Hubert Sumlin, the influential guitarist that played with Howlin Wolf for most of Wolf`s career, was born on this day in 1931 in Greenville, MS. Hubert Charles Sumlin (November 16, 1931 – December 4, 2011) was a Chicago blues guitarist and singer,[1] best known for his wrenched, shattering bursts of notes, sudden cliff-hanger silences and daring rhythmic suspensions as a member of Howlin Wolfs band.[2] Sumlin was listed as number 43 in the Rolling Stone 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.[3] Sumlin played a 1955 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop guitar and a Louis Electric Model HS M12 amplifier.[citation needed] Born in Greenwood, Mississippi, Sumlin was raised in Hughes, Arkansas.[4] He got his first guitar when he was eight years old.[5] As a boy, Sumlin first met Howlin Wolf by sneaking into a performance. When Wolf relocated from Memphis to Chicago in 1953, his long-time guitarist Willie Johnson chose not to join him. 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, a position he held almost continuously (except for a brief spell playing with Muddy Waters around 1956) for the remainder of Wolfs career. According to Sumlin, Howlin Wolf sent Sumlin to a classical guitar instructor at the Chicago Conservatory of Music for a while to learn the keyboards and scales.[6] Sumlin played on the album Howlin Wolf, also called The Rockin Chair Album, which was named the third greatest guitar album of all time by Mojo magazine in 2004.[7][8] Upon Wolfs death in 1976, Sumlin continued on with several other members of Wolfs band under the name The Wolf Pack until about 1980. Sumlin also recorded under his own name, beginning with a session from a tour of Europe with Wolf in 1964. His final solo effort was About Them Shoes, released in 2004 by Tone-Cool Records. He underwent lung removal surgery the same year, yet continued performing until just before his death. His final recording, just days before his demise were tracks laid down for the Stephen Dale Petit album Cracking The Code (333 Records). Sumlin was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in 2008.[9] He was nominated for four Grammy Awards: in 1999 for the album Tribute to Howlin Wolf with Henry Gray, Calvin Jones, Sam Lay, and Colin Linden, in 2000 for Legends with Pinetop Perkins, in 2006 for his solo project About Them Shoes (which featured performances by Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Levon Helm, David Johansen and James Cotton) and in 2010 for his participation on Kenny Wayne Shepherds Live! in Chicago. He won multiple Blues Music Awards, and was a judge for the fifth annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists careers.[10] He died on December 4, 2011, in a hospital in Wayne, New Jersey, of heart failure at the age of 80.[11] Mick Jagger and Keith Richards paid Sumlins funeral costs.[12]youtu.be/I3qt-qcSjxA
Posted on: Sun, 16 Nov 2014 15:12:30 +0000