My dear departed buddy and Chicago blues keyboard giant Barrelhouse Chuck used to thrill me with his reminisces of the awe-inspiring breadth of blues talent in Chicago and elsewhere that he befriended, learned from, recorded with, and performed with over the course of his too-short life.  Barrelhouse lived a charmed blues life, one established via his genial nature, respect, and reverence for the blues.  When he would casually toss off names such as Floyd Jones, Little Brother Montgomery, or Jimmy Rogers in conversation with me, he wasn’t boasting.  No, these and many other blues icons welcomed Barrelhouse into their worlds, and he became a trusted friend to them, and also someone they could rely upon for the best blues keyboard work available.

One of the bluesmen who Barrelhouse frequently brought up during the course of our conversations was Hip Linkchain.  It was apparent from the way Barrelhouse framed his discussions about Linkchain that he held both the man and the blues professional in high regard.  This week while I was rifling through my vast blues collection, Linkchain’s works in my CD and album racks caught my eyes, and since I hadn’t played any of his music in quite some time, I pulled a few of the collections out and put them in the CD player and on the turntable.  And before I knew it, I was questioning myself as to why I had waited so long to return to his brand of blues.  As a result of this, I’ve decided to make Linkchain the subject of this week’s artist profile.

He was born Willie Richard in early November, 1936 in Jackson, Mississippi, a locale that is one of two county seats of Hinds County, an area in the lower southwestern third of the state.  Jackson is also the state’s capital, and the state’s most populous city. 

As is unfortunately often the norm, information on the early formative years of Linkchain’s life is minimal, at best.  First, one thing needs to be addressed: How did Richard acquire his full performing name?  The story and lore start with the fact that his father was a towering man who was said to be seven feet tall.  Further, his father is supposed to have often been seen sporting logging chains around his neck.  Hence, “Linkchain”.  In addition to that, the young Willie Richard had for whatever reason acquired the nickname of “Hipstick”, so eventually, the two influences joined together to afford the performing name of “Hip Linkchain”.         

Before he made his way northward from Mississippi to Chicago, a young Linkchain, then being raised in Louise, Mississippi, some 71 miles slightly northwest of Jackson, was exposed to the blues of Elmore James, Little Milton, and Sonny Boy Williamson II, among others, and these musical revelations spurred Linkchain into taking up the guitar and set the course for his blues future.  In the typical blues fashion, Linkchain worked hard on developing his blues guitar skills, finding the blues in the fertile Mississippi proving grounds where the music flourished, and he played and performed whenever and wherever he could.

1954 was a major year for Linkchain, as this was the time when he left his home state and made the move some 710 miles northward to Chicago.  He felt that the best option to continue his blues career was available in the city known for its vast blues culture.

Once in Chicago, Linkchain found the scene to his liking, and though the Chicago blues setting was (and still is) very competitive, he made inroads.  His guitar playing and vocal skills were more than adequate to see him be able to establish consistent work in the city’s blues joints where he was able to produce alliances with bluesmen such as Little Willie Foster, Dusty Brown, and Lester Davenport, all of whom, coincidentally, were established blues harmonica players. 

In 1959, Linkchain formed his own blues band named The Chicago Twisters, a group that had as its vocalist the man who would one day turn Chicago soul music on its ear, the young Tyrone Davis. 

Linkchain continued working the Chicago blues circuit through the 1950s and 1960s, and though Davis was eventually on his way upwards on his own as his career took off, Linkchain moved forward and recorded singles for various minor labels in the city including Sanns and Lola’s Recording Co. 

Pressing forward into the 1970s, staying a club regular, Linkchain saw the 1977 overseas French MCM Blues Records label release of I Am On My Way (which in 1996 was rereleased on the Danish Storyville label).  But in 1981, Linkchain enjoyed the release of his first domestic album, one entitled Change My Blues, a collection made available on the Teardrop Records label.  This album included the skills of Frank Bandy on bass, Rich Kirch on guitar along with Linkchain, and Pinetop Perkins on piano.  As I don’t have the album in front of me, I cannot recall if drums were used on this collection, and if so, who provided that support.  Tearing through my collection right now for this detail seems silly.

Things were now rolling for Linkchain, as he was continuing to play on Chicago’s blues scene, plus he also realized the 1982 release of a second Teardrops Records album, one he shared with Jimmy Rogers entitled Stickshift.  Of the album’s ten total tracks, five each were attributable to Linkchain and Rogers.  It is important to note that this was an all-acoustic outing.

And even further for 1982 was the Rumble Records release Jimmy & Hip – Live!, an outing that included west side Chicago bluesman Jimmy Dawkins, one that was recorded at Mabel’s in Champaign, Illinois.  The album included Rich Kirch on guitar, both Bob Richey and Moe Baker on drums, Ralph Papetina on keyboards, and bass guitar from both Danny Meyers and Mark Rubell.

Continuing onward, Linkchain was continually visible on the Chicago club circuit.  However, ill health was to strike him.  More on that in just a bit.  Linkchain enjoyed the release of what arguably is his most impressive collection, Airbusters, a collection released in 1987 on the Danish Black Magic Records label, a session that included “Big” John Trice and Frank Bandy on bass, Barrelhouse Chuck and Otis White on piano (White also plays organ), Rich Kirch on guitar, and Ted Harvey and Robert “Huckleberry Hound” Wright on drums.  Front-to-back, this was Linkchain’s most fully-developed collection ever, chock-full of his driving guitar and strong, confident vocals.  This album was later rereleased by the Evidence label in 1993.

As hinted at earlier, in the late 1980s Linkchain was suffering from the effects of mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer that is the result of exposure to the silicate mineral asbestos that is used in many differing products.  In early February, 1989, Linkchain succumbed to cancer.

It is important to note that JSP Records included Hip Linkchain on two compilations in their catalog, 1980’s Original Westside Chicago Blues Guitar under the name “Hip Lankchan” with Linkchain’s brother billed as “Jug” Lankchan and Prez Kenneth on bass, Bob Richey and Twist Turner on drums, Eddie Shaw on saxophone, and Dave Clark featured on guitar, as well, on certain cuts.  The label also released another collection of the same name in 2021, a two-CD set of 35 selections again under the “Hip Lankchan” name, with cuts under that name solely, plus Hip Lankchan & The Chicago Twisters, Scotty & Oasis Band with Jimmy Dawkins and Hip Linkchain, and Dusty Brown and Hip Lankchan.                               

Hip Linkchain is yet another of those highly gifted Chicago journeymen blues artists that, at one time, the great city had in abundance and the blues landscape benefitted from.  His talent ran deep, and he had the immense respect of fellow blues artists.  If the cancer had not struck him down, the Airbusters collection may very well have been the impetus that would have propelled Linkchain upwards in his blues career.

Regardless, Linkchain needs to be of consequence to any serious blues lover, and I encourage all blues fans to seek out Linkchain’s work.  You will not be disappointed.