Cash McCall

Guitarist Cash McCall built a career exceeding three decades by moving through gospel, soul, and eventually blues. Born Morris Dollison, Jr., he chose Army enlistment as the clearest route out of rural life. Once discharged, he settled in Chicago, the city his family had called home during his childhood. Gospel claimed his earliest devotion; he both sang and played guitar with the Gospel Songbirds, cutting a 1964 Excello session that featured future R&B hitmaker Otis Clay on lead, and he also performed with the Pilgrim Jubilee Singers.

Under the name Maurice Dollison he issued his first secular release, the two-part “Earth Worm,” on One-derful Records’ M-Pac! imprint in 1963. Three years later he cut a demo of the soul ballad “When You Wake Up,” written with producer Monk Higgins; the track surfaced without his knowledge on the Thomas label under the new billing Cash McCall. The song became a national R&B hit, placing the rechristened artist on Dick Clark’s Caravan of Stars alongside Lou Christie and Mitch Ryder. Subsequent R&B sides for Thomas and Checker never matched that commercial impact.

At Chess he functioned as a reliable session guitarist and songwriter, absorbing the industry side of the business from in-house mainstay Willie Dixon. His blues inclinations surfaced more strongly throughout the following decade. In 1973 he recorded the Paula album Omega Man; four years later he moved to L.A. After a decade without solo product he returned in 1983 with No More Doggin’ and issued Cash Up Front in 1987. His connection to Dixon endured: McCall co-produced the Grammy-winning Hidden Charms in 1988 and played in Dixon’s All-Stars. He has since maintained a steady schedule of solo blues touring while sharing stages with the Chicago Rhythm and Blues Kings—formerly the Mellow Fellows—backing singer Big Twist and appearing with the Chicago Blues Review.