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- Music, The Secret History of Chicago Music Mar 11, 2021
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Pianist Willie Mabon gave Chess Records its first big hit
Despite that 1952 smash, he was soon overshadowed by the likes of Bo Diddley and Muddy Waters.
- Music, The Secret History of Chicago Music Feb 11, 2021
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Johnny Shines belongs in the pantheon alongside Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf
This powerful bluesman spent the late 30s on the road with the great Robert Johnson, then lived long enough to win a W.C. Handy Award in the 90s.
- Music, Music Feature Aug 20, 2020
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Give your money to Mary Lane
The 84-year-old Chicago blueswoman should be a legend. She can barely pay her bills.
- Music, Music Feature Jul 23, 2020
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Thirty-five moments that brought Chicago music to the world
The Year of Chicago Music has had less music in it than anybody anticipated, but we still have plenty to celebrate.
- Music, The Secret History of Chicago Music Jan 27, 2020
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Slide guitarist John Littlejohn brought Mississippi country blues to Chicago
His raw style grew from the same soil that produced Elmore James, but he never became a star outside the Windy City.
- Music, The Secret History of Chicago Music Jan 14, 2020
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George ‘Wild Child’ Butler breathed new life into raw, old-fashioned blues
This stubbornly idiosyncratic harmonica player had lousy luck with recordings, but he thrived for four decades onstage.
- Music, The Secret History of Chicago Music Nov 19, 2019
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Pieces of Peace cut most of their brilliant soul-funk for other people’s records
The only album this Chicago band made at sessions of their own didn’t come out till 35 years after they broke up.
- Music, In Rotation Oct 29, 2019
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Chicago soul aficionado Darrell Gordon on the most underrated Motown singer of the 1960s
Plus: Ken Wong of the Strange Attractor on a kaleidoscopic collection of communist and anarchist black metal, Reader listings coordinator Salem Collo-Julin on The Voice Senior, and more
- Music, Music Feature Oct 23, 2019
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Summoning the ghosts of Record Row
For two decades, a short stretch of Michigan Avenue hosted a concentration of creative entrepreneurship whose influence on Black popular music is still felt today.
- Music, The Secret History of Chicago Music Jul 16, 2019
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Barbara Acklin missed soul stardom by a hair
She's best known for the 1968 hit "Love Makes a Woman," but she also had a productive songwriting duo with Eugene Record of the Chi-Lites.
- Music, Music Feature Jun 3, 2019
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Billy Boy Arnold helped the blues give birth to rock ’n’ roll
He might be best known as Bo Diddley’s 1950s harmonica player, but he’s 25 years into a comeback of his own.
- Music, Music Feature Mar 21, 2019
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Bacon fat, corn liquor, and tail feathers: remembering R&B legend Andre Williams
The man known as Mr. Rhythm influenced generations of rockers and rappers—and his decades-long comeback ended only with his death at 82.
- Music, The Secret History of Chicago Music Oct 9, 2018
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Otis Rush and his searing guitar immortalized the west-side Chicago blues sound
Rush is hardly obscure, but the Secret History of Chicago Music couldn't let the death of such a powerful and influential artist pass in silence.
- Music, Music Feature Jun 5, 2018
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Gene Barge blew his sax on some of the wildest R&B hits of the 60s
The Blues Festival pays tribute to the 91-year-old “Daddy G” with a set with by his longest-running band, the Chicago Rhythm & Blues Kings.
- Music, The Secret History of Chicago Music Apr 10, 2018
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Bluesman Cash McCall hasn’t written a hit in more than 50 years, but that isn’t stopping him
Cash McCall has moved from gospel to soul to blues, and his best-known song is still the 1966 single "When You Wake Up."
- Music, The Secret History of Chicago Music Feb 26, 2018
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Blues drummer Sam Lay has made five careers’ worth of music
Sharp-dressed drummer Sam Lay has played with Dylan and Howlin' Wolf, and in 2015 he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band.
- Music, The Secret History of Chicago Music Oct 24, 2017
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Aliotta Haynes Jeremiah cut Chicago's favorite song about LSD in 1971
Aliotta Haynes Jeremiah's "Lake Shore Drive (L.S.D.)" recently appeared on the soundtrack to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, but the band's last surviving member died this month.
- Music, The Secret History of Chicago Music Jul 3, 2017
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Session drummer Morris Jennings played on Electric Mud, the Superfly soundtrack, and scores of other records
As a house drummer for Chess Records in the late 60s, Morris Jennings kicked off a five-decade career that never brought him into the spotlight himself.
- Music, Music Feature Jun 7, 2017
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Denise LaSalle earned her crown in southern soul—and wears it in the blues
In a career spanning 50 years, the Mississippi native has proved herself a riveting performer and chart-topping songwriter.
- Blogs, Bleader Apr 1, 2017
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Bob Seger’s conspicuous online absence, The Voice, lo-fi house: the week in music writing
The Reader's weekly best in music writing across the web
- Music, The Secret History of Chicago Music Mar 28, 2017
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Otis ‘Big Smokey’ Smothers recorded with Howlin’ Wolf even before his own first session
Guitarist Big Smokey Smothers wrote for Muddy Waters and partnered with Freddie King, but his traditional style of Chicago electric blues didn't help him make his own name.
- Blogs, Bleader Mar 21, 2017
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Blues harmonica legend Little Walter recorded one of his best singles in 1954, when he was just 24
Little Walter's 1954 classic "Mellow Down Easy" combines rudely soulful singing, lilting guitar, furious harmonica, and a quasi-Cuban groove.
- Music, The Secret History of Chicago Music Mar 14, 2017
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No less a bluesman than Muddy Waters called Forest City Joe a ‘great harp player’
Blues harpist Forest City Joe might be a legend today if he’d recorded more—or lived long enough to enjoy the 1960s blues revival.
- Music, The Secret History of Chicago Music Apr 26, 2016
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Soul percussionist "Master" Henry Gibson played on hundreds of records—including Curtis Mayfield's "Pusherman"
Henry Gibson's bongo and conga wizardry made generations of stars sound better, but he never found fame as the main attraction.
- Blogs, Bleader Feb 5, 2016
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Celebrating the Chicago roots of Earth, Wind & Fire founder Maurice White
Maurice White carried the influence of Chicago avant-garde elder Phil Cohran into the mainstream with Earth, Wind & Fire.
