➊ Jumping (INSTRUMENTAL BLUES JAM) (6:33) (Admin. Delmark Records)
➋ Kansas City (4:23) (Leiber & Stoller) (Sony/ATV Songs LLC, BMI)
➌ Tried To Work Something Out (5:14) (William Crawford) (BMI)
➍ What We Were Talking About (6:03) (William Crawford) (BMI)
➎ Let’s See if We Can Come Together (4:48) (William Crawford) (BMI)
➏ Snow (6:27) (William Crawford) (BMI)
➐ Willie Buck Talking (1:04) (William Crawford) (BMI)
➑ Rock Me (6:23) (McKinley Morganfield) (Arc Music, BMI)
➒ Walking and Swimming (5:20) (William Crawford) (BMI)
➓ Mannish Boy / Hoochie Coochie Man (6:30) (Willie Dixon) (Hoochie Coochie Music, BMI)
Willie Buck: vocals
Scott Dirks: harmonica
Thaddeus Krolicki: guitar
Billy Flynn: guitar
Johnny Iguana: piano
Melvin Smith: bass
Willie “The Touch” Hayes: drums
IN MEMORIAM • WILLIE “THE TOUCH” HAYES • 1950-2023 THIS IS WAS THE LAST RECORDING IN THE AMAZING CAREER OF THE GREAT WILLIE HAYES
RECORDED LIVE BY Connor Korte AT Buddy Guy’s Legends, Sunday August 28, 2023.
EXECUTIVE PRODUCTION & SUPERVISION BY Julia A. Miller and Elbio Barilari
MIXED BY Julia A. Miller AND Elbio Barilari MASTERED BY Julia A. Miller AT Delmark Records
PRODUCED BY Elbio Barilari
PHOTOS BY Peter Hurley GRAPHIC DESIGN BY Al Brandtner, Brandtner Design
Street Date: August 30, 2024
The DELMARK ALL-STARS is a band that showcases a legion of Chicago blues instrumentalists that have been present for years in the label’s catalogue. Some of the most talented guitarists, harmonicists, bassists, keyboardists and drummers, take turns performing with this emblematic ensemble. This album features an experienced and illustrious team among Delmark’s stars, perfectly adapted to play the “old school” blues that Willie loves so much.
“LIVE AT BUDDY GUY’S LEGENDS” IS WILLIE BUCK’S FOURTH ALBUM ON DELMARK, and the label wanted to present something very special. It was agreed to be a live recording, the situation in which WILLIE BUCK feels most comfortable, on stage, with a great band and surrounded by his fans. It was also agreed the recording was going to take place at Buddy Guy’s “Legends”, ground zero for the blues in Chicago, the world capital of this genre.
For such an occasion, Willie and the label assembled the most suitable band for an “old style” blues session. Willie Buck is one of the last “story tellers” in the blues scene, within a tradition that goes back to Muddy Waters and even to the pre-WWII era bluesmen, as far and early as Big Bill Broonzy and other pioneers of the urban blues Chicago tradition.
THE DELMARK ALL-STARS are an outfit which showcases a legion of Chicago blues instrumentalists who have been present for years in the label’s catalogue. Some of the most talented guitarists, harp players, bassists, keyboardists and drummers take turns playing with this emblematic ensemble.
The label appealed to an experienced and illustrious team amongst Delmark’s stars, perfectly adapted to play the “old school” blues that Willie loves so much. Also, Willie brought his right-hand man of many years, guitarist THADDEUS KROLICKI, who studied with Dave Specter and has played with many prominent Chicago blues artists, such as Eddie Taylor Jr, Barrelhouse Chuck, James Wheeler, Lil’ Ed Williams, Eddie C. Campbell, and Tail Dragger. Among his influences Thaddeus includes Louis Myers, Jimmy Rogers, Robert Lockwood, Otis “Big Smokey” Smothers, Left Hand Frank and Sammy Lawhorn.
BILLY FLYNN: Since the 70’s, when he started performing with Jimmy Dawkins, Sunnyland Slim, Mighty Joe Young, and Luther Allison, Billy has become one of the most sought-after blues guitar players. The list of blues celebrities hiring Billy includes Pinetop Perkins, Kim Wilson, Otis Rush, John Primer, Barrelhouse Chuck, Jimmy Burns, Lurrie Bell, Jody Williams, Billy Boy Arnold, Bob Stroger, Johnny Burgin, Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, Mississippi Heat, The Cash Box Kings, and of course, the Delmark All-Stars.
SCOTT DIRKS: A front row seat at a Muddy Waters performance in the mid 1970’s sent teenage Scott Dirks down the musical path he is still following today. Picking up the harmonica soon afterwards, he began collecting blues records, with a special interest in the many local blues Chicago artists who were still active on the local scene. As a harmonica player, he sought out and played with many musicians who had been associated with blues harp icon Little Walter and learned important lessons playing with post-war blues pioneers Dave and Louis Myers, Jimmy Rogers, Johnny Littlejohn, Jimmie Lee Robinson, Louisiana Red, Jody Williams, and countless others. Dirks has been involved in music production, working with Lurrie Bell, Carey Bell, Jimmy Burns, Willie Buck, and Jimmie Lee Robinson among others. He co-produced the Grammy Award winning box “Little Walter-The Complete Recordings 1950 -1967”, and also co-authored the award-winning book “Blues With A Feeling – The Little Walter Story”. Dirks lives in Chicago, where he has fronted his own band, Chicago Bound, for over 30 years.
JOHNNY IGUANA was Junior Wells’ pianist of choice. When he was 22 he moved from his hometown of Boston to Chicago, to join Junior’s band. He was also part of the band for Willie Buck’s previous album on Delmark, the best-selling “Willie Buck Way”. Among many other accomplishments, Johnny toured with the Junior Wells Band for three years, also toured with Otis Rush and recorded with Carey and Lurrie Bell, Lil’ Ed, and more. Johnny went on to play on Grammy-nominated albums by Junior Wells, “Chicago Blues History” and the “Muddy Waters 100 Band”, and he played all the piano on the “Chicago Plays the Stones” album (2018). Those releases feature Johnny playing with Buddy Guy, James Cotton, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Derek Trucks, Gary Clark Jr., Johnny Winter, Shemekia Copeland, and more. After appearing on dozens of blues albums released by other artists, Johnny released his debut blues album as a leader, on Delmark Records. “Johnny Iguana’s Chicago Spectacular” which features Lil’ Ed, John Primer, Billy Boy Arnold, Bob Margolin, Matthew Skoller, Billy Flynn, Kenny Smith, Bill Dickens, and Michael Caskey. He also recorded for Delmark a full solo piano album on a luxurious reel-to-reel all analogue format, to be released in 2024!
MELVIN SMITH: bass player extraordinaire – his career includes long periods of working with Koko Taylor, as well as Lurrie Bell, Billy Branch, Deitra Farr, Lefty Dizz, Zora Young, John Primer, and more. He is on several Delmark albums, some of them with one of his favorite drummers, the late Willie Hayes. “For an outstanding example of just how well Smith and ‘The Touch’ work together, slide Lurrie Bell’s critically-acclaimed 2013 disc – ‘Blues In My Soul’ (Delmark Records) – into the CD player. That’s old school Chicago blues at its finest”, wrote Terry Mullins in “Bluesblast”.
WILLIE “THE TOUCH” HAYES, who sadly passed away November 5th 2023, was one of the greatest drummers in blues history. “Live At Legend’s” is the last session Willie ever recorded. When he was 14 he was already on the road with Mighty Joe Young and with Koko Taylor. At 16 he became Magic Sam’s drummer. When he was 18 he joined Jimmy Johnson. His legendary nickname, “The Touch”, was given to him by Luther Allison. He performed blues, jazz, funk and R&B, and also played with Big Twist and the Mellow Fellows, Son Seals, Lurrie Bell, Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, The Temptations, B.B. King, Buddy Guy and Junior Wells, and Ike and Tina Turner. As an actor, Willie Hayes appeared in movies such as “Thief,” “Ali,” “Hardball” and “Road to Perdition.” While selecting the band members for this live album, Willie “The Touch” Hayes was the obvious choice.
THE ONE AND ONLY WILLIE BUCK
WILLIE BUCK was born Willian Crawford, 1937, in the small town of Houston, Mississippi. The closest “big” town was Tupelo, around 40 miles away. His father was a minister, as were many of his uncles and as is his son. Willie’s grandmother was Native American. Several of the family members played guitar, including Willie’s two sisters. “My grand-mother also had a wind-up phonograph at home. We used to have records by Big Boy Crudup, I remember one record he made, ‘I Love Your Mellow Peaches’, I used to play that all the time”, says Willie.
“Willie’s legendary life includes working on a paper mill for $5 an hour and singing around town in the evenings. During his youth he was a popular figure in what it was called the “Chitlin Circuit”, performing all across the South.
Willie’s earliest live blues experience happened when B.B. King arrived in town to play at Sally’s Juke Joint.
“I was too young to get inside the door, but I sat outside and listened. I never will forget, the last time he came to my hometown. Some of the guys, they got a little jealous, and cut his tires. He never did come back no more!”, Willie reminisces.
He also heard B.B. King broadcasting from Memphis on WDIA: “I used to listen to him on that station, he’d come on around 12:00, 12:15 in the afternoon, advertising Pepticon. He would sing that, ‘Pepticon sure is good!’”
Like many of his peers, he migrated to Chicago, in 1953, becoming one of the usual entertainers at the mythological “Maxwell Street” scene. “My brother-in-law was real good friends with Muddy and this guy that used to run the radio station, WOPA, I believe it was, Big Bill Hill. He was on the air five days a week. And by my brother-in-law being such good friends with everyone, they used to let me in the clubs, at least until the owner saw me and kicked me out! We used to see Muddy down at 35th and Indiana, Smitty’s Corner. And on 43rd Street, I was to sing with him, it was called Johnny Pepper’s. Also at Sylvio’s. He used to play in there a lot.”
Though many blues lovers have enjoyed Willie exclusively as a vocalist, it would be interesting to learn that Willie also played bass until he broke his wrist in 1964. Among others, he played bass with Magic Sam. Around 1970 Willie started putting together his own bands. “I used to hire Fred Below on drums, we’d go pick him up. Odie Payne played drums with me too. Odie Payne played on ‘Disco Blues’”.
He also had Louis Myers, Eddie Taylor, Sammy Lawhorn, Byther Smith, pianist Johnny “Big Moose” Walker, harp player Big Leon Brooks, and other Chicago “old-timers”. Willie has played with everybody and he knows everybody. When Willie and his band are joined on stage by Buddy Guy, at “Legends”, which happens frequently, Buddy likes to tell the audience how “When I started playing in Chicago, Willie was one of the guys that was already here”. Muddy Waters, Junior Wells, Buddy Guy, Sammy Lawhorn, Bobby Blue Bland, “Pine Top” Perkins, Howlin’ Wolf, Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, Bob Margolin, “Moose” Walker, the Myers brothers, you name them, Willie has been on stage with all of them.
In the 80’s Willie owned a club for four years. It was located at 1249 N. Clybourn, the “New Fun Lounge” where he used to present Big Time Sarah, Melvin Taylor and Junior Wells, among others.
During the 80’s, Willie also owned also an auto shop, “C & T Towing & Auto Service”. The traditional pinup calendar issued by Willie’s company would also promote the bands, including Willie, of course, and artists such as Big “Moose” Walker, Louis Myers, Odie Payne Jr. and “Dimestore” Fred. “I worked with the Myers brothers (Dave and Louis) for a long time. They were called ‘The Aces’. We were always respectful of each other when we got together. Matter of fact, they played with me until they wasn’t able to play anymore. We had some great times together. Me and them and Junior Wells used to play at a place called the Auxiliary Club, a great big place on 37th and Indiana. We played there every Friday and Saturday night for I don’t know how long.”
His loyalty to the “old-school” blues has paid-off: in 2004 Willie Buck was inducted to the Chicago Blues Hall of Fame.
Willie’s discography on Delmark includes:
“THE LIFE I LOVE”, originally recorded in 1985 with a cracking band including the Myers brothers, Louis on guitar and Dave on bass, John Primer also on guitar, Little Mac Simmons on harmonica and “Big Moose” Walker on keyboards.
“CELL PHONE MAN”, featuring Johnny Burgin (known at the time as Rockin’ Johnny) and Muddy Waters’ guitar player Rick Kreher.
“WILLIE BUCK WAY”, with Thaddeus Krolicki, Billy Flynn, Johnny Iguana, and Scott Dirks, all present also on Willie’s new album, “LIVE AT LEGEND’S”.
– ELBIO BARILARI • DELMARK ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Living Blues #292 Top 10 Reviews
WILLIE BUCK AND THE DELMARK ALL-STARS
Live at Buddy Guy’s Legends
Delmark Records – Delmark 882
B.B. King came to Willie Buck’s little town, Houston, Mississippi, before Buck was able to get into juke joints, so he sat outside and listened to the King. What he heard that day set him on a blues journey, and he’s performed with everybody, including Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Pinetop Perkins, Bobby “Blue” Bland, and Buddy Guy, among many others. This live album, from Buddy Guy’s Legends, captures Willie Buck at his best, and it features an all-star lineup of musicians playing behind him. The Delmark All-Stars include Scott Dirks on harmonica, Thaddeus Krolicki and Billy Flynn on guitar, Johnny Iguana on piano, Melvin Smith on bass, and the late Willie “The Touch” Hayes on drums.
The album opens with a stirring jump blues instrumental, Jumping, by the All-Stars that gives every musician a chance to stretch out and show their stuff. Rolling blues piano and trilling harmonica lay the groundwork for Buck’s soaring version of the classic Kansas City. Stride blues meets crunchy Memphis soul on Crawford’s original What We Were Talking About, while Buck and the band deliver a slow-burning 12-bar blues on Let’s See if We Can Come Together. Buck and company turn in a down-to-the-bones, harmonica-drenched version of Muddy Waters’ Rock Me. Guitars and harmonica play call-and-response on the slowly unfurling stomping, haunting blues of Walking and Swimming. The album closes with the crowd-pleaser Hoochie Coochie Man, and Buck’s version gets down and gritty as any other version of the classic blues song.
Live at Buddy Guy’s Legends celebrates one of blues’ great singers, Willie Buck, with this all-star band giving him room to let his voice growl and soar.
—Henry L. Carrigan Jr.
Willie Buck And The Delmark All-Stars Live At Buddy Guy’s Legends
July 21, 2024
Willie Buck And The Delmark All-Stars
Live At Buddy Guy’s Legends
Delmark Records
William Crawford a.k.a. Willie Buck was born in Houston, Mississippi. Buck relocated to Chicago in 1953. Though just a teenager an older relative snuck him in to see Muddy Waters when Muddy was still in his prime. The sound of that classic band had such an impact on Buck that he still performs in the style he heard that day. In fact, Buck is considered the standard bearer of the old school Blues.
Buck’s self-produced debut “It’s Alright” was released in 1982. The band at the time included the Meyers Brothers, bassist Dave Meyers, and his brother lead guitarist Lewis Meyers, and a young rhythm guitarist by the name of John Primer. That album was later re-released as “The Life I Love” on Delmark in 2010, with five additional live tracks recorded at Robert’s 500 Room on Chicago’s 63rd St. The following year Buck released the import album “Songs For Muddy, The Madrid Session” with Venezuelan guitarist Jose Luis Pardo and harp player Quique Gomez. In 2012 Buck released Delmark’s “Cell Phone Man” and it received accolades “his vocals are sinewy and expressive and he demonstrates a powerful upper range”.
Buck has also been featured in the 2011 comic strip “The Secret History of Chicago Music” by the illustrator Steve Krakow a.k.a. Pastic Crimewave”. There is also a Chicago Street “Willie Buck Way” named in his honor. The band on his 2019 album “Honorary Blues Legend Willie Buck Way” also included lead guitarist Billy Flynn (also with The Cash Box Kings), 2nd guitarist Thaddeus Krolicki, pianist Johnny “Fingers” Iguana (also played with Junior Wells) and harp ace Scott Dirks.
The new album kicks off with an instrumental blues jam with Dirks, harmonica; Billy Flynn lead guitar; Thaddeus Krolicki 2nd guitar; Johnny Iguana, piano; and Melvin Smith, bass. This was also the last recording from the late drummer Willie “The Touch” Hayes.
“Kansas City” is the classic written by Leiber and Stoller as Buck is introduced to the audience. It was recorded live by Connor Korte, “goin’ to Kansas City, Kansas City here I come, they got some crazy looking women there and I’m gonna’ get me one”. The album is mixed by Julia A. Miller and Elbio Barilari, and mastered by Miller. On “What We Were Talking About” Buck sings “I wonder what we were talking about, what did I do that made you mad…what can I do to make it right”. “Let’s See If We Can Come Together” is a lowdown blues with Dirks’ on harp.
On “Snow”, Buck sings “when I got home I looked out my window and all I could see was a lot of snow”, with solos from Dirks, Flynn, and Iguana. “Willie Buck Talking” is another short introduction and narrative from Buck. “Rock Me” is the Muddy Waters’ classic “I want you to rock me, all night long”. “Walking And Swimming”, “when I see a pretty woman I will do anything to get next to her”. The closer is Willie Dixon’s classic “Hoochie Coochie Man”, “when I was a young boy at the age of five…now I’m a man, age 21, I’m a man, a mannish boy, a hoochie coochie man”.
This ensemble referred to as “The Delmark All-Stars” shines throughout this new recording. Hopefully Willie Buck will receive the additional recognition that he deserves.
Richard Ludmerer
Contributing Editor/Making A Scene
https://www.makingascene.org/willie-buck-and-the-delmark-all-stars-live-at-buddy-guys-legends
Willie Buck “Live at Buddy Guy’s Legends”
Willie Buck – Live at Buddy Guy’s Legends
For aficionados of the blues, the set opens with a hot instrumental so listeners can settle in before the heavy machinery comes. So, “Jumping” sets the mood. Pour the beers & whiskies, get the basket of hot wings & listen. The piano & subterranean bass lay down the cement as the guitar is spread out like water to help make it finish. It is quite captivating & satisfying.
Recorded in Chicago, on August 28, 2023, the 17-track old school blues collection documented on Live at Buddy Guy’s Legends (Drops Aug 30/52:00) is Willie’s 4th Delmark LP. It features the Delmark All-Stars — Scott Dirks, Thaddeus Krolicki, Billy Flynn, Johnny Iguana, Melvin Smith & the late drummer Willie Hayes.
Born William Crawford in Houston, Mississippi he moved to Chicago in 1953 & is now one of the elder statesmen of the “storyteller” bluesmen of the Muddy Waters era. Elbio Barilari produced this live LP.
Among some originals are standard blues like the Leiber-Stoller 1959 hit “Kansas City” by North Carolina’s Wilbert Harrison. Willie lays down a warm rocking nostalgic vocal.
The set was recorded last year & retains the emblematic sound of the 50s. The atmospheric value can be heard in the recording & each instrument is captured quite well. Even as Mr. Hayes hits the cymbals they don’t blur the guitar, piano, or bass work that steams ahead with gusto. These blues are not drawn out in any melancholy turn as much as a rocking style. The instrumentation is bright & the piano work is exceptional.
Willie can whip up a gut-wrenching blues when needed. His tonality while not as gruff & raw as Howlin’ Wolf has the necessary authority the way B.B. King would accentuate his blues. “What We Were Talking About” & “Rock Me” both have these elements if not a cross between 1945’s Lionel Hampton’s “Hamp’s Blues,” & the later cross-pollination of blues melodies laid down by Chuck Berry in a more rock affiliation.
In “Let’s See If We Can Come Together” the lead guitar is thin like in the early 1930s blues. But that thin sound is part of the attraction. It surrenders eventually to the harmonica that warms up the arrangement & the succession of raindrop piano notes that lend it color – all the skill is still in attendance. There are lots of vintage flavors.
“Snow” comes across juke joint raw like a lost Robert Johnson side & a cover of the Willie Dixon track made famous by Muddy Waters “Hootchie Cootchie Man” is a thrilling close.
Highlights – “Jumping,” “Kansas City,” “What We Were Talking About,” “Let’s See If We Can Come Together,” “Snow,” “Rock Me” & “Hootchie Cootchie Man.”
Musicians – Willie Buck (vocals), Scott Dirks (harmonica), Thaddeus Krolicki & Billy Flynn (guitars), Johnny Iguana (piano), Melvin Smith (bass) & Willie “The Touch” Hayes (drums).
Blues Roadhouse
Roadhouse Album Review: Willie Buck takes us back to the old school with “Live at Buddy Guy’s Legends”
Willie Buck — “Live at Buddy Guy’s Legends” — Delmark Records (Aug. 30 release)
Every once in a while, I like to reach back into the blues for an experience that reminds me of my days hanging out in blues clubs, listening to tough, honest old-school blues. Muddy Waters, Albert Collins, John Lee Hooker, Albert King all come to mind. It’s live music, played with great enthusiasm amid all the raucous, sweaty appreciation that blues fans provide.
If you’re anything like me, that’s as close to blues heaven as you can get. (And if you’re anything like me, you have my sympathies…!)
This new album, the fourth by veteran Chicago bluesman Willie Buck, and a stellar group of backers known here as the Delmark All-Stars, takes me back to just the right place. It was recorded live at Buddy Guy’s Legends, also just the right place for some vintage blues; a handful of six originals, and three classic covers.
Buck was born William Crawford in 1937 (yes, he’s still going strong), in the small town of Houston, Mississippi. The closest “big” town was Tupelo, about 40 miles away. He left for the big town in 1953, becoming one of the regulars at Chicago’s legendary Maxwell Street scene, and gradually worked his way into the club circuit.
Since then, it’s said Buck has played with everybody and knows everybody. Guy has told his club audiences when he and Buck appear together, “When I started playing in Chicago, Willie was one of the guys that was already here.”
The new album launches with a rollicking 6 1/2-minute instrumental blues jam by the All-Stars, all worth a very honorable mention for their solid work: Scott Dirks, harmonica; Billy Flynn, lead guitar; Thaddeus Krolicki, 2nd guitar; Johnny Iguana, piano, and Melvin Smith, bass. This was also the last recording from the drummer, the late Willie “The Touch” Hayes.
Then Buck takes over, as he winds up the R&B classic “Kansas City,” with the All-Stars percolating rhythmically behind him. (Permit me a little digression here, since “Kansas City” has always seemed to me to be an improbable creation. It was written in 1952 by Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller, two 19-year-old white R&B fans from Los Angeles who had never even been to Kansas City, but said they were inspired by Big Joe Turner records. They wrote the song especially for West Coast pianoman Little Willie Littlefield as “K. C. Loving,” but it wasn’t until 1959 that Wilbert Harrison turned it into the monster hit “Kansas City,” eventually covered by more than 300 versions. And, of course, Lieber and Stoller went on to become giants in the creation of blues, R&B and rock ‘n’ roll music.)
That’s followed by a set of Buck originals: “Tried To Work Something Out” with fine honky-tonk piano from Iguana and lyrical harp from Dirks; the very tough shouter “What We Were Talking About”; the down-home, slow-burning “Let’s See if We Can Come Together”; a slow-blues turn on “Snow”; and then a few remarks from Buck about a book he wants to write about his storied life.
Buck follows with a hard version of the Muddy Waters chestnut, “Rock Me,” then the original, slow and bluesy “Walking and Swimming.” The closer is Buck’s rugged take on “Hoochie Coochie Man,” Waters’ memorable version of the always-fine Willie Dixon creation.
This is one of those albums that captures a musical snapshot in time — a gritty veteran of Chicago blues reaching deep for a piece of his heart to proudly share. Get it while you can.
“Rock Me” from the album:
REAL CHICAGO BLUES SINGER
WILLIE BUCK
WILLIE BUCK
This time singing in front of
THE DELMARK ALL-STARS
SCOTT DIRKS HARMONICA THADDEUS KROLICKY GUITAR BILLY FLYNN GUITAR JOHNNY IGUANA PIANO MELVIN SMITH BASS WILLIE “THE TOUCH” HAYES DRUMS
01 JUMPING 06:33 02 KANSAS CITY 04:23 03 TRIED TO WORK SOMETHING OUT 05:14 04 WHAT WE WERE TALKING ABOUT 06:03 05 LET’S SEE IF WE CAN COME TOGETHER 04:48 06 SNOW 06:27 07 WILLIE BUCK TALKING 01:04 08 ROCK ME 06:23 09 WALKING AND SWIMMING 05:20 10 HOOCHIE COOCHIE MAN 06:30
1982
2011
2012
2013
2015
2019
2022
Willie is the last of the old school Chicago blues singers.
Buck was born Willie Crawford in the small town of Houston, Mississippi, in 1937. He arrived as a teenager in the city of Chicago in 1953 and was soon seen in the clubs of the west and south side while working as a car mechanic. Around 1970, Willie began to form his first bands that included musicians such as Louis Myers, Eddie Taylor, Sammy Lawhorn, Magic Slim and Byther Smith, pianist and old friend Johnny “Big Moose” Walker, harmonica player Big Leon Brooks and Fred Below and Odie Payne. Early in the eighties he created his own label BarBare and recorded his first album “It’s Alright”, an album that became a collector’s item due to its short edition. From the beginning, Willie Buck’s main influence had been Muddy Waters, whose songs he regularly sang in his performances and who, after Waters’ death, became the most recognized bluesman in perpetuating the legend’s anthems in the clubs of the city. His record production has not been very extensive, in the 2000s he joined Delmark Records family and to date has released three absolutely essential albums, “Cell Phone Man”, “The Life I Love” and “Willie Buck Way”. He has also had a special predilection for Spain, where he has performed regularly and where he has recorded and released two other albums, “Songs For Muddy” with musicians such as guitarist Jose Luis Pardo and harmonica player Quique Gomez and “You Know About The Boogie” with prestigious musicians from the Madrid blues scene. This fourth album with Delmark Records places Buck on the list of the great blues figures of all time.
https://www.blues21.com/willie-buck-live-at-buddy-guy-s-legend
https://thebluesmusicblog.blogspot.com/2024/08/willie-buck-and-delmark-all-stars-live.html
Willie Buck & the Delmark All Stars
Capítulo 48: Willie Buck & the Delmark All Stars: Live At Buddy Guy’s Legends (2024)
El vocalista de blues Willie Buck nació en 1937 en la pequeña ciudad de Houston, Mississippi. Willie actuaba en lo que se conoció como el “Circuito Chittlin” rodando entre Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana, Carolina del Norte y del Sur, Tennessee y Texas. Poco después de desarrollar su popularidad, Willie emigró a Chicago en 1954, donde realmente se sumergió en la escena del blues de esa ciudad y se convirtió en una verdadera estrella en “Maxwell Street”. Willie fue incluido en el Salón de la Fama del Blues en Chicago en el verano de 2004.
Live At Buddy Guy’s Legends es el cuarto álbum de Willie Buck en Delmark. Primero fue The Life I Love, seguido de Cellphone Man, y después ya en Delmark LLC, Willie Buck Way 2019. Este último tuve oportunidad de comprárselo el pasado 5 de junio en el Rosa’s Lounge en donde estuvimos de visita, para acompañar el concierto de Stefan Hillesheim. Willie, un veterano promotor del estilo Chicago Blues, que ha actuado con todos y conoce a muchos en la escena, es uno de los últimos abanderados del blues de la “vieja escuela” en su máxima expresión.
Este álbum fue grabado en el Buddy Guy’s Legends, la zona cero de este género en Chicago, capital mundial del blues. Para la ocasión, Willie trajo a su mano derecha durante muchos años, Thaddeus Krolicki, para unirse al grupo Delmark All-Stars, formado por algunos de los artistas más experimentados y respetados de la tradición de Chicago. Lista de canciones: 01. Jumping; 02. Good and Bad at the Same Time; 03. Kansas City; 04. Tried to Work Something Out; 05. What We Were Talking About; 06. Let’s See If We Can Come Together; 07. Willie Buck Talking; 08. Snow; 09. Rock Me; 10. Walking and Swimming.
Willie Buck is one of the last of the old school blues men on the blues scene in the Windy City. The veteran singer and his record label, Delmark, wanted to do something very special for his fourth release, capture him on stage with a great band in front of an appreciative audience.
Buck brought his guitarist, Thaddeus Krolicki, and The Delmark All-Stars (Billy Flynn – guitar, Scott Dirks – harmonica, Johnny Iguana – piano, Melvin Smith – bass, Willie “The Touch” Hayes – drums) joined them at Buddy Guy’s Legends for a stellar performance on August 28, 2023. Live At Buddy Guy’s Legends features a mix of Willie Buck originals with a few well-chosen Chicago standards and shows the old tiger still has plenty in the tank.
After the band opens with an instrumental blues jam (“Jumping”), Dirks introduces Buck who opens with the Leiber & Stoller classic “Kansas City,” which leads into several original tunes, beginning with a couple of shuffles (the rollicking “Tried To Work Something Out” and “What We Were Talking About”) and a couple of slow blues (“Let’s See If We Can Come Together” and “Snow”), all of which include sparkling musical contributions from the band.
After a little talk with the audience, including discussion of an upcoming book about his life, Buck covers a couple of Muddy Waters tunes, beginning with “Rock Me,” which also features some great instrumental interludes, the Delta-esque “Walking and Swimming,” which is a descendant of the old “Catfish Blues” theme, and finally, “Hoochie Coochie Man,” the Chicago Blues anthem (or one of them, anyway).
Buck will turn 87 in November and was 85 when this set was recorded. He sounds marvelous and the audience really eats it up. The band provide superb backing throughout and each instrumentalist gets a few moments to shine during the set. Sadly, this was Hayes’ last recorded session, he passed away the following November.
For a classic live set of vintage Chicago blues, performed by one of the elder statesmen, blues fans should look no further than Live At Buddy Guy’s Legends from Willie Buck and the Delmark All-Stars.
Graham Clarke
Coincidence, but three circumstances that are present in this CD and soon also on vinyl, take us back to the fifties/sixties, historic and unrepeatable of Chicago blues. The first is the epic Delmark record label, created by Bob Koester in the fifties, and now in the safe hands of Julia A Miller and Elbio Barilari. The second is the return to record, the fourth for the aforementioned label, of one of the last (unfortunately very few) witnesses of those years, the octogenarian Willie Buck. The third is that the record is a live recorded at Buddy Guy’s Legends, also an octogenarian and also a custodian of those years, and still active, albeit limited. We wanted to listen again to something born in our days that has those genuine flavors of the seminal Chicago blues, and if it is live in all its naturalness, even better. Willie Buck arrived in the windy city from Mississippi, in the early fifties and even if partly overshadowed by figures like Muddy Waters (his main influence), Howlin Wolf, Elmore James, Little Walter, etc., he still managed to carve out a place for himself, repaid by engagements in clubs and by musicians who willingly accompanied him, being a singer. Unfortunately, as it happened for some others, blues music did not always give the possibility of being the only source of income, especially when you become responsible for a family. For Willie Buck, therefore, a day job became necessary, alternating it with the activity of bluesman that returned to primary in the early seventies, producing and publishing on his own 45 rpm and a vinyl for promotional purposes for concerts. This is the first live of his career, and for the occasion he is accompanied by the excellent and well-known musicians gathered under the name of, The Delmark All-Stars. Scott Dirks harmonica, Billy Flynn guitar, Johnny Iguana piano, Melvin Smith bass, and Willie “The Touch” Hayes drums (for him it was the last time as he passed away a few months after the recordings, in November 2023). To the band, Willie Buck added his trusty guitarist, Thaddeus Krolicki. Ten songs, between autographs and covers, presented with one of those attitudes of the most real Chicago blues, that is the ability to expose it with an essential profitable expressiveness, not getting lost in self-celebratory attitudes, but always focused on a community result, between medium and slow tempos. It was a pleasure to listen live, Willie Buck and The Delmak All-Stars!
Silvano Brambilla
Willie Buck & The Delmark All-Stars
Live at Buddy Guy’s Legends
Delmark Records DE 882 – www.delmark.com
For his fourth album on Delmark Records, the leaders of the emblematic Chicago Blues label have chosen to install the native of the small city of Houston (Mississippi) in Buddy Guy’s club, the Legends, for a live session recorded on August 28, 2023. Willie Buck, who cut his teeth on Maxwell Street, is here solidly accompanied by the impeccable Billy Flynn and Thaddeus Krolicki on guitars, while Scott Dirks is on harmonica, Johnny Iguana on piano, the always excellent Melvin Smith on bass, and the late Willie Hayes on drums, whose last participation in a session is here. The one who worked alongside the Aces, Big Leon Brooks and John Primer, offers us here five original compositions, like the superb Tried To Work Something Out, What We Were Talking About , or Let’s See if We Can Come Together . All admirably performed, these pieces are part of the great musical tradition of the twelve-bar of the Windy City. The one who went to see Muddy Waters in the famous club Smitty’s Corner thanks to his brother-in-law pays tribute to his idol by covering the everlasting Rock Me Baby and Hoochie Coochie Man. Even if my preference over the years concerning his various productions always leans towards his superb 45s dating from the beginning of his career, like Get Down And Disco To The Blues or I Want My Baby as well as his excellent self-produced 33 rpm entitled It’s Alright ( reissued in 2010 with the title ” The Life I Love”) , it must be recognized that this new album perfectly knows how to highlight one of the last “old school bluesmen” of the Windy City. Willie Buck is now one of the patriarchs of Chicago, thank you to Delmark Records for having set up this impeccable production which will delight many fans. – Jean-Luc Vabres
KENTUCKIANA BLUES SOCIETY- BLUES NEWS
News September 2024 8
Crossroads
by John Sacksteder
Willie Buck and The Delmark Blues All-Stars “Live at Buddy Guy’s Legends” (Delmark Records)
William “Willie Buck” Crawford was born in Houston, Mississippi in 1937, one of eight children. He started singing early and played the chitlin circuit while underage. He moved permanently to Chicago in 1954. He got established in traditional blues and started traveling into Canada , Mexico and Europe as well as around the US. After several single releases, he recorded his first album in 1977. This album is his fourth for Delmark Records. In addition to Willie on vocals, Billy Flynn and Thaddeus Krolicki play guitar, Scott Dirks on harmonica, Johnny Iguana on piano, Melvin Smith on bass and Willie “The Touch” Hayes on drums. Willie was inducted into the Chicago Hall of Fame in 2004. The album opens with an instrumental blues jam, “Jumping” and then moves into “Kansas City”. The next four songs are from Willie’s pen starting with “Tried To Work Something Out” “with you”. On “What We Were Talking About”, Willie asks, “What can I do to make you smile?” “Let’s See If We Can Come Together” is a plea to his woman. He is stranded in the house after the big “Snow”. Muddy Water’s “Rock Me” is next and is followed by the last song written by Willie, “Walking and Swimming”. The album finishes with Willie Dixon’s “Hoochie Coochie Man”. The album is a classic, traditional Chicago styled blues romp from beginning to end.
WILLIE BUCK – Live at Legends, 30.8.2024, Delmark Records
As it is said the right things are kept in always special and stored in special places. Vicious and fierce things are stored in small bottles and should be carefully chewed and dosed for use in small quantities.
Artistic Director of Delmark Records Kevin Johnson and Elbio Barilari Delmark journalist engaged in radio and journalistic promotion certainly knew to whom to deliver such materials. Because at the end of the website of this biggest jazz and blues label Delmrk Records reads “If you don’t love THE BLUES, then you gotta hole in your soul!” “
This publishing house with us is actually 71. one year ago… from there way back in 1953. годне. Namely, the publishing house was founded by Robert G. Koester in St. Louis Missouri 1953 and from 1958. Bob Koester is moving to Chicago and operates under the name Delmark Records, so this team has been doing so for the full 66 years. year.
How these momentous anniversaries are being celebrated truly in the best possible way with the release of rare albums and simply opening Delmark to all those who want to listen, but also have quality music. In addition, there are also special, gold bar-code keys that allow the chosen ones to get the materials they are interested in. One such bar – the key code is with me and every now and then I enter that treasury and treat myself to certain editions, which are available to the just selected ones.
”Live at Legends” Willie Buck is truly one of those pearls, which all those who have a bit love this musical style… they just have to have it.
It’s about to be 30 in two days. August album will be available to everyone who wants it, and here only two days before that I introduce you … sooo pre-premiere… and I was asked by Kevin Johnson for this and I admit I am extremely proud to do so.
When such an exceptional team of musicians called The Delmark All -Stars gather and consist of:
Willie Buck (vokal)
Scott Dirks ( harmonika)
Thaddeus Krolicki (guitar)
Billy Flynn ( guitar)
Johnny Iguana ( piano )
Melvin Smith (bas)
Willie “The Touch” Hayes (drums) and to whom this album is actually dedicated to: ”In Memory of WILLIE “THE TOUCH” HAYES (1950-2023)”
Besides this meaning of “In Memory Of” this album “Live at Legends” is a true proof that Buddy Guy’s “Legends Club” is indeed a true and proper place in which the history of blues is written. Everybody but really everybody… they want to play at that place and receive confirmation that they have achieved something, which in this musical style has the status of “Top of the Tops”.
Their jamming is so casual, their jamming in every tone carries an extraordinary weight of the “blues notes”, which can only be given to us by such verified blues masters. You can find everything about everyone on the Internet and of course, I will not drown you with that information. Namely, today everything is so open and accessible that all of you can get to everything. For me personally, it’s a really big deal because all those, who care about these kinds of releases, material, albums can easily reach them.
“Live at Buddy Guy’s Legends” is Willie Buck’s fourth album for Delmark Records, and the label wanted to present and give everyone something very special. Accordingly, it was agreed that it will be a live performance and recording, and that’s where Willie Buck feels most comfortable, on stage, with a great band and surrounded by his loyal fans. It was also agreed that the recording will take place in Buddy Guy’s “Legends”, the blues’ zero point in Chicago, the world capital of this genre. Getting better than better and eventually when it is all overheard and all 59′ and 15″ passes through you in your body an incredible concentration of blues is created, which is sure to satisfy you.
RECOMMENDATION:
For this album Willie and the Delmark Records label put together an advance ALL STARS BAND “Old School Blues” because Willie Buck is certainly one of the last “Story Tellers” on the blues scene and within the tradition and period reaching back to Muddy Waters and even to the bluesmen before World War II war, right down to Big Bill Broonzy and other urban blues pioneers. And what else to write besides that Chicago and its tradition of blues every now and then shows that it still has breath and lives on. And this was also the last recording in the truly incredible career of the great Will Hayes. So, an additional rarity.
To all who make something like this possible … Sending a tremendous THANK YOU!
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