sadly just learned from kenny wayne shepherd on facebook of hubert sumlins death just finished moanin` @ midnight book today to be hand picked as howlin` wolfs lead guitarist speaks volumes eric clapton idolized this legend
That is sad for me. Hubert was a class guy on all fronts. He wsa always supportive of my music. He gave me his phone number and I would call him to say hi. I last saw him a few years at the granville hot licks bluesfestival. He smoked. He never ceased to have me tuned into his playing. He was a true bluesman all his life. People can say what they want here about the new generation, but guys like Hubert will never have anyone in their class. He was the real deal of what makes the blues the blues. Now that he is gone, all that is left for me are sonny rhodes and louisiana red. Man how time has flown. I was in my studio tonight around 8:30pm, and these songs came out. I felt some old time energy come in and now realize it was hubert stopping in to get in one more boogie down. I think he would like us to not cry but too keep playing the music that is in our hearts. He was a great teacher, player, person, and did boogie down till they laid him in the ground. RIP my friend. Walter
---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
i remember being backstage with hubert for about an hour, just the two of us, talking away about this and that, wolf and butter, anything that came to mind. my band was on before his fine band at a festival.
well, the promoter walked in on us and asked hubert where his amp was, and hubert replied, "amp?"
seems he didn't bring one and the promoter was having a heart attack because hubert was set to go on in 10 minutes. i asked hubert," would you like a fender pro?" and hubert said, yeah!, i like a pro."
well, i sent our bass player- whom owned the local music store- down to his shop to get that vintage pro reverb and hubert was on time and hubert made that amp sing. what a great show! he autographed it the amp later that evening.
that amp will never be sold. what a great man. ----------
MP doctor of semiotics and reed replacement.
"making the world a better place, one harmonica at a time"
what a great experience mark,one that you can treasure the rest of your life-the american folk blues festival,volume 2 has a young hubert sumlin backing rice miller and either memphis slim or sunnyland slim and in the end backing the wolf-another bluesman called back home LOL,hubert you left your legacy here on earth
I first met him while he was taking a piss out in the alley behind antones. He told me he hated clifford and spent all his free time outside the club. He was being paid to play and no more. Clifford was a real ass. Anyway I would meet him out there most everytime he played there over a 10 year period. We got know each other pissing together!
One night at antones I walked in the club and I heard a sax laying down some wicked lines. I looked all over the stage and there was no sax. Then I checked hubert. He was up there doing it on the guitar!
The last time I hung with him was at the granville blues festival. He was sitting backstage by himself. We were talking away and he wanted to show me his latest guitar. He said he was playing the clapton festival and his guitar was messed up. Fender flew him in a vintage strat and told him to keep it. I asked what year it was and he told me a 1940 something. A great window into spending your time playing vs. studing gear..........
Hubert was forever grateful for life and the gift to be able to play music to people. I learned so much from him about being grateful for the simple things that often can run right by you. Walter ---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
Hubert Sumlin made an appearance this past August at the Kitchener Blues Fest as part of a tribute to Pinetop Perkins (who had been scheduled as well). Willie Smith was also there. All were lead by Bob Margolin. Hubert was gently escorted out part way through by Bob, played a song or two, and was warmly received. But he looked very frail. I couldn't help but wonder if he was there because he needed the income, rather than being able to retire with dignity. I hope that was not the case, and that he wanted to be there for the tribute. ----------
I saw him several times with Howlin' Wolf during the 70's, then afterwards as with Eddie Shaw, Junior Wells, and others. He was once of the nicest people I've ever met in the business and his style was one of the most difficult to imitate and I know of very few guitarists who could ever get his style down correctly.
When he sat in one night with a band I was in, and we weren't a high volume band at all, but we actually had to have someone turn the amp he was playing thru all the way up, and these days, that's often unheard of with guitar players as too often guitarists need to turn down, if anything. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
Jehosaphat: Clifford was a jerk. He treated the old legends like dirt. In public he seemed to worship the ground they walked on but in private his actions spoke louder than words. He would literally tell them what amp/guitar to use, what combo of guys would play together and he housed them in filth. When I hit austin we hooked up with luther tucker. I had known him from my bay area days as well as living together in Brussels. Luther got deported while we were there. He offered us to stay with him in the antone provided apt. It was in east austin (dangerous area) filthy with roaches, no a/c, a couple cinderblocks with a plank for a table,funky old chair, and matress on the floor. Clifford would not let him play anywhere but antones. Long story short, Luther was supposed to be there indefinetely, like Mel Brown was, but left in a month back for the bay area. I also saw him cheap albert collins on pay, and albert king refused to step foot in his club until paid in full. Cliftone Chenier played there close to his death. He was doing dialysis in the band van. It stunk and he was racked with pain. I asked him why he was playing as I helped carry him in. He simply stated he needed the money. Clifford told a different story onstage- how clifton insisted on playing in the great antones club one more time because it made him feel so good and he loved the place so much. Clifford called him family. He hugged clifton in his chair (legs were amputated) and when the show was over was no where to be seen when it was time to help him back in his van. I recently learned from an original member of the antones scene that clifford had a full time publicity team that spewed all his "goodwill to the blues" stories to the world. He was like a nasty spoiled rich kid(fueled with lots of drugs) and treated those guys like toys that were all his. The most painful thing to experience in the club was when it got near closing and he would get up and play bass with the legends. He was terrible and they all smiled at him. I hated that place and I am glad he is no longer around to disrespect those guys. Walter ---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
Every time I met Clifford he was cool. He always said nice things about my playing and treated me with respect. I am shocked to hear your opinion because I guess the propaganda worked. I did hear some stories about Cotton and Clifford not getting along. Anyway, he helped resurge lots of careers.
Michael: You probably met him after I left austin. Maybe he changed his ways??? I could go on and on about firsthand stuff I saw him pull. No one would talk bad about him publicly. He wielded a lot of power in the blues world and could ruin a career or make one. He fancied himself a Don so to speak. He even would have black shoe shine guys in the club in its heyday along with staged poker games in the back. All about the "blues image". Hubert was one who didn't play his game of standing next to him smiling all the time. I have nothing to lose anymore cause I am so far off the music scene map that banishing me would only bring me closer to it! Like I said he was drugged out and in and out of prison much of those years. Walter ---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
His style of blues guitar was RIVETING...My wife can care less about the blues, but I brought her to a Hubert show and she enjoyed Hubert's performance very much. If you never got to see him perform LIVE, shame on ya!
---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
hey groyster! yeah, i do treasure it. the man i met and talked with was extremely friendly and open. he was genuinely interested in me as a person ie; where i was from, etc. and he seemed to enjoy talking about wolf and wolfs other guitarist willie steel. ----------
MP doctor of semiotics and reed replacement.
"making the world a better place, one harmonica at a time"
