Now Out! J.B. Hutto and the New Hawks – Keeper of the Flame

JB Hutto was born in South Carolina. His father, Calvin, was a preacher and Joseph and his three brothers and three sisters formed a gospel group, the Golden Crowns, singing in local churches. Calvin Hutto died in 1949, and the family relocated to Chicago.

In Chicago, Hutto played with Johnny Ferguson and his Twisters. JB performed on the streets with the percussionist Eddie “Porkchop” Hines. Joe Custom joined them on the guitar and they started playing club gigs. The harmonica player Earring George Mayweather joined also the band. Hutto named his band the Hawks, after the wind that blows in Chicago.

After a break in the 50`s, he returned to the music industry in the mid-1960s, with a new version of the Hawks featuring Herman Hassell on bass and Frank Kirkland on drums.

After Hound Dog Taylor died in 1975, Hutto took over Taylor’s band, the House Rockers, for a time. In the late 1970s, he moved to Boston and recruited a new band, the New Hawks, with whom he recorded studio albums for the Varrick label.

The album “Keeper of the Flame” is a studio recording with the New Hawks was first published on the Boston Baron Label and J.B. had a great voice as always. The New Hawks were a band from Boston, where J.B. lived after he split from the Houserockers, and he also toured with them in the US & Europe!