JOHN PRIMER - Blue Steel
John Primer: Shake You Moneymaker
John Primer: It Hurts Me Too
John Primer: Sunnyland Train
CD 120.808
John Primer – Blue Steel
John Primer CDs on WOLF RECORDS:
CD 120.306: Zoo bar Collection Vol. 5 (live!)
CD 120.885: Cold Blooded Blues Man
CD 120.899: It´s A Blues Life
CD 120.852: Poor Man Blues
CD 120.875: Blues Behind Closed Doors
!!! new !!! CD 120.808 Blue Steel
JOHN PRIMER - BIOGRAPHY
Tradition, style, mentor, leader, storyteller, veteran.
These all words that describe bluesman John Primer. John takes his music seriously and finds it extremely important to share his experiences and emotions telling stories with his guitar. Song after song, show after show, and year after year, John delivers intense, soul grabbing music straight from the heart.
As John explains in an interview for Magic Blues Magazine, “The feelin’ of the music? It’s got to come from heart. You’ve got to play it with a feelin’, from your heart. And make every word mean something. It’s got to mean something.”
John Primer’s road to success began in his hometown of Camden, Mississippi. He lived there with his family, and as a child he listened to the sound of blues great’s like Muddy Waters and Elmore James, and John also sang spirituals in church which inspired him to pick up the guitar at the age of nine years old.
John eventually made his way north to Chicago in 1963, which started a whole new chapter in his life. He soon formed his own group called “The Maintainers”, and drawing from his experiences in the Mississippi Delta and Chicago’s West Side, he created a sound that was all his own. John began to make a name for himself with his flawless guitar work and strong vocals, able to play many styles of music from blues to soul, and in 1974 he landed a spot in the house band at the legendary “Theresa’s Lounge”. There he met Sammy Lawhorn, ex-Muddy Waters guitarist and one of John’s greatest influences.
John and Sammy packed Theresa’s night after night, and his reputation began to spread throughout Chicago. In 1979, John was invited to be a member of Willie Dixon’s Chicago Blues All-Stars, and by 1980 he held the honor of becoming the bandleader for the last great Muddy Waters Band. He stayed on as bandleader and guitarist until Muddy’s untimely death in 1983, and his road took a different turn. John joined forces with West Side bluesman Magic Slim, and together they heated up stages all over the world for over 13 years. As the bandleader for Magic Slim and the Teardrops, John began the slow process of learning what it takes to be a true “master” of the Blues. A new chapter in the life of John Primer was about to emerge, and soon he was in his own again as the leader of his own band.
John Primer is a powerful force in today’s Blues scene. He is dedicated to keeping the music alive and in it’s original form. By teaching the younger musicians his traditions the stories will never fade away . John has many more chapters left in his book of life; I can’t wait to see what he does next.