking at the zydeco groove.
Jimmy Reed returns on “Baby What’s Wrong”, sung by Lavelle White in her nineties, with Marcia Ball on piano and Mark Kazanoff on harp. It’s the simplest track on the album and maybe the most beautiful.
What About Kim Wilson?
Kim Wilson sings “I’m Not Ashamed”, a 1959 Duke hit for Bobby “Blue” Bland, with the Fabulous Thunderbirds and a horn section. He’s more singer than harp player here, and it fits: the Thunderbirds were formed in Austin in 1974 and Clifford Antone mentored both him and Jimmie Vaughan. Hearing Kim on this record is hearing the house that raised him. I was chosen to open one of his Blues All-Stars shows, so this track gets an extra bit of affection from me.
What to Listen For, Plus an Exercise
My suggestion: play the 1954 “Chicago Bound”, then Primer and Steve Bell’s version right after, and notice what the harp does when it is the whole band. Then grab an A harp, second position for a blues in E, and try backing a guitar with nothing but chords and answers, no soloing at all. To me it’s the most honest exercise there is. The album has 11 tracks and is available at the Antone’s Record Shop and on streaming platforms.
I love records like this, made by people who know each other from the bandstand. Antone’s is one of those places every blues harp player carries around in their head, even without ever walking through the door.
— Ale Ravanello