An Exclusive Interview with John Primer By Margie Goldsmith
An Exclusive interview with John Primer by Margie Goldsmith by Margie Goldsmith on Mixcloud
As the title of his critically acclaimed Atlantic Records CD suggests, Grammy Award and Blues Music Award Nominee, John Primer is truly “The Real Deal.” At 8 years old, John borrowed his first guitar and started to strum. Before that he played a homemade guitar built on the wall of the house with a broom wire, 2 nails, and 2 rocks to make it tight. With the sounds of Jimmy Reed, Muddy Waters, Little Milton, Elmore James, BB & Albert King reverberating through his Grandmother Laura Nell’s tube radio, John was instantly hooked. Early inspiration came from his family steeped in spiritual, gospel, blues and R&B tradition. As a young boy John’s mother knew he would be a singer, “he came out singing” she would say. John first appeared on stage at the local Baptist church, in his hometown of Camden Mississippi.
At the age of eighteen, feeling restless and in search of further audiences, John followed the path of his mentors and migrated to Chicago in the fall of 1963. He quickly found work in an era when Chicago’s modern electric Blues sounds were first taking shape. Forming his first band, The Maintainers in 1964, John and his old Harmony guitar rocked such West Side clubs as, The Place, The Bow Tie, and Lover’s Lounge. By 1968 John had left The Maintainers when the opportunity arose to front the Soul and R&B group The Brotherhood. Jamming late into the night and practicing by day, John was forming his own unique style and expanding his repertoire. John’s success would lead him in 1974 to replace John Watkins in the house band at the world famous Theresa’s Lounge on the South Side of Chicago. Over the course of the next 7 years, John would play with such originators as Sammy Lawhorn, Junior Wells, Buddy Guy, and Lonnie Brooks, all innovators sculpting the sound of Chicago Blues.
It was during this point in John’s career that quite a few people were taking note of this outstanding performer. In 1979, master songwriter and bassist Willie Dixon persuaded him to join his band The Chicago All Stars. Traveling through the US, Mexico and Europe, John developed his skills as a rhythm guitarist, a lead slide player, and a powerful singer. Another blues master who believed in John Primer was none other than the “Hoochie Coochie Man” himself, Muddy Waters. Muddy recruited John not only as a guitarist, but also as an opening act and bandleader. As he did with so many other great musicians, Muddy served as a father to John, instilling in him an unrelenting passion for the music that gave birth to Rock and Roll. John stayed loyal to Muddy until his untimely death in 1983.
Fresh off the heels of his success with the Muddy Waters Band, John signed on with the legendary Magic Slim. For the next 14 years, he toured with Magic Slim & The Teardrops, bringing tight, house rocking sounds to every corner of the planet. While John was the bandleader of Magic Slim & The Teardrops, they were voted the best blues band in the world year after year and are still today thought of as the inventors of “the lump”, Chicago Blues sound.
In 1981 John began playing at the Legendary Checkerboard Lounge on the South-Side of Chicago. He was the house bandleader, holding open jam nights and teaching the next generation how to play the Blues until the original nightclub closed its doors in 2001.
But John’s days as a sideman were numbered, and in 1995 the veteran blues man released his major label debut “The Real Deal”, on Atlantic Records. Deciding to make it out on his own, he began touring extensively in support of his twelve solo albums to date. John formed his independent record label, Blues House Productions in 2008 and released “All Original” his debut CD and then his second CD “Blues on Solid Ground”. John’s first 2 CD’s “All Original” and “Blues on Solid Ground” have been nominated many, many times by the National Blues Foundation, Chicago’s Blues Balst Awards, and have won Living Blues Critics Polls as well. His new record label is off to an amazing start. The people love John’s music and he intends to keep manking it for a long, long time.
John is a Living Legend and has been giving the Lifetime Achievement Award many times. He is a Grammy Nominated Blues Artist and is one of the last Traditional Blues Artists with original Mississippi roots. He was taught by our founding father’s of the Blues, the old way (some say, “the right way”). We need to cherish his history and celebrate his amazing music!
Margie Goldsmith
margie@margiegoldsmith.com
www.margiegoldsmith.com
twitter: @margiegoldsmith
Lifestyle, Luxury, Adventure, Culture, Profiles,Published Novelist
Contributing Writer: Elite Traveler, Robb Report, Business Jet Traveler, Luxury Magazine, Affluent Traveler; Contributing Editor: Global Business Travel
Gold Award: Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism, two Folio Awards,and 38 other writing awards. SATW, ASJA, Fellow Resident, the Explorer’s Club, Travelers’ Century Club, Society for the Preservation and Advancement of the Harmonica
