Happy Birthday to the Suncoast Blues Society...and what a party it was... Hubert Sumlin and more!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SBS!
776 members and growing with members in 33 States, Canada, the UK, Germany and Northern Ireland!

Support your local music scene - musicians, organizations, and venues. (waiters and waitresses too!) Don't overpay for live music. Don't be a slave to ticketmaster. Ok, I'm off the soapbox now.

To celebrate the 12th birthday, SBS booked Hubert Sumlin. Click to read a bio of Hubert Sumlin:
http://www.hubertsumlinblues.com/biography.html



From Wikipedia:
Hubert Sumlin (born November 16, 1931) is an American blues guitarist and singer, best known for his celebrated work, from 1955, as guitarist in Howlin' Wolf's band. His singular playing is characterized by "wrenched, shattering bursts of notes, sudden cliff-hanger silences and daring rhythmic suspensions.

Born in Greenwood, Mississippi, Sumlin was raised in Hughes, Arkansas. When he was eight years old, he got his first guitar. As a boy, Sumlin first met Howlin' Wolf (Chester Burnett) by sneaking into a performance. Upon his arrival in Chicago, Wolf first hired Chicago guitarist Jody Williams, and in 1954 Wolf invited Sumlin to relocate to Chicago to play second guitar in his Chicago-based band. Williams left the band in 1955, leaving Sumlin as the primary guitarist in Wolf's band, a position he held almost continuously (except for a brief spell playing with Muddy Waters c. 1956) for the remainder of Wolf's career. Upon Wolf's death in 1976, Sumlin continued on with several other members of the late Burnett's band under the name "The Wolf Pack" until c. 1980. Sumlin has also recorded under his own name, beginning with a session recorded while touring Europe with Burnett in 1964. His latest effort is About Them Shoes, released in 2005 by Tone Cool Records.
He underwent lung removal surgery in 2004 but is still going strong as of 2008.

It is has been said that Sumlin's playing was a vital catalyst for the British blues boom providing a link from the acoustic blues of the Mississippi delta that was more accessible to electric guitarists such as Clapton, Page, Richards and Beck. Indeed, throughout the careers of these artists, many Howlin' Wolf songs have been covered and Sumlin's guitar lines imitated. Examples are Clapton's covers of "Goin' Down Slow", The Rolling Stones' version of "Little Red Rooster", The Yardbirds' version of "Smokestack Lightnin'" and "The Lemon Song" by Led Zeppelin (which is a rework of "Killing Floor")

My summary: I hope I am that happy and agile at 77. He played over an hour and then took a 15 minute break. He then returned to the stage and played another hour.

I put a few videos on You Tube if interested. I like the first one the best. Hubert enjoyed himself all night but this song I think he had lots of fun with.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMZggXQIw8w 300 Pounds of Joy (Willie Dixon)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fiLnea9uQU - Little Red Rooster (Willie Dixon)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9Z5YpEu0T0 - Dust My Broom (Robert Johnson)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNk7ZjUhd1Y - Smoke Stack Lightning (Howlin' Wolf)