The “window” was taped-together cellophane the spaces between the slats were visible from a hundred yards away. I was on the Arkansas side of the river and saw this shack about a hundred meters from the highway, greyed by the rain and heat, no bigger than an average master bedroom in a middle-class housing tract. “Moanin’ at Midnight” (Chester Burnett, 1951): I can’t think of another recording artist who launched their recording career in such dramatic fashion. The rest of the collection was recorded in Chicago at Chess Studios. The first two songs in the collection were recorded by Sam Phillips at the Memphis Recording Service, which would eventually morph into Sun Records. Cub Koda of AllMusic described the master transfers as “absolutely stunning,” and they are-there are moments when I feel I’m right there in the room with Wolf as he howls and sweats through a song. There are many Howlin’ Wolf collections I chose this one because of its exceptional sonic fidelity. But Wolf had nothing in mind but just to make sure that he conveyed everything that was in his mind, and in his heart, and in his soul when he opened his mouth to sing.… He was, boy, pouring out his soul, and you could just see it, in addition to feel it. Maybe that’s one person maybe it is everybody on the globe. When Wolf sat down in that little old chair with his big feet sticking out and began to sing, this guy didn’t know anything was around him! I mean, he was singing to exactly the thing that we all want to make contact with-and that is the ears of the world. Sam Phillips experienced Wolf’s unusual gift when he first recorded Wolf back in 1951: Though he only wrote or co-wrote nine of the songs in this twenty-song collection, Wolf had the ability to make any song his own by linking a tale to his extensive life experience and connecting with his deepest emotions, which in turn gave him the power to forge a strong connection with his audience. The source of these impressions will become apparent as we go through the songs, for Wolf’s music was largely autobiographical.
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