Hubert Sumlin

Hubert Sumlin maintained a reserved and modest demeanor away from the stage, yet his guitar approach burned with sufficient intensity to match the legendary Howlin' Wolf. For over twenty years the imposing Wolf served as Sumlin's mentor in a partnership that benefited both men, as the younger player's twisting, darting, and unpredictable lead lines repeatedly invigorated Wolf's Chess recordings from the 1960s, even on tracks that fell short of excellence such as "Do the Do" and "Mama's Baby." Sumlin began by experimenting with a length of broom wire fastened to a wall before acquiring an actual instrument. Raised near West Memphis, Arkansas, he briefly collaborated with the youthful harmonica player James Cotton and then received an invitation from Wolf to relocate to Chicago in 1954. Night after night on the bandstand he honed his skills behind Wolf, progressing from rhythm parts to lead responsibilities. Entering the 1960s, his slashing guitar became a defining element across most of Wolf's releases, among them "Wang Dang Doodle," "Shake for Me," "Hidden Charms" (which contains perhaps Sumlin's finest recorded solo), "Three Hundred Pounds of Joy," and "Killing Floor."

Although the pair maintained a sometimes stormy association, Sumlin stayed committed to Wolf until the elder musician's passing in 1976. Prior to that date Sumlin had already completed several solo sessions, starting with an unusual 1964 recording in East Berlin overseen by Horst Lippmann as part of an American Folk Blues Festival European tour that also included pianist Sunnyland Slim and bassist Willie Dixon. In later years Sumlin began featuring his own vocals on solo projects, proving an understated yet capable singer whose guitar work retained its forceful presence. The regard in which later musicians held him appeared clearly on the 2004 album About Them Shoes through appearances by Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Levon Helm, David Johansen, and James Cotton, the latter an early acquaintance from their teenage years in West Memphis during the early 1950s before Cotton joined Muddy Waters and moved to Chicago in a path that roughly mirrored Sumlin's own arrival in the city around the same period. Sumlin released Treblemaker in 2007. He succumbed to heart failure in Wayne, New Jersey, on December 4, 2011, at the age of eighty, with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards covering the costs of his funeral.