J.B. Hutto & His Hawks – Stompin’ At Mother Blues – Delmark Records DE-778

An uproar.  A din.  A musical free-for-all.  Choose a noun, but whenever Chicago bluesman J.B. Hutto took the dilapidated stages of any of the west and south side Chicago blues joints he worked, his infectious combination of intense, gashing, and grating slide guitar work transformed whatever room he was playing into a stronghold of turbulent blues rapture.  Akin to his peers such as Jimmy Dawkins, Hound Dog Taylor, and Magic Slim, among so many other modern bluesmen, Hutto’s blues release was a passionate and auditory load to be basked in and treasured for its unsophisticated bluster. 

Hutto’s was not “sweet” blues, such as that being made by musicians whose music included full horn sections, swaying rhythms, and affecting, fresh vocals.  No, Hutto’s blues brand was a tough one, resounding, and imparted with the stressors and weights of the day-to-day realities of Chicago’s Black population.  There were no unicorns and blue sunny skies in Hutto’s blues, just the ripping heartaches and agonies that led to deep emotional damages inflicted by daily ghetto life.  His work deeply resonated with his audiences.

This 19-track outing was released in 2004, with the first 12 cuts recorded “live” in mid-December, 1966 at the one-time great club, Mother Blues, on N. Wells St. in Chicago; however, a “live” audience was not in attendance.   The final seven selections come from the Delmark Records sessions for Hutto’s Slidewinder release.

This is prototypical Hutto; serrated, volatile, and enflamed.  His fiery slide guitar outbursts are paired with his almost unintelligible vocals, and the combination is akin to meeting a charging bull.  This is a tornadic set, and the result is a full-blown urban blues shock.

Stompin’ At Mother Blues is seen as essential.  A greater essay of Chicago’s tough 1960s blues is difficult to unearth.  Modern blues did not commence with Hutto, but he aided in the creation and cultivation of the modern Chicago blues style.  This is preeminent Chicago blues; blues slide guitar of the uppermost tier.