Yesterday was his 74th birthday. Funny, I mostly think of him as a drummer - it was only recently that I found out he is primarily a harmonica player. And here he is:
We opened for him a couple of years ago. Great band! He sang and played harp...never got behind the kit. Anyways, he played a Sure SM 58 into a Fender RI Twin. So he pretty much sounded like he was playing through the PA. He had just started touring again and got a little lost with song formats and harp playing...it didn't help they had a new drummer.
The bass player really ran the show. He was another veteran of the Chicago scene. Talked him up for a long time! OMG, I sound like an old blues guy rambling about a story in which I name-drop and show off my "cred". My bad! ---------- Mike Fugazzi http://www.myspace.com/niterailband http://www.youtube.com/user/NiteRail http://www.twitter.com/NiteRail http://www.facebook.com/mike.fugazzi
Wille has always played harp, and there are some recordings of him playing harp from the 1950's. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
Bob - so I've found out. Apparently only took to the drums because there was more of a demand for drummers than harpoons. He could really swing behind the drums though, which is why I was surprised to find out it was his second calling.
Well, realistically, in every music genre, there is a FAR greater demand for good drummers than good lead players of any kind, and in blues, this is especially true because not only are they tough to find, they're even tougher to hold on to and the best don't need to be fully committed to any one single band and have their gigging calendars filled with at least 10-25 nights a month full of work. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
I figure I'm lucky. I work with two drummers that know how to maintain the groove...to be the integral instrument of the rhythm section.
After the advent of Rock, too many drummers thought that they too, should do solo work. If they had only emulated Ringo instead of Keith Moon, Bonham, Peart.
I was blessed to get to see Willie play a few years ago up on Blue Mountain in Ontario (near Collingwood) He was part of a trio consisting of Jack DeKeyser - guitar, Bob Stroghman (sp) - bass and Willie on drums. I finally convinced him at the end of the last set to play some harp. He came forward and sat on the front of the stage and played. It was a treat. ---------- If it ain't got harp - it ain't really blues!!!!
