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A Photographic Retrospective By John Robert Rowlands

 

 

Howlin Wolf

Born: - Chester Arthur Burnett, 10 June 1910, West Point, Mississippi, USA.
Died:-  10 January 1976, Hines, Illinois, USA.
Howlin' Wolf was one of the most important of the southern expatriates who created
the post-war blues out of their rural past and moulded it into the tough 'Chicago sound' of the 50s.
 The Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds did much to publicize Wolf's (and Waters') music,
both in Europe and white America, and as the 60s progressed, the newer artists at
Chess saw their target audience as the emerging white 'love and peace' culture and
tried to influence their material to suit it.
Wolf's music was a significant influence on rock and many of his best-known songs -
'Sitting On Top Of The World', 'I Ain't Superstitious', 'Killin' Floor', 'Back Door Man' and 'Little Red Rooster' -
were recorded by acts as diverse as the Doors, Cream, the Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds and
Manfred Mann. Few, however, rivalled the power or sexual bravura displayed on the originals
and only Don Van Vliet ( Captain Beefheart ) came close to recapturing his aggressive, raucous voice.
A compelling appearance on the teen-oriented Shindig television show (at the behest of the Rolling Stones)
was a rare concession to commerciality. His label's desire for success, akin to the white acts he
influenced, resulted in the lamentable The Howlin' Wolf Album, which the artist described as 'dog shit'.
This ill-conceived attempt to update earlier songs was outshone by The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions,
on which Wolf and long-serving guitarist Hubert Sumlin were joined by an array of guests,
including Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, and Rolling Stones members Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts.
Wolf, along with others like Muddy Waters, resisted this move but were powerless to control it.
They were, of course, men in their 50s, set in their ways but needing to maintain an audience
outside the dwindling Chicago clubs. Fortunately, Wolf outlived this trend, along
with that for piling well-known artists together into 'super bands'.
Wolf continued to tour but his health was declining.
After a protracted period of illness Howlin' Wolf died of cancer in the Veterans
Administration Hospital in 1976. His influence has survived the excesses of the
'swinging 60s' and is to be seen today in the work of many of the emerging black bluesmen such as Roosevelt 'Booba' Barnes.
 
Photograph of Howlin Wolf by John Robert Rowlands