Hubert Sumlin
Hubert Sumlin was born on November 16, 1931 in Greenwood, Mississippi and raised in Hughes, Arkansas. He was taken by the great Blues players he heard - Charlie Patton, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson, Lonnie Johnson, Robert Johnson, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Willie McTell, and Son House. Sumlin was born to take his place with these masters.
When Sumlin was about 10, he sneaked out to the local juke joint and stood on a pile of Coca Cola crates to see Howlin’Wolf. Drawn in by the music, he fell through the window and landed right on the stage. The club owner tried to throw out the underage boy, but Wolf insisted that Sumlin stay and sit on the stage while he played. He later took Sumlin home to his Mama and asked that he not be punished.
A few years later, Sumlin and James Cotton started a band together. Howlin’ Wolf heard about them in West Memphis and soon brought Sumlin to Chicago. Along with Wolf’s other great guitar players in the ‘50s, Willie Johnson and Jody Williams, Sumlin contributed to some of the deepest, darkest, most primitive and powerful Blues the world has ever known.
Sumlin was developing his own guitar style, but still had a way to go. Sumlin tells of how Wolf once told him to step down from the bandstand, complaining that Sumlin was playing over his voice. Wolf suggested that Sumlin lose the guitar picks, letting Sumlin play softer but with more expression and tone. Embarrassed and hurt, Sumlin went home to Woodshed. He was talented enough to turn the setback into an opportunity for greatness and strong enough to return.
Sumlin developed a guitar style based on the human touch of flesh on steel, perfectly framing and answering Wolf’s roars and moans, and soloing with pain and humor, trouble and transcendence. It is on Howlin’ Wolf’s early- to mid-‘60s recordings for Chess Records that Hubert Sumlin’s guitar playing crossed the line between impressive and legendary. Listen to Built For Comfort, Shake For Me, 300 Pounds of Joy, Louise, Goin’ Down Slow, Killing Floor, and Wang Dang Doodle.
Howlin’ Wolf passed in 1976, but Wolf’s band continued.
Sumlin left the band for a solo career in 1980. Sumlin was helped and inspired to claim his legacy as a bandleader by his very close friend, Clifford Antone, the Austin club owner who built the ‘70s Austin scene that brought us Stevie Ray Vaughan and The Fabulous Thunderbirds. As with many Blues legends of his generation, Sumlin has been recorded often, both as a leader and as a sideman. Still, Sumlin’s albums and his gigs frankly brought him more love and respect than fame and fortune.
In April 2000, a new Hubert Sumlin album was recorded that was expected to bring Sumlin’s recognition in line with his accomplishments. The album was conceived and produced by Rolling Stones guitar player Keith Richards, wanting to play Blues with Sumlin. The album has an interesting and legitimate concept: applying Sumlin’s guitar playing to MuddyWaters’ songs. Keith Richards recorded Two Trains Runnin' with just him and Sumlin.
Eric Clapton plays and sings on I’m Ready and Long Distance Call. In January of 2005 that album titled About Them Shoes was released on Tone-Cool Records. On December 8, 2005 About Them Shoes was nominated for the 2006 Grammy for Best Traditional Blues Album.
Hubert Sumlin was voted #65 on Rolling Stones list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists in the History of Rock and Roll.