JOHN PRIMER
The story of the Blues might be summed up by the tale of a kid who sits twanging a ‘diddley bow’ in some rural Delta backwater, who fulfils his dreams by moving to the big city and playing alongside the biggest Blues Legends. Surprisingly, there are still one or two of these characters around, and there is no finer example than John Primer, who came from just those origins to lead Muddy Waters‘ Band and play on the world stage with the finest musicians Chicago has produced. John went on to establish a considerable solo career with a long string of Festival appearances and over a dozen albums .
John plays some Mississippi-style slide with a great band, featuring harp player Matthew Skoller:
John had been leading the house-band at The Checkerboard Lounge for some time, and when Muddy sadly left us in ’83, John joined up with Magic Slim and his Teardrops, where he stayed for 14 years. John’s work with Slim gave him many recording opportunities, but he set out on his own in 1992 when Earwig Records released his first solo album ‘Stuff You Gotta Watch’. Three years later Mike Vernon produced ‘The Real Deal’ which gained a major release on Warners, and featured a long time collaborator, the harp-player Billy Branch. Since then John has been a stalwart of the Chicago scene, toured widely in The States and overseas, appeared at countless Festivals, released a dozen albums, and in 2008 set up his own label, Blues House Productions. With over half a century of Blues-craft behind him, John has earned his title of Living Legend, along with many other awards, as the kid from rural Mississippi continues to make his mark in the city.