Who Was Chester Burnett?
The holidays came and went and it is getting to be Spring. After reading and writing about Keith Richard's Life, I set aside the laptop and picked up the paint brushes to do some painting. But I am finally back again, sitting here at my kitchen table in front of my laptop. I have missed sitting here hunting and pecking but I got out of the habit and I have learned that writing is a ritual. Once you stop, it is pretty hard to start up again. But, I feel like there is a lot to say now, since I have been quiet for so long.
In Life, Richards writes about many of the influences on his music, especially the Chicago Blues. Folks like Willie Dixon and Buddy Guy and Junior Wells and Howlin' Wolf. Reading the book, I wanted to hear the music. I have plenty of Stones to listen to, but not as much Blues...not as many Blues?
At least not yet.
Over the holidays, while traveling on holiday, I needed to kill some time one day so I walked into a chain CD store to look around. No expectation. Not gonna find anything interesting, but always fun to look.
This time, however, I was lucky.
In the bargain rack - you know, those stacks of 'classic' albums remastered on CD by semi- forgotten bands or ones that have gone way out of style - I saw the words Essential Chicago Blues on the cover of a double CD.
I checked the price: five bucks. Not bad! I checked the track list: Sonny Boy Williamson, Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Otis Rush, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, Otis Spann, Howlin' Wolf - and more. Not bad!
So, I bought it and brought it home and put it in my laptop and began to listen. 50 tracks of fantastic songs, nicely remastered by Not Now Music in 2010. Not bad at all...
I have enjoyed this CD over the last six weeks or so. My introduction to the Chicago Blues....
Fast forward to earlier today. I have library books and CDs to return and I get in the car to drive to the neighborhood library. But the sky is blue and it is a beautiful afternoon. Although it has been in the 60s all week, it is only about 40 today but it still looks like 60! So, I get out of the car and decide to walk.
Since I was going to drive, I am just wearing a sweater. As I begin to walk to the library with books and CDs in hand I realize that it is colder than it looks. Oh, well. I am already a few blocks from home. I don't feel like turning around now to get a coat, so I persevere.
I notice that everyone I pass on the street is wearing a hat and coat. I am just wearing a sweater. Oh well.
Finally, chilled slightly, I get to the library and climb the stairs to the main floor in search of the circulation desk. I return the books and CDs and realize how nice and warm it is in the library and, by contrast, how cold it was outside. I linger over the CD rack for a moment, enjoying the warmth for an extra moemnt before venturing back home.
When I get outside, it feels really cold!
On my walk home, it feels like the temperature has dipped, or maybe it is just windier now. I don't know. Makes no differnce, I am feeling the cold. The cold is rippling through my sweater, up through my untucked shirttails to shiver my chest. I feel a chill threatening. Why didn't I wear a coat? Am I crazy. It is February in Pittsburgh....
I need to break up my walk home, get inside and warm. But where? Oh, right, the chain record and CD store located halfway between the library and my house. I stop in front of the store, push the entry door open and walk in.
Any excuse to browse a record store! Sigh.
Waves of warm air envelope me. I am immediately struck by how cold I feel and decide to stay for a moment and warm up before continuing my short trek home.
The record racks here are small but tempting. I know the store well. It ain't Jerry's but I have found a few treasures here before and the prices are never more than a few bucks. Its hit or miss and we are not talking about collectables here. Just playable records to fill in your collection. Stuff you might want to hear, in decent shape, and not too expensive...
So I savor the warmth of the forced air heating system in the store and begin to sift through the record racks. Rap is blaring over the cheap store speakers but here is a Leon Russell record I don't have. I grab it. Three bucks. Maria Muldaur cheap and in good shape. I grab it. Jan and Dean's Drag City - interesting - I grab it, too...a band called Raven, their Columbia Records debut....also interesting and cheap. I grab it as well. A Johnny Bond record with his version of Bartender's Blues, just heard on Elvis Costello's Spectacle the night before. Two bucks. I grab it, too!!! And Little Feat's debut. I used to have it but stupidly sold it years ago. Three bucks? It is a no-brainer ---- I grab it, too, and stride to the front of the store to the cash register.
When I leave the store with six records under my arm and my wallet about twenty dollars lighter I am all warmed up and ready for the rest of my short walk home. The sun is beginning to set. It is time to think about dinner.
I am cooking dinner now. Steak and potatoes tonight! I decide to put some music on while I cook and pull the Little Feat record out of its sleeve. I know this record well, since I used to own it and since I played it for years and years before selling it. Replaced my records with CDs for awhile back in the eighties.
The moment I hear the first few notes of Little Feat, their excellent Russ Titelman produced debut on Warner, I realize how much I have missed this record. Side Two begins with two songs by someone named Chester Burnett. Who was Chester Burnett anyway? I look him up? Oh.
Who was Chester Burnett? Chester Burnett was Howlin' Wolf. Howlin' Wolf, the legendary Chicago bluesman.
Yes, that Howlin' Wolf. And, yes, dinner was delicious.
In Life, Richards writes about many of the influences on his music, especially the Chicago Blues. Folks like Willie Dixon and Buddy Guy and Junior Wells and Howlin' Wolf. Reading the book, I wanted to hear the music. I have plenty of Stones to listen to, but not as much Blues...not as many Blues?
At least not yet.
Over the holidays, while traveling on holiday, I needed to kill some time one day so I walked into a chain CD store to look around. No expectation. Not gonna find anything interesting, but always fun to look.
This time, however, I was lucky.
In the bargain rack - you know, those stacks of 'classic' albums remastered on CD by semi- forgotten bands or ones that have gone way out of style - I saw the words Essential Chicago Blues on the cover of a double CD.
I checked the price: five bucks. Not bad! I checked the track list: Sonny Boy Williamson, Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Otis Rush, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, Otis Spann, Howlin' Wolf - and more. Not bad!
So, I bought it and brought it home and put it in my laptop and began to listen. 50 tracks of fantastic songs, nicely remastered by Not Now Music in 2010. Not bad at all...
I have enjoyed this CD over the last six weeks or so. My introduction to the Chicago Blues....
Fast forward to earlier today. I have library books and CDs to return and I get in the car to drive to the neighborhood library. But the sky is blue and it is a beautiful afternoon. Although it has been in the 60s all week, it is only about 40 today but it still looks like 60! So, I get out of the car and decide to walk.
Since I was going to drive, I am just wearing a sweater. As I begin to walk to the library with books and CDs in hand I realize that it is colder than it looks. Oh, well. I am already a few blocks from home. I don't feel like turning around now to get a coat, so I persevere.
I notice that everyone I pass on the street is wearing a hat and coat. I am just wearing a sweater. Oh well.
Finally, chilled slightly, I get to the library and climb the stairs to the main floor in search of the circulation desk. I return the books and CDs and realize how nice and warm it is in the library and, by contrast, how cold it was outside. I linger over the CD rack for a moment, enjoying the warmth for an extra moemnt before venturing back home.
When I get outside, it feels really cold!
On my walk home, it feels like the temperature has dipped, or maybe it is just windier now. I don't know. Makes no differnce, I am feeling the cold. The cold is rippling through my sweater, up through my untucked shirttails to shiver my chest. I feel a chill threatening. Why didn't I wear a coat? Am I crazy. It is February in Pittsburgh....
I need to break up my walk home, get inside and warm. But where? Oh, right, the chain record and CD store located halfway between the library and my house. I stop in front of the store, push the entry door open and walk in.
Any excuse to browse a record store! Sigh.
Waves of warm air envelope me. I am immediately struck by how cold I feel and decide to stay for a moment and warm up before continuing my short trek home.
The record racks here are small but tempting. I know the store well. It ain't Jerry's but I have found a few treasures here before and the prices are never more than a few bucks. Its hit or miss and we are not talking about collectables here. Just playable records to fill in your collection. Stuff you might want to hear, in decent shape, and not too expensive...
So I savor the warmth of the forced air heating system in the store and begin to sift through the record racks. Rap is blaring over the cheap store speakers but here is a Leon Russell record I don't have. I grab it. Three bucks. Maria Muldaur cheap and in good shape. I grab it. Jan and Dean's Drag City - interesting - I grab it, too...a band called Raven, their Columbia Records debut....also interesting and cheap. I grab it as well. A Johnny Bond record with his version of Bartender's Blues, just heard on Elvis Costello's Spectacle the night before. Two bucks. I grab it, too!!! And Little Feat's debut. I used to have it but stupidly sold it years ago. Three bucks? It is a no-brainer ---- I grab it, too, and stride to the front of the store to the cash register.
When I leave the store with six records under my arm and my wallet about twenty dollars lighter I am all warmed up and ready for the rest of my short walk home. The sun is beginning to set. It is time to think about dinner.
I am cooking dinner now. Steak and potatoes tonight! I decide to put some music on while I cook and pull the Little Feat record out of its sleeve. I know this record well, since I used to own it and since I played it for years and years before selling it. Replaced my records with CDs for awhile back in the eighties.
The moment I hear the first few notes of Little Feat, their excellent Russ Titelman produced debut on Warner, I realize how much I have missed this record. Side Two begins with two songs by someone named Chester Burnett. Who was Chester Burnett anyway? I look him up? Oh.
Who was Chester Burnett? Chester Burnett was Howlin' Wolf. Howlin' Wolf, the legendary Chicago bluesman.
Yes, that Howlin' Wolf. And, yes, dinner was delicious.
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