This Year's Inductees
The Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame committee has chosen six worthy blues artists, two non-performing supporters of the genre, and a handful of recordings for induction into the Blues Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony will be held at the organization's Charter Member Dinner the night before the 2008 Blues Music Awards on May 7, 2008 at the Grand Casino Event Center in Tunica, Mississippi.
Jimmy McCracklin & Hubert Sumlin
This year's Blues Hall of Fame inductees represent a wide cross-section of blues talent. Pianist Jimmy McCracklin has been recording since 1945 and is considered one of the forefathers of the West Coast blues style. Throughout the years, McCracklin has explored the limits of jump blues, boogie, R&B, and funk, and has won acclaim as both a songwriter and a performer.
Hubert Sumlin is one of the most respected guitarists in blues history. Longtime onstage foil to blues giant Howlin' Wolf, Sumlin also performed on many of the Wolf's classic Chess label recordings. Since Howlin' Wolf's death three decades ago, Sumlin has built an impressive solo career of his own, and has shared the stage with some of the biggest names in blues and rock music, including the Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton.
Johnny "Guitar" Watson & Peetie Wheatstraw
Johnny "Guitar" Watson was one of the more flamboyant stars to rise out of the 1970s funk explosion, but the guitarslinger was already an accomplished bluesman at that point in time. Watson began recording his powerful blues sound during the 1950s, branching out into soul and R&B during the 1960s. He found his groove as a funk pioneer during the '70s with a string of hit singles and album. Watson died of a heart attack in 1996, but his music proved to be a major influence on '90s hip-hop and rap, and CD reissues of his 1970s-era work continue to win new fans.
Remarkably little is known about William Bunch, better known as his colorful persona "Peetie Wheatstraw, the Devil's Son-In-Law," a character with roots in African-American folklore. He began recording during the 1930s, waxing over a hundred sides through the years. Wheatstraw could count blues legend Robert Johnson among his stylistic followers. Primarily a pianist, Wheatstraw also recorded with blues artists like Lonnie Johnson, Charlie Jordan, and Champion Jack Dupree through the years. Wheatstraw died in 1941 at the age of 39, the exact details of his death as mysterious as the tales of his life.
Jimmy Weatherspoon & The Mississippi Sheiks
Singer Jimmy Weatherspoon's amazing career spanned five decades, his smooth vocals appealing to fans of the blues, jazz and R&B music. After scoring several R&B chart hits in 1949 and 1950, Weatherspoon's blues-blaster vocals went out-of-style for a while during the '50s. By the end of the decade, however, he had incorporated more soul and jazz influences into his work, and his 1959 performance at the Monterey Jazz Festival revived Weatherspoon's career. During the 1970s, Weatherspoon's sound moved towards a mix of rock and soul. The singer was diagnosed with throat cancer during the early-1980s, but he continued to perform and record until his death in 1997.
The Mississippi Sheiks were the most popular African-American string band of the pre-war era. The band drew from the traditions of country and blues fiddle music, and recorded over 60 songs for the Okeh, Bluebird and Paramount labels. Their biggest hit, "Sitting On Top Of The World," crossed over to white audiences and sold over a million copies. It would later be recorded by Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Bill Monroe, and Howlin' Wolf, among others. Although the band's career was somewhat short-lived, spanning only five years, the Mississippi Sheiks nevertheless had a profound influence on contemporaries like Robert Johnson, Charley Patton, Big Bill Broonzy and Muddy Waters.
John Hammond & Paul Oliver
The two non-performing inductees into the Blues Hall of Fame, John Hammond and Paul Oliver, are also notable for their contributions to the blues. As a producer, promoter and "artists & repertoire" (A&R) man for Columbia Records, Hammond supported and nurtured blues and folk artists, discovering talents like Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Stevie Ray Vaughan. The Hammond-promoted 1938 "From Spirituals to Swing" concert at Carnegie Hall featured a diverse program of blues, jazz and gospel artists.
British music writer Paul Oliver is widely considered one of the foremost experts on the blues. Three of Oliver's books - The Story of the Blues, Conversation With the Blues and The Blues Fell This Morning - have been previously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame as "Classics of Blues Literature."
Hall of Fame Recordings, Literature
Each year, the Blues Hall of Fame also acknowledges the excellence and achievement of individual blues singles and album tracks, as well as full-length blues albums, and even works of literature. This year's choices in these areas include the following:
- Bessie Smith - "Back-Water Blues" (1927 single)
- Otis Rush - "Double Trouble" (1958 single)
- Little Walter - "My Babe" (1955 single)
- Big Joe Williams - Piney Woods Blues (1958, LP)
- Bobby Bland - Members Only (1985, LP)
- Etta James - Rocks The House (1964, LP)
- Freddy King - Freddy King Sings (1961, LP)
- Jimmy Reed - I'm Jimmy Reed (1958, LP)
August Wilson's 1996 play "Seven Guitars," the story of fictitious bluesman Floyd "Schoolboy" Barton, and James Segrest and Mark Hoffman's biography of Howlin' Wolf, Moanin' at Midnight, will also be inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame under the "Classics of Blues Literature" category.
The Blues Foundation
The Blues Foundation was formed in Memphis in 1980 as a non-profit organization to preserve the rich heritage of the blues and promote excellence in blues music. Consisting of over 160 affiliated organizations worldwide, The Blues Foundations sponsors the annual Blues Music Awards, The International Blues Challenge, and the organization's "Blues In The Schools" educational program. Check out The Blues Foundation website for more information on its programs.
