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The longtime drummer with the Muddy Waters Band, bluesman Willie "Big Eyes" Smith was born in Helena, AK, on January 19, 1936; raised by his sharecropper grandparents, as a child his neighbors included the likes of Robert Nighthawk and Pinetop Perkins. At 17 he traveled to Chicago to visit his mother, and never returned home; instead Smith taught himself harmonica and drums, and with harpist Clifton James and guitarist Bobby Lee Burns formed a blues trio. Upon marrying his first wife in 1955, Smith agreed to retire from performing, but within a year he was backing Arthur "Big Boy" Spires; after a brief attempt at fronting his own band, he returned to his drum kit, joining Hudson Shower's Red Devil Trio. After a few lean years that forced him to go on welfare, Smith joined Waters in 1961 and remained with the blues giant until 1980, when he co-founded the Legendary Blues Band. His first solo recording, Bag Full of Blues, did not appear until 1995; Nothin' But the Blues Y'all followed four years later and Blues from the Heart was issued in fall 2000. Bluesin' It appeared in 2004 from Electro-Fi while the pleasant Way Back was released in 2006 by Hightone Records. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
As an Americana/Blues singer songwriter from Clarendon, Arkansas(50 miles or so from Helena)...seeing this is cool. www.reverbnation.com/justintealmorgan
GREATEST BLUES DRUMMER PLAYING, GREATEST HARMONICA BLUES HARP PLAYING(ALONG WITH OTHER "GREATESTS" LIKE JAMES COTTON, CHARLIE MUSSELWHITE, AND BOB CORRITORE)
bburnet
Yes, thank you for noticing that. I didn't think many blues artists came from Alaska.
landarch
Hey bio writer, Arkansas is abbreviated AR not AK (Alaska).
even though Willie fronts his band with incredible vocals and harmonica, he is THE GREATEST BLUES DRUMMER ALIVE AND ONE OF THE ABSOLUTE ORIGINAL BLUES ARTISTS IN HISTORY!!! WHAT A LIVING LEGEND AND AMERICAN TREASURE...to catch him live is to live an HISTORICAL EVENT!!!
At 74 - he can still blow some harp...saw him w pinetop in San Antonio, Tx...Great Show !
duck29
AK = Alaska and AZ = Arizona, sharecroppers would more likely be found in AR = Arkansas. Pinetop Perkins still plays the Helena (not Montana) Blues Festival.
Comments
Hey bio writer, Arkansas is abbreviated AR not AK (Alaska).