James Cotton

And so I got Muddy first, and he arrived, and it was supposed to be done a play for six nights.

And I think it was maybe $1,200 for the week, $200 a night for the Muddy Waters booth, which had James Cotton and Otis Spann in it at the time.

one of his best bands ever.

And so he called up in the afternoon, you know, to find out what time and all the rest of it.

The thing that made you remember it, and there were more harp masters in that great Chicago era, a whole deep bench, big Walter Horton with a huge, gorgeous tone that other players describe with real awe.

James Cotton, powerful and driving, who played with Muddy Waters for years and then led his own band with this ferocious athletic style.

Junior Wells, who made a classic album called Hoodoo Man Blues with the guitarist Buddy Guy, we mentioned Buddy last episode, and their partnership is one of the great harp and guitar duos in all of the blues, the harp and the guitar finishing each other's sentences.

And don't forget the band leaders who played harp themselves.

Just about all of them.

I remember a conversation I had with James Cotton when he first saw that I wanted to play.

It was very serious.

Those guys didn't hold punches.

And they said, no, go ahead and have a seat, man.

So they didn't pull punches.

But James Cotton told me, he said, nobody's going to give it to you if you want to do this.

Your daddy's your daddy.

It's fair to say Billy was mentored by the giants, not just respected musicians, but the architects of the Chicago blues sound.

Men like James Cotton, Junior Wells, Willie Dixon, and Big Walter Horton.

These were the men who shaped the post-war sound of the blues, who defined the electric sound that traveled from the South Side to the world.

And Billy didn't just learn from them.

And before that, track one, side one, hole in your soul.

I first chatted with Billy Branch a few years ago now on the show, and he was kind enough to chat with me about that groundbreaking 1990 Alligator Records release, Harp Attack.

alongside those giants of the blues harmonica, James Cotton, Junior Wells and Kerry Bell.

Produced, as I now remember, having checked, back in 2021, in the very earliest days of Blues With A Feeling as a podcast.

The half began with a trade of turnovers.

Kelly coughed it up on a sack for the second time, with James Cotton providing the hit and Jason Ott the recovery.

But a problem that would plague the Buckeyes all year was fumbles.

Michael Wiley gave it back to Miami on the very next play.

Since the Nittany Lions joined the conference in 1993, both teams have been ranked with at least one team undefeated before each meeting.

Penn State's offense had shown big play potential during the 1999 season, and that continued when Eric McCoo broke through the line for a 53-yard run right up the middle.

Defensive end James Cotton finally ran down the speedy Lion tailback to prevent a touchdown.

But two plays later, Penn State did find the end zone on a six-yard pass from Mike Thompson, and quickly the Buckeyes were in a 7-0 hole.

But he was the second guy on the bill.

The first guy was James Cotton.

James Cotton was fucking off the chain.

Taj Mahal did his thing.

He was great.

Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson, both of them, one and two.

James Cotton, as far as the original guys.

But I've always been a huge fan of Kim Wilson from the Fabulous Thunderbirds.

He's had a big influence on my playing.

And before that we kicked off part two of our two-part special on the rhythm and blues releases of Sun Records with Billy the Kid Emerson featuring Ike Turner on guitar and no teasing around.

Up next, Sun number 199 from blues legend James Cotton.

He recorded this one in December of 53 but Sam Phillips didn't issue it until April of 54.

Here's some very early James Cotton with My Baby.

I'm Matt the Cat, and you're digging the juke in the back.

1940s and 50s rhythm and blues.

And there is Love and You.

They were one of the few vocal groups recorded by Sam Phillips for Sun Records.