I believe I first met Hannes Folterbauer at Wise
Fools in Chicago, IL when I was in Magic Slim’s Band sometime in
1983? All I knew at this time was he wanted to record Magic Slim and
the Teardrops. I could tell he really enjoyed our music. He wanted to
record us right away. After recording us in Chicago he invited us to
Vienna Austria where he is from to go on tour and to do more
recording over there at his Ton Art Studio. This was first time I had
recorded a record with a label. Hannes gave Slim and the Teardrops
their first big break! He saw something special in us and wanted to
bring us back to Vienna to share our music with his people.
Magic
Slim, Nick Holt, Nate Applewhite and myself were very excited about
this opportunity you knew how important it was to our career. Hannes
is the first person to not only record us, but also bring us to
Vienna, Austria.
He believed in my talent as well as Magic
Slim. He was the first guy to ever record me as a solo artist as
well. We recorded my first CD at A.C.M.E. Studio in Chicago back in
1991. The name of this CD was Poor Man Blues. Hannes was very easy to
work with and I appreciated this chance he gave to me when all other
record labels didn’t. I was now able to promote myself and share my
music with the world. This was one of the biggest moments of my
musical life.
In 1993 I did my second CD with Wolf Records
called Blues Behind Closed Doors. This CD was recorded both in
Vienna, Austria (Ton Art Studio’s) and in Chicago (ACME Studio).
This is my favorite CD of all time. It has some of my greatest songs
on it and I was very confident with this CD.

I went on to make many more CD’s with Wolf Records:
Cold
Blooded Blues Man in 1994
Easy Baby at the Zoo Bar in 1997 (my
first live CD)
It’s A Blues Life with my Real Deal Blues Band
in 1998
Blue Steel was a CD focusing on my slide guitar
style again with my Real Deal Blues Band in 2003
Then Hannes
decided it was time for a “Best Of” John Primer CD so he did,
“When They Call Me John Primer”, these are some of the best songs
I have ever recorded with Wolf Records. It was released in 2012.
The
most recent CD is a special CD to me called “You Can Make it If You
Try”. This CD is just the Teardrops with me, Nick Holt and Earl
Howell. All the songs were recorded live back in the 90’s. The CD
is special to me because Slim and Nick are no longer with us.
I
look forward to working with Wolf Records in the future. I have a lot
more music left inside of me to be recorded and I am better than
ever!
Many thanks to Wolf Records and especially to
Hannes because he gave me my first chance and he taught me a lot
about song writing, producing and recording. Hannes not only gave
Magic Slim and I our first chance, but many other Chicago musicians
we endorsed were also helped. Hannes really helped out the unknown’s,
the ones that really needed that first break. Without him I don’t
know where my career would be now. I am so happy for Hannes for
getting this “Keeping the Blues Alive Award”, he is very
deserving of this. Hannes and Wolf Records have kept the Blues alive
for many, many years and I hope and pray they continue to work hard
for many more years to come at helping out all the unknown’s
needing that one big break.
The brand new CD with John
Primer & The real deal bluesband it out now and you have it in
your hands