专辑简介

“HOWLIN’ AT GREASELAND" is an exciting new tribute CD, showcasing the music and lyrics of the legendary Howlin' Wolf.  Here’s a the story of how this unique recording came to be: THE PLACE:  Guitarist and recording engineer Kid Andersen started Greaseland Music Services in San Jose CA as a humble home studio to record and rehearse with his musician friends.  In the last five years, Greaseland has grown to be a locus of exciting blues activity that is known to blues lovers the world over, with a client list including the best in the business such as Chris Cain, Elvin Bishop and more.  The consistent stream of exciting and notable recordings from Greasleand garnered Kid Andersen a Keeping the Blues Alive Award in 2016 from the Blues Foundation.   THE MUSICIANS:  Over the last few years, a core group of loosely affiliated Bay artists became a sort of blues “wrecking crew” — regular players for sessions which seem to go on practically every week, year-round.  These players have an easy camaraderie that comes from working with each other consistently in various combinations, and many of them are featured on “Howlin'”:  Alabama Mike, Rick Estrin, Terry Hanck, Aki Kumar, Johnny Burgin (Rockin' Johnny), Johnny Cat Soubrand, Vance Ehlers, long-time Robert Cray pianist Jimmy Pugh, John Blues Boyd, D’Mar Martin and many others.   Each of the participants has always been inspired by the gripping voice and haunting music of the Chicago blues legend Howlin’ Wolf.  To collaborate with this group and bring the music and spirit of Howlin’ Wolf back to life and back on disk, producer Stephanie Tice brought in two legendary blues singers, Taildragger and Henry Gray.  These two artists have deep personal and professional connections to Howlin’ Wolf.   Taildragger started singing in the early 70s under Wolf’s strict mentorship, and has since performed much of Wolf’s material in addition to his own.   Henry Gray played piano on many of Wolf’s most famous recordings and at 92, he’s considered a national treasure.

For the cherry on top, Kid kept the recording light on as the musicians  spoke among themselves, informally and between takes, about personal remembrances of Howlin’ Wolf.  These unguarded anecdotes turned out to be precious spoken word histories.  Interspersed through the songs on this CD, they illustrate in a unique way the impact Howlin’ Wolf and his music has had over the decades.