Hoodoo Man Blues is considered by most blues aficionados and fans to be one of the best blues albums of all time. It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and was chosen by the readers of Living Blues magazine as a top ten Desert Island Blues disc. Recorded on September 22 & 23, 1965 Hoodoo Man Blues was the first studio album to capture a working Chicago blues band doing essentially what they did on stage without time constraints to accommodate the singles market. Of course both Junior Wells & Buddy Guy went on to become international blues stars. This new digipak re-issue contains 17 performances: the 12 songs from the original LP, 3 alternates that have been available on CD plus 2 never-before-released performances. There's one completely unissued song, I Ain't Stranded, and an alternate take to Yonder Wall in which Buddy Guy is playing through the Leslie speaker as he did on the title track, something guitar players are still copying to this day. The new four-panel digipak and 16 page booklet package contains nine never before seen photos from the recording session.

14 tracks with guest slide guitarists. Light scuff on disc will not affect play.

Muddy Waters, Elmore James, Otis Spann, Willie Dixon & many others join Wells on this United Records session from 1953-54, including 5 bonus tracks added to the original 12.

We have tried to capture on this album what a listener would hear any Monday night at Theresa's Blues Bar (now defunct) at 48th and Indiana on Chicago's Southside. The blue Monday regulars, including Buddy Guy are joined by the late Otis Spann, the greatest blues pianist of his generation, making his last studio appearance and to whom this album is respectfully dedicated by Junior, the musicians, and...the Delmark staff.

Hoodoo Man Blues is not only Junior Well's initial LP appearance, it is damn near the first LP by a Chicago blues band. Chess and a few other labels had issued 45's by Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson, Howling Wolf, Jimmy Reed, Elmore James, etc. but virtually no one had tried to capture the Chicago blues sound free of limitations of juke-box/airplay promotion. Delmark is proud of the part Hoodoo Man Blues played in the popularization of the real Chicago blues and of Junior Wells. But the credit belongs to Junior, Buddy, Jack and Billy - they made the music. We just sat and dug it.

'One of the truly classic blues albums of the 1960s, and one of the first to fully document the smoky ambience of a night at a West Side nightspot in the superior acoustics of a recording studio. Wells just set up with his usual cohorts - guitarist Buddy Guy (billed as 'Friendly Chap' on first vinyl pressings), bassist Jack Myers, and drummer Billy Warren - and proceeded to blow up a storm, bringing an immediacy to Snatch It Back and Hold It, You Don't Love Me, Chitlin con Carne, and the rest of the tracks that is absolutely mesmerizing. - Bill Dahl, ALL MUSIC GUIDE.

This live recording takes us back to just a few months after the release of the legendary Hoodoo Man Blues album. Junior is accompanied by the Aces - Louis Myers, guitar; Dave Myers, bass; Fred Below, drums. Eleven songs and great bits between Junior and the audience in between songs comes to over 60 minutes of pure blues delight.

Four Stars in Downbeat Magazine!

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Junior Wells started playing regularly at Theresa's in the late 1950s. There were other small blues clubs in Chicago, and Junior occasionally played them, but only at Theresa's did his immense magnetism come across every time he performed. Wells magnetism.

For those of us who heard him at Theresa's, Junior Wells remains the greatest blues man. Not the greatest harmonica player - though he was great at that. Not the greatest blues singer - though he was really great at that. Not the greatest songwriter - mostly he sang others' material. But it wasn't really about an instrument, a voice, or a lyric. It was about a relationship. Theresa's itself was his true instrument. No one else played it as well, and no other place he played gave him as good a sound. As we often had occasion to say in those days, "Man, you should've been there!" Now you can be.

Junior Wells, vocals, harmonica
Phil Guy, guitar (except 10)
Byther Smith, guitar (1-10), vocal (10), 2nd vocal (1)
Sammy Lawhorn, guitar (12-19)
Earnest Johnson, bass
Vince Chapelle, drums (1-10)
Levi Warren, drums (12-19)
Unknown, 2nd guitar (10)

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No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: GUY/WELLS
Title: PLAY THE BLUES
Street Release Date: 05/12/1992
Domestic
Genre: BLUES