A brief Hubert Sumlin Bio
The youngest of 13 children, Hubert Sumlin was born on November
16, 1931, in Greenwood, Mississippi and grew up in Hughes,
Arkansas. When he was eight years old, Hubert’s mother
sacrificed an entire week’s pay to buy him a guitar.
Hubert’s first musical experiences were in the Baptist
Church where he and the deacon worked out musical arrangements.
This is the musical “school” Hubert came from,
his roots, along with other blues legends including Otis
Spann and Muddy Waters. As his new album Wake Up Call illustrates,
Sumlin’s music follows in that tradition.
Hubert’s first gig was as a fill-in guitarist for
harp player James Cotton. According to Cotton, guitarist
Pat Hare couldn’t be found and someone pointed to
the young Hubert and said, “He can play.” Cotton
recalls the rest: “As soon as we hit the bandstand
I couldn’t tell it wasn’t Pat Hare back there!”
This started a lifelong friendship between Sumlin and Cotton,
who (with permission from Hubert’s mother) began to
work local juke joints and fish frys. Both men went on to
become major players in the Chicago blues community, both
sharing time with Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. However,
it was Hubert’s association with Wolf that helped
him make his mark in the blues world and music history.
Sumlin’s first meeting with Wolf is as legendary as
the music they created together. At 11 years old, Hubert
crawled into a local juke joint trying to sneak in and hear
the band. He was kicked out as soon as he was spotted, but
wandered around back to a window behind the bandstand. Hubert
stacked Coca-Cola cases against the window and as he stood
on top to peek in at the band, they fell out from under
him and he came crashing through the window in the middle
of a song.
Hubert remembers: “I looked up and saw Wolf looking
down at me; He said ‘Let him stay! Let him stay! Bring
him a chair.’ He wouldn’t give me nothing but
water, and I sat there and watched Wolf, Pat Hare and Junior
Parker. That night he took me home and told my mother to
please not punish me because all I only wanted was to hear
the music.”
A few years later Sumlin began working with Wolf in Memphis.
Wolf had to promise Hubert’s mother that he would
watch over him in order to get permission to take the teenager
to Chicago. Several years later, the most legendary and
longest partnership in the blues world began when Sumlin
moved to Chicago in 1954 to join Wolf’s band. Wolf
and Hubert changed the sound of American music and helped
create rock and roll.
Hubert Sumlin is an electric guitar pioneer, largely responsible
for the sound of many modern guitar players. Eric Clapton,
Keith Richards, Jimmy Page, Bob Dylan, Frank Zappa, Bob
Weir, Jeff Beck, Carlos Santana and many other critically
acclaimed musicians consider Sumlin a major influence on
their playing. Clapton proved his respect by refusing to
do the Chess Records London Howlin’ Wolf Sessions
unless Hubert was present. “The Red Rooster”,
“Backdoor Man”, “Shake For Me”,
“Killing Floor”, “Smokestack Lightnin”
and “Sittin’ On Top of the World” are
songs you may recognize from cover versions by Cream, The
Doors, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix, The Grateful Dead,
or The Rolling Stones. Hubert Sumlin formulated the original
music to these classics.
In Hubert’s music you hear the acoustic stylings of
the delta meshed with the loud excitement and bright lights
of Chicago and Memphis, combined with the artistry of Charlie
Patton, Robert Johnson, Pat Hare, Son House and Wolf. Sumlin
brought these influences to the next level, creating his
own exceptional sound. His tone and intensity were instantly
identifiable.
After Wolf’s death in 1976, Sumlin quit music for
a while; he couldn’t imagine performing without his
mentor. When he returned to music in the early eighties,
Hubert established his own career as a solo artist. He toured
the world with various acts, playing with Albert King, Otis
Rush, Pinetop Perkins and countless others. Sumlin became
close friends with Jimmie and Stevie Ray Vaughan and still
wears the trademark “music note” guitar strap
that Stevie gave him.
Hubert Sumlin is a historically significant originator of
blues composition and one of the last living connections
to an era that produced so much monumental music.
