Little Smokey Smothers
Encyclopedia
Little Smokey Smothers was an African American
, Chicago blues
guitarist
and singer.
His elder brother, Otis (died 1993), was known as the bluesman Otis "Big Smokey" Smothers
, with whom he was sometimes confused.
, Mississippi
, learned guitar at the age of 15, and relocated to Chicago
two years later. He soon appeared on stage playing alongside Arthur “Big Boy” Spires, Magic Sam
, Otis Rush
and Lazy Bill Lucas
. In 1958 he joined up with Howlin' Wolf
, and played on Wolf's recording session for Chess Records
the following year. Tracks Smothers contributed to included "I've Been Abused," "Howlin' for My Darling," and "Mr. Airplane Man."
In 1961 he founded Little Smokey Smothers and the Pipeplayers. He later met Paul Butterfield
and became a founding member of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. He was replaced in the band by Elvin Bishop
, but developed a friendship that lasted a lifetime. Throughout the 1960s Smothers appeared with Buddy Guy
, James Cotton
, Earl Hooker
, and Junior Wells
. Musical opportunities dried up in the 1970s, and Smothers worked in construction
. He recorded again, after several years break, in 1979 as part of Mojo Buford's Chicago Blues Summit album. He re-appeared in the 1980s with The Legendary Blues Band
. Their 1989 recording, Woke up with the Blues, included contributions from Smothers.
In 1993, Bishop made a guest appearance on Smothers first solo album with the Dutch
Black Magic label
, Bossman! The Chicago Blues of Little Smokey Smothers. The recording also included work from Smothers' cousin, Lee "Shot" Williams. Bishop and Smothers played at the 1993 Chicago Blues Festival
. Smothers had open heart surgery
in 1995, but the following year issued Second Time Around. Smothers performed at the 1999 San Diego Blues Festival, and at a party for Mick Jagger
's 55th birthday.
Alligator Records
then issued That's My Partner (2000), a live album
recorded in San Francisco, which saw Smothers reunited with Bishop. Smothers also appeared at the 2000 Chicago Blues Festival. He also featured in Martin Scorsese
's 2003 television series The Blues
, with excerpts from his live show. In 2006 Smothers and Bishop played live at the Ground Zero club in Clarksdale, Mississippi
. Latterly Smothers experienced health problems, and had both legs amputated
due to diabetes
.
In 2009, Bishop compiled the benefit album, Chicago Blues Buddies, incorporating recordings made by Smothers and Bishop dating back to 1992. Proceeds from the album helped to pay for Smothers' medical costs.
On November 20, 2010, after a spell in a Chicago hospital, Smothers died of natural causes
.
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
, Chicago blues
Chicago blues
The Chicago blues is a form of blues music that developed in Chicago, Illinois, by taking the basic acoustic guitar and harmonica-based Delta blues, making the harmonica louder with a microphone and an instrument amplifier, and adding electrically amplified guitar, amplified bass guitar, drums,...
guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
and singer.
His elder brother, Otis (died 1993), was known as the bluesman Otis "Big Smokey" Smothers
Otis "Big Smokey" Smothers
Otis "Big Smokey" Smothers was an African American, Chicago blues guitarist and singer. He was once a member of Howlin' Wolf's backing band, and worked variously with Muddy Waters, Jimmy Rogers, Bo Diddley, Ike Turner, J. T. Brown, Freddie King, Little Johnny Jones, Little Walter, and Willie Dixon...
, with whom he was sometimes confused.
Biography
Albert Abraham "Abe" Smothers was born in TchulaTchula, Mississippi
Tchula is a town in Holmes County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 2,332 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Tchula is located at ....
, Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
, learned guitar at the age of 15, and relocated to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
two years later. He soon appeared on stage playing alongside Arthur “Big Boy” Spires, Magic Sam
Magic Sam
Samuel "Magic Sam" Gene Maghett was an American Chicago blues musician. Maghett was born in Grenada, Mississippi, United States, and learned to play the blues from listening to records by Muddy Waters and Little Walter...
, Otis Rush
Otis Rush
Otis Rush is a blues musician, singer and guitarist. His distinctive guitar style features a slow burning sound and long bent notes...
and Lazy Bill Lucas
Lazy Bill Lucas
Lazy Bill Lucas was an American blues musician, who was part of the birth of the Chicago blues scene during the 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s, before taking his talents to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and becoming an important part of that city's blues history until his death.-Early career:Born to...
. In 1958 he joined up with Howlin' Wolf
Howlin' Wolf
Chester Arthur Burnett , known as Howlin' Wolf, was an influential American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player....
, and played on Wolf's recording session for Chess Records
Chess Records
Chess Records was an American record label based in Chicago, Illinois. It specialized in blues, R&B, soul, gospel music, early rock and roll, and occasional jazz releases....
the following year. Tracks Smothers contributed to included "I've Been Abused," "Howlin' for My Darling," and "Mr. Airplane Man."
In 1961 he founded Little Smokey Smothers and the Pipeplayers. He later met Paul Butterfield
Paul Butterfield
Paul Butterfield was an American blues vocalist and harmonica player, who founded the Paul Butterfield Blues Band in the early 1960s and performed at the original Woodstock Festival...
and became a founding member of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. He was replaced in the band by Elvin Bishop
Elvin Bishop
Elvin Bishop is an American blues and rock and roll musician and guitarist.-Career:Bishop was born in Glendale, California, and grew up on a farm near Elliott, Iowa. His family moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, when he was ten years old...
, but developed a friendship that lasted a lifetime. Throughout the 1960s Smothers appeared with Buddy Guy
Buddy Guy
George "Buddy" Guy is an American blues and jazz guitarist and singer. He is a critically acclaimed artist who has established himself as a pioneer of the Chicago blues sound, and has served as an influence to some of the most notable musicians of his generation...
, James Cotton
James Cotton
James Cotton is an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, who has performed and recorded with many of the great blues artists of his time as well as with his own band.-Career:...
, Earl Hooker
Earl Hooker
Earl Hooker was an American Chicago blues guitarist, perhaps best known for his slide guitar playing. Considered a "musician's musician", Hooker performed with blues artists such as Sonny Boy Williamson II, Junior Wells, and John Lee Hooker as well as fronting his own bands...
, and Junior Wells
Junior Wells
Junior Wells , born Amos Wells Blakemore Jr., was an American Chicago blues vocalist, harmonica player, and recording artist...
. Musical opportunities dried up in the 1970s, and Smothers worked in construction
Construction
In the fields of architecture and civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the building or assembling of infrastructure. Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of human multitasking...
. He recorded again, after several years break, in 1979 as part of Mojo Buford's Chicago Blues Summit album. He re-appeared in the 1980s with The Legendary Blues Band
The Legendary Blues Band
The Legendary Blues Band were an American Chicago blues band, formed in 1980 after the breakup of Muddy Waters' former backing band.-Biography:...
. Their 1989 recording, Woke up with the Blues, included contributions from Smothers.
In 1993, Bishop made a guest appearance on Smothers first solo album with the Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
Black Magic label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
, Bossman! The Chicago Blues of Little Smokey Smothers. The recording also included work from Smothers' cousin, Lee "Shot" Williams. Bishop and Smothers played at the 1993 Chicago Blues Festival
Chicago Blues Festival
The Chicago Blues Festival is an annual event held in June that features three days of performances by top-tier blues musicians, both old favorites and the up-and-coming. It is hosted by the City of Chicago Mayor's Office of Special Events, and always occurs in early June...
. Smothers had open heart surgery
Cardiac surgery
Cardiovascular surgery is surgery on the heart or great vessels performed by cardiac surgeons. Frequently, it is done to treat complications of ischemic heart disease , correct congenital heart disease, or treat valvular heart disease from various causes including endocarditis, rheumatic heart...
in 1995, but the following year issued Second Time Around. Smothers performed at the 1999 San Diego Blues Festival, and at a party for Mick Jagger
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
's 55th birthday.
Alligator Records
Alligator Records
Alligator Records is a Chicago-based independent blues record label founded by Bruce Iglauer in 1971.Iglauer started the label with his own savings to record and produce his favorite band Hound Dog Taylor & The HouseRockers, whom his employer, Bob Koester of Delmark Records, declined to record...
then issued That's My Partner (2000), a live album
Live album
A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...
recorded in San Francisco, which saw Smothers reunited with Bishop. Smothers also appeared at the 2000 Chicago Blues Festival. He also featured in Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
's 2003 television series The Blues
The Blues (film)
The Blues is a 2003 documentary film series produced by Martin Scorsese, dedicated to the history of blues music. In each of the seven episodes, a different director explores a stage in the development of the blues...
, with excerpts from his live show. In 2006 Smothers and Bishop played live at the Ground Zero club in Clarksdale, Mississippi
Clarksdale, Mississippi
Clarksdale is a city in Coahoma County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 20,645 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Coahoma County....
. Latterly Smothers experienced health problems, and had both legs amputated
Amputation
Amputation is the removal of a body extremity by trauma, prolonged constriction, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as malignancy or gangrene. In some cases, it is carried out on individuals as a preventative surgery for...
due to diabetes
Diabetes mellitus
Diabetes mellitus, often simply referred to as diabetes, is a group of metabolic diseases in which a person has high blood sugar, either because the body does not produce enough insulin, or because cells do not respond to the insulin that is produced...
.
In 2009, Bishop compiled the benefit album, Chicago Blues Buddies, incorporating recordings made by Smothers and Bishop dating back to 1992. Proceeds from the album helped to pay for Smothers' medical costs.
On November 20, 2010, after a spell in a Chicago hospital, Smothers died of natural causes
Death by natural causes
A death by natural causes, as recorded by coroners and on death certificates and associated documents, is one that is primarily attributed to natural agents: usually an illness or an internal malfunction of the body. For example, a person dying from complications from influenza or a heart attack ...
.
Albums
- Bossman! The Chicago Blues of Little Smokey Smothers (1993) - Black Magic (NetherlandsNetherlandsThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
) - Second Time Around (1996) - Crosscut (GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
) - Chicago Blues Buddies (2009) - Black Derby
Other appearances
- Woke up with the Blues (1989) - IchibanIchiban RecordsIchiban Records was a hip hop record label founded in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1985. Wrap Records and Nastymix Records were some of its subsidiary labels. Urgent! Records was distributed by Ichiban. Most of its discography is now out of print. Besides hip hop groups, Ichiban also released albums by...
- The Legendary Blues BandThe Legendary Blues BandThe Legendary Blues Band were an American Chicago blues band, formed in 1980 after the breakup of Muddy Waters' former backing band.-Biography:... - Cold Shot (1995) - Black Magic - Lee "Shot" Williams
- That's My Partner (2000) - AlligatorAlligator RecordsAlligator Records is a Chicago-based independent blues record label founded by Bruce Iglauer in 1971.Iglauer started the label with his own savings to record and produce his favorite band Hound Dog Taylor & The HouseRockers, whom his employer, Bob Koester of Delmark Records, declined to record...
- Elvin BishopElvin BishopElvin Bishop is an American blues and rock and roll musician and guitarist.-Career:Bishop was born in Glendale, California, and grew up on a farm near Elliott, Iowa. His family moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, when he was ten years old... - Chicago Blues Summit (2002) - P-VineP-Vine RecordsP-Vine Records is a record label started by Blues Interactions, Inc., a firm in Tokyo, Japan established in 1975 by Yasufumi Higurashi and Akira Kochi...
- George "Mojo" BufordGeorge "Mojo" BufordGeorge "Mojo" Buford was an American blues harmonica player, best known for his work in Muddy Waters' band.-Biography:...