I didn’t get to know James Cotton by trying to steal licks off of his records!
I met James Cotton and got to know him, after him seeing me play many nights on Beale Street. He would come into BB Kings Club and sit in the back of the club, way in the back, out of sight from the crowd. I went back one night and asked him if he’d like to sit in and he politely declined. He said he just wanted to lay back and enjoy the blues without being noticed. He really liked my sax playing and said he’d always wanted to play the horn. In the end, I wound up helping him find a sax, and he came to my house and sat on my back porch where I showed him some sax techniques. He told me some great stories and that’s when I found out that he and I lived in the same town when I was about four or five years old; which was Augusta, AR. It’s a small delta town, not far from Helena or Brinkley, and not too far from where I was born.
I didn’t read about Mississippi Sam Chatman in a book.
I met him when he asked me to sit in with him on his acoustic set at a festival in Cleveland, Mississippi. I think if my memory serves me right that it was around 1997.
I didn’t learn about Frank Frost and Jack Johnson at "King Biscuit Blues Festival" that's held each October in Helena, AR.
I met Frank Frost and Jack Johnson when I was asked to record with them in 1973 at Sonic Studios in Memphis, TN., with Roland Janes and Bobby Ray Watson, producing. Sadly, the last time I played for Frank was when I played solo tenor sax at his funeral in Helena, AR.
If you don’t know Johnny Woods, well lets just say.. “You should!”
I got to know Johnny from jamming with him in Pleasant Hill, Mississippi in 1973, and eating hog’s head with him and Verlina, on New Years’ Day at their house.
Have you ever heard of Son Thomas?
Well, Son Thomas had given up on music and was back to driving a tractor when I met him. This was back in 1976. I’m not sure, but I believe that somebody up north, doing a project on Delta Blues, decided to put money into recording Son at Archer Studio in Memphis, TN.
The producer, [ I can't recall his name] and studio and studio owner, Ward Archer, asked me to play harmonica on the tracks. These “blues investors” were really impressed with the “unknown harmonica player." They said that it added a lot of life to the tracks. However, when they found out I was a 25 year old white boy, they refused to release the tape. I think someone affiliated with the production still has a copy of that tape. What I do know is that I still I have my copy.
How did I meet Muddy Waters?
I met Muddy Waters back in 1976 or 1977, when a band I was in opened a show for him at The Schlitz Music Festival in Downtown Memphis.
I didn’t see Steve Cropper for the first time in a Blues Brother’s movie.
I met Steve Cropper and Ronnie Capone at my first recording session [as a session player] doing original demos at Stax Records, in Memphis, TN., in 1971 and 1972.
Pine Top Perkins, Willie Big Eyes Smith, and Katie Webster just to name a few, I met here and there, like:
Pine Top, I met backstage several times at King Biscuit when he and I were both featured performers. I also played with him, Willie Big Eyes Smith, Katie Webster, Kim Wilson and a lot of great blues players, when I performed at Blues Aid in 1999.
I didn’t just hear Sunshine Sonny Payne on the radio.
I met Sonny at my first appearance on the King Biscuit Blues Festival in 1989. Sonny and I went on to become good friends. In 2003 Sonny gave my wife away, when she and I renewed our wedding vows, backstage at King Biscuit Blues Festival. It seemed the thing to do, since our second date was with my appearance on the main stage, in 1992. I have a lot of respect for Sonny and what he's done over the years to support the blues. Please read more about the King Biscuit Time Radio Show by clicking here!
