Chicago Blues Music: 4 Notable Chicago Blues Artists

Chicago blues is a form of urban blues and subgenre of blues music that emerged from Chicago, Illinois, in the 1920s and became popular in the years following World War II. The Chicago blues style, notable for its use of amplified electric guitar and harmonica, produced some of the most influential musicians in the history of music, such as Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, Howlin’ Wolf, Buddy Guy, and songwriter/producer Willie Dixon, among many other blues legends.

Their songs, built primarily on the propulsive 12-bar blues or “boogie” chord progression, also wielded considerable influence on the development of rock ‘n’ roll. Chicago blues carried considerable freight with members of the British Invasion—like the Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton—who covered songs by and emulated the playing styles of many Chicago blues artists. American rock music artists like guitarist Jimi Hendrix, the Allman Brothers, ZZ Top, and Paul Butterfield drew on Chicago blues musicians’ raw and distinctive sound.

The history of Chicago blues began in the 1920s when thousands of Black Americans fled the repressive Jim Crow laws of the rural Southern United States for improved living conditions in the urban Northeast and Midwestern states.

• Relocation leads to the birth of the sound. Country blues musicians such as Hudson Whittaker—who performed and recorded as Tampa Red—William “Big Bill” Broonzy and Alberta Hunter relocated to and began performing in Chicago's South Side neighborhood. The first wave of Chicago blues musicians—including “Memphis Minnie” Douglas, Memphis Slim, and Sonny Boy Williamson—soon joined them. Their music hewed closer to the acoustic sound of Mississippi Delta blues than the electrified Chicago blues that followed. The musicians’ performances and recordings helped foster a burgeoning movement, which received support from the rise of blues clubs, juke joints, outdoor spaces on Maxwell Street, and many house parties on the city’s south and west sides.
• The rise of the first wave. The sound of Chicago blues, as it’s understood today, rose to prominence in the 1950s. A stripped-down sound built around an amplified lineup of electric guitar and/or harmonica, a tight rhythm section of electric bass and drums, and occasional support from piano and horns replaced the acoustic and jazz-influenced sound of country blues and Memphis blues. A powerful cadre of magnetic performers delivered this new electric blues, including McKinley Morganfield, who performed as Muddy Waters, blues harmonica player “Little” Walter Jacobs, and the formidable Chester Burnett, a.ka. Howlin’ Wolf.
• “Hoochie Coochie Man” draws in new listeners. The success of Waters’s 1954 single “Hoochie Coochie Man” helped introduce Chicago blues to listeners outside the Midwest, and a host of record labels soon emerged to feed growing interest in blues albums. Chief among these was Chess Records, a label run by Jewish immigrants Leonard and Phil Chess, who employed a talented bassist and songwriter named Willie Dixon to oversee recording sessions. By the mid-1950s, Chess boasted some of the biggest names in blues and rock ‘n’ roll, including guitarist and songwriter Chuck Berry, Ellas McDaniel, who as Bo Diddley, revolutionized rock guitar, and the singer Koko Taylor.
• Chicago blues goes international. The success of Chess’s roster led to other Chicago labels like Cobra and Vee-Jay, which fostered many talented bluesmen from the city’s west side. These acts included the soulful vocalist and guitarist Otis Rush, guitar player Elmore James (a slide guitar master), and performers like John Lee Hooker and Jimmy Reed, whose earthy sound harkened back to the Delta blues. By the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, the Chess bluesmen had brought their sound overseas, where it would electrify the British New Wave. These groups went on to enjoy greater success with covers of Chicago blues tracks than the musicians who wrote them, which, in turn, would have a chilling effect on blues of all varieties, among other Black American music forms, like jazz.
• Third-wave performers push the sound into the ‘70s. Chicago blues remained active in the 1960s and 1970s, largely due to the third wave of performers who cut their teeth during the heyday of Chess. Chief among these new players was the dynamic blues guitarist Buddy Guy, who performed as a solo act and with harmonica player Junior Wells, and James Cotton, who had played harmonica with Chicago blues luminaries like Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and Otis Spann. Chess had closed its doors by 1975, but several upstart labels, including Delmark and Alligator, discovered or promoted invigorating talents like guitarist Magic Sam (born Samuel Maghett) and the ferocious, six-fingered slide guitarist Theodore Roosevelt “Hound Dog” Taylor.
• The fourth wave is born. Though diminished, blues remained a core element of Chicago’s cultural identity. The city paid homage to its influence with the annual Chicago Blues Festival and new clubs, such as Kingston Mines on the city’s north side. These venues have fostered a fourth wave of Chicago bluesmen, including soulful guitarists like Lonnie Brooks and Frank “Son” Seals and roots-influenced guitar slingers like Carey Bell.

Several characteristics define the sound of Chicago blues, including:

1. 1. Amplified guitars and distortion: The sound of the Chicago blues is an electrified and amplified version of the Delta blues sound, tied together with the acoustic guitar and harmonica. Chicago blues fed their sound through PA systems or guitar amplifiers, which supercharged their sound, often to the point of distortion. It also added a rhythm section patterned after R&B and jazz lineups, with bass—a double bass at first, and later electric bass—drums, and occasional piano. The westside variation added saxophones, while the southside stripped the arrangement down to a raucous trio or quartet.
2. 2. Lyrical complexity: Just as the Chicago blues pared away the influence of country blues from its sound, it also substituted those elements in its songwriting. Songwriters often eschewed references to rural life, prison farms, and folk traditions. While the traditional subject matter of the blues remained intact—love, heartbreak, bad luck, and trouble—songwriters like Willie Dixon and Chuck Berry added layers of wordplay and lyrical complexity to their compositions.
3. 3. Vocal power: Chicago blues musicians needed powerful voices to cut through the roar of a club crowd and their PA systems. As a result, the scene featured some of the most memorable and forceful singers in the history of the blues. Chief among these mesmerizing singers was the gravel-voiced Howlin’ Wolf, who earned his nickname from his penchant for full-throated baying in midsong. Muddy Waters’s muscular baritone lent strength and conviction to his declarations of prowess, while Buddy Guy could soar from a seductive croon to a paint-peeling scream in the same song.

There are many notable Chicago blues artists. Some of the most legendary figures include:

1. 1. Buddy Guy: A Chicago blues artist from the genre’s heyday in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Buddy Guy began his career as a session guitarist at the legendary Chess Records before forging a popular duo act with blues harpist Junior Wells. A ferocious guitarist and vocalist, he remained a well-kept secret outside of blues circles until tributes from Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughn led to late-inning stardom, and multiple Grammy wins in the early 1990s.
2. 2. Howlin’ Wolf: The Wolf’s 1963 single “300 Pounds of Joy” sums up his outsized presence: a massive figure with a voice that could rock a blues club to its foundation. Wolf boasted one of the most formidable bands in Chicago blues, anchored by unsung guitar master Hubert Sumlin and backed by, at various times, Buddy Guy, Jimmy Rogers, and Freddie Robinson. But it was his delivery—a mix of feral howl, guttural growl, and seductive croon—that made him a legend of Chicago blues and an enduring influence on past and present blues musicians.
3. 3. Muddy Waters: For most blues aficionados, Muddy Waters is the embodiment of Chicago blues. His string of hits for Chess in the 1950s, which include “I Just Want to Make Love to You,” “I Got My Mojo Working,” and “I’m Ready,” exuded infectious confidence and sly sexuality that attracted generations of blues players and fans. His 1977 re-recording of his 1955 hit “Mannish Boy” has been a staple of movie soundtracks and covers by other artists, including Jimi Hendrix.
4. 4. Willie Dixon: One of the chief architects of the Chicago blues sound, Willie Dixon wrote and produced many of the songs that form the foundation of the city’s blues canon, including Howlin’ Wolf’s “Little Red Rooster” and “Spoonful,” Muddy Waters’s “Hoochie Coochie Man,” Bo Diddley’s “You Can’t Judge a Book By the Cover,” and Little Walter’s “My Babe.” Numerous other artists have generated hits from Dixon’s catalog of more than 500 songs, including the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Jeff Beck, Tina Turner, Grateful Dead, the Doors, Steve Miller, the Kinks, and Tom Jones.

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