Charlie Musselwhite
Musselwhite experienced Memphis when Rock’n’Roll was born there. Under the influence of musicians like Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis he learned to play harmonica and guitar. Will Shade from the Memphis Jug Band became his musical mentor. Musselwhite earned his money with whiskey smuggling.
Musselwhite, more than any other harmonica player of his generation, can rightfully lay claim to inheriting the mantle of many of the great harp players that came before him, with music as dark as Mississippi mud and as uplifting as the blue skies of California. In an era when the term “legendary” is applied to auto-tuned pop stars, this unique blues harp player, singer, songwriter and guitarist has earned and deserves to be honored as a true master of American classic vernacular music.
Charlie Musselwhite’s journey through the blues leads from his birth in Mississippi to Memphis, Chicago and California. Arriving in Chicago in the early sixties, he was just in time for the epochal blues revival. In 1966 at the age of 22 he recorded the landmark Stand Back! garnering raving reviews. A hasty relocation to San Francisco in 1967, where his album was being played on underground radio, found him being welcomed into the counterculture scene around the Fillmore West as an authentic purveyor of the real deal blues.
Fifty years of nonstop touring, performing and recording have reaped huge rewards. Charlie Musselwhite is living proof that great music only gets better with age. This man cut his (musical) teeth alongside Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf and everyone on the South side of Chicago in the early 1960’s. Thank your lucky stars that he is still with us telling the truth with a voice and harp tone like no other.
More than 20 albums later, he is at the top of his game, a revered elder statesman of the blues, nowhere near ready to hang up his harps. His depth of expression as a singer and as an instrumentalist are unexcelled and only growing deeper.
Charlie has been collaborating with the world’s finest Artists for many years, including Ben Harper, Cyndi Lauper, Eddie Vedder, Tom Waits, Bonnie Raitt, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Gov’t Mule, INXS, Mickey Hart and Japan’s Kodo Drummers, George Thorogood, Eliades Ochoa, Cat Stevens and personal friend and best man at his wedding, John Lee Hooker.
Musselwhite, more than any other harmonica player of his generation, can rightfully lay claim to inheriting the mantle of many of the great harp players that came before him, with music as dark as Mississippi mud and as uplifting as the blue skies of California. In an era when the term “legendary” is applied to auto-tuned pop stars, this singular blues harp player, singer, songwriter and guitarist has earned and deserves to be honored as a true master of American classic vernacular music.
“Charlie Musselwhite: Blues harmonica player teams with Mavis Staples on a song from his new The Well album, which lives up to its title.” USA Today
“Legendary is an overused term, but it’s also the only word that suits this heavyweight blues harpist.” Time Out New York
“Superb, original and compelling… harmonica master Musselwhite sets standard for blues.” Rolling Stone
“Harmonica virtuoso Musselwhite raises the level of emotional expression on his instrument beyond even the masters he learned from…the grizzled veteran richly decorates his music with telling nuance and chiseled detail.” San Francisco Chronicle
“Charlie Musselwhite continues to astonish. Musselwhite achieves an authoritative deep blues sound through spare understatement as only a master can.” Off Beat Magazine
“His delivery is as thick as molasses and as warm and rich as freshly ploughed soil on a Mississippi morning. He draws from a deep pool of emotion, brings it to life when he plays, and invites us to jump on in.” BluesWax
“Musselwhite continues to create trailblazing music while remaining firmly rooted in the blues. His worldly-wise vocals, rich, melodic harmonica playing and deep country blues guitar work flawlessly accompany his often autobiographical and always memorable original songs.” AllAboutJazz.com
Musselwhite experienced Memphis when Rock’n’Roll was born there. Under the influence of musicians like Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis he learned to play harmonica and guitar. Will Shade from the Memphis Jug Band became his musical mentor. Musselwhite earned his money with whiskey smuggling.
At 18, Musselwhite moved to Chicago, where he hoped to find work. Here he came in contact with the “electric” blues. He played with legends like Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and John Lee Hooker. Big Walter Horton, a student of Will Shade himself, took him under his wing.
In 1967 Musselwhite recorded his debut album Stand Back! with his own band. The success led him to California, where he stayed and enriched the hippie scene in and around San Francisco with his blues.
Over the course of his career, Charlie Musselwhite has recorded more than 20 of his own albums and has been involved in numerous recordings by well-known colleagues, including Bonnie Raitt, Tom Waits and INXS. Musselwhite often played with John Lee Hooker, who was also the best man at his wedding.
Charlie Musselwhite received several awards, including 14 W. C. Handy Awards and 6 Grammy nominations.
