James Segrest has written for Blues Access magazine and cowrote the liner notes for the Grammy-nominated album A Tribute to Howlin' Wolf. He lives in Alabama.
Mark Hoffman has written for Blues Access, Living Blues, and Blues to Do magazines and narrated the prizewinning film The Howlin' Wolf Story. He lives on an island near Seattle.
"Essential reading . . . This generation's first and probably last full portrait of one of the giants of American music."--The New York Times Book Review
"Essential reading . . . This generation's first and probably last
full portrait of one of the giants of American music."--The New
York Times Book Review
Chester Arthur Burnett (1910-1976)-better known as Howlin' Wolf-started singing and playing guitar and harmonica throughout the Mississippi Delta after a chance meeting with blues legend Charley Patton. Though he started as an imitator of that master in the 1930s, the Wolf went on to usher in the electric blues scene in 1950s Chicago with a gravelly voice and a down-and-dirty stage presence all his own. In this first full-length biography, historian Segrest and musician-writer Hoffman put the Wolf in his rightful place alongside his more celebrated contemporaries (e.g., Muddy Waters), detailing their subject's life, performance style, recordings, and pervasive influence on American and British blues and rock musicians. Especially interesting-and bound to be controversial-is the well-supported discussion of the Wolf's relationship to fellow bluesman Willie Dixon, who was given sole credit for writing songs either written or co-written by the Wolf himself. This readable, high-quality work is made all the more valuable by the continuing popularity of blues music and the Wolf's lasting influence. Highly recommended for all public and university libraries.-James E. Perone, Mount Union Coll., Alliance, OH Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
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