154 - Howlin’ Wolf - Moanin’ In The Moonlight - Kenny Wayne Shepherd & Wayne Federman

Summary

Podcast Summary: The 500 with Josh Adam Meyers Episode 154 - Howlin’ Wolf - Moanin’ In The Moonlight Release Date: June 25, 2025

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Introduction to the Episode

In Episode 154 of "The 500 with Josh Adam Meyers," hosts Josh Adam Meyers and his guests Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Wayne Fetterman delve deep into the legacy of Howlin' Wolf, specifically focusing on his 1959 album "Moanin’ In The Moonlight." This episode explores Howlin' Wolf's profound influence on the blues genre and his lasting impact on iconic rock bands.

Guest Introductions and Tour Updates

Kenny Wayne Shepherd joins the show, providing updates on his current activities:

[00:22] Kenny Wayne Shepherd: "For millions of businesses, that business is Shopify... boost conversions up to 50%."

(Although this quote pertains to an advertisement, Kenny transitions into his personal updates later in the episode.)

Josh shares exciting news about the podcast's growth and upcoming tours:

[01:57] Josh Adam Myers: "We got ranked. It's one of the 50100 best music podcasts... Join the Fleece army."

Exploring Howlin' Wolf and Hubert Sumlin

The core of the episode centers on Howlin' Wolf and his remarkable guitarist, Hubert Sumlin. Kenny Wayne Shepherd emphasizes the symbiotic relationship between Wolf's powerful vocals and Sumlin's innovative guitar work.

[09:55] Kenny Wayne Shepherd: "Howlin' Wolf isn't known so much for his guitar playing as he’s more known for his voice. Is that wrong?"

[10:11] Wayne Fetterman: "I love music. I love music... especially guitar hero guy."

Howlin' Wolf's Musical Style and Innovation

Howlin' Wolf's music is characterized by its intense vocals and pioneering guitar riffs. Kenny highlights Wolf's unique sounds and lyrical depth:

[11:23] Kenny Wayne Shepherd: "May I say that instead of the one I skip over, please, is how many more years? Because that is really... Because that's up Temple. It's incredible."

The guests discuss Wolf's ability to create multiple songs from a single musical idea, showcasing his creativity:

[15:07] Kenny Wayne Shepherd: "Hubert's guitar riffs are part of the hook, making the songs catchy and memorable."

The London Sessions and Howlin' Wolf's Influence on Rock Bands

A significant portion of the conversation revolves around the 1971 London Sessions where Howlin' Wolf collaborated with members of The Rolling Stones and Jeff Beck. This collaboration bridged American blues with British rock, influencing bands like Led Zeppelin and Cream.

[33:48] Wayne Fetterman: "Those two songs are really kicked off his whole career... now back to Chicago, became very popular."

[39:27] Wayne Fetterman: "He could play guitar. He's probably, for an instrument more well-known for his harmonica playing, most well-known for his unique voice."

Kenny underscores the under-recognition of Hubert Sumlin despite his crucial role:

[23:51] Wayne Fetterman: "Howlin' Wolf might be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame... but Hubert deserves to be right there with him."

Personal Anecdotes and Reflections

Kenny shares personal experiences playing alongside Hubert Sumlin, illustrating Sumlin's virtuosity and charisma on stage:

[21:06] Kenny Wayne Shepherd: "Watching him and watching his hand technique... they just entertain people in a way that, you know, even people in my generation, we just don't do it like that."

Wayne reflects on the evolution of blues from the Delta to Chicago, emphasizing how electric instrumentation revolutionized the genre:

[54:20] Wayne Fetterman: "The Delta blues was basically acoustic... Then they figured out how to electrify these instruments and it just went to a whole nother level."

The Legacy of Howlin' Wolf

The trio discusses Howlin' Wolf's enduring legacy and his role as a cornerstone in the blues genre:

[75:44] Wayne Fetterman: "He's got to be one of that era. Definitely, definitely. He's always on the top of that..."

They also touch upon Howlin' Wolf’s personal life and struggles, providing a holistic view of the man behind the music:

[51:02] Wayne Fetterman: "He was estranged from his mother because his mother thought... she thought the blues was the devil's music."

Closing Remarks and Future Episodes

As the episode wraps up, Josh and Wayne reflect on the impact of Howlin' Wolf's music and tease future episodes focusing on other legendary artists:

[77:28] Josh Adam Myers: "This is setting a blues master among famous musicians from the second generation of rock and roll, in this case, Clapton, Wynwood, Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman."

They encourage listeners to explore Howlin' Wolf's "The London Sessions" and share their enthusiasm for the artist's profound influence.

Notable Quotes

• “… nobody does online business better than Shopify...” – Kenny Wayne Shepherd [00:22]
• “Howlin' Wolf isn’t known so much for his guitar playing as he’s more known for his voice.” – Kenny Wayne Shepherd [09:55]
• “Howlin' Wolf might be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame... but Hubert deserves to be right there with him.” – Wayne Fetterman [23:51]
• “Watching him and watching his hand technique... they just entertain people in a way that, you know, even people in my generation, we just don’t do it like that.” – Kenny Wayne Shepherd [21:06]
• “He was estranged from his mother because his mother thought... she thought the blues was the devil's music.” – Wayne Fetterman [51:02]

Conclusion

Episode 154 offers an in-depth exploration of Howlin' Wolf's "Moanin’ In The Moonlight," highlighting the synergy between Wolf and Hubert Sumlin, and detailing their collective influence on the evolution of blues and rock music. Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Wayne Fetterman provide insightful commentary and personal anecdotes that enrich listeners' understanding of this blues icon's legacy.

For those passionate about blues and its intersection with rock history, this episode is a treasure trove of knowledge and appreciation for Howlin' Wolf's enduring impact.

Transcript

[Josh Adam Myers]

Next Chapter Podcasts.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

When you think about businesses that are selling through the roof, like Aloe or Allbirds, sure you think about a great product, a cool brand and great marketing. But an often overlooked secret is actually.

[Josh Adam Myers]

The businesses behind the business making, selling.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

And for shoppers buying. Simple. For millions of businesses, that business is Shopify. Nobody does online business better than Shopify. It's home of Shop Pay, the number one checkout in the world. You can use it to boost conversions up to 50%, meaning way less carts going abandoned and way more sales going through. To checkout, sign up for your $1 per month trial period at shopify.com income all lowercase go to shopify.com income to upgrade your selling today. That's shopify.com income.

[Josh Adam Myers]

This show is brought to you by Distro Kid. Bring your music to the masses.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

The 500 the 500 JM been walking us down through that 2012 edition, so it ain't nothing to you. Hundreds more to go.

[Josh Adam Myers]

In need of a friend the King.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

Of peace for angelo Talking the 500.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Until the end Talking the 500 until.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

The end with my man JM on the 500 Talking the 500 until the.

[Josh Adam Myers]

End Somebody knocking on my door. That is the opening track by Howlin wolf from his 1959 album Moaning in the Moonlight. It's also number 154 out of 500 on the 500 with Josh Adam Myers. What's up party people? Fleece Army. How you doing? Big shout out to everybody that's been checking in on me. I'm doing great guys. Don't worry. Yeah, I feel great. I'm almost completely back to normal, but the love is palpable. So I love you guys. Tell everybody, man, because we're starting to get into the thick of the episodes and we're really getting into fun guests and blah blah blah. We got ranked. It's one of the 50100 best music podcasts. That's all thanks to the people that are involved. Emily, jt, Adam, Peter, Morty, Fetty Wap who I miss Melissa Logan. We got a good group here, man. And that's why we need you to submit a five dollar a month charge for our Patreon or more. Because if you spend 25, you get a bunch of cool merch. You get to show off your fleece army gear. Patreon.com backslash the 500 podcast. Plus you get master Fleece Theater with me, Fetty Wap, Fetterman, Morty Coyle, DJ Morty Coyle, and the one and only JT when he shows up. We're talking about all things music, arts, whatever. We're just having fun. Patreon.com backslash the 500 podcast Join the Fleece army so London, I will be there in the end of July. July 29th is when I leave. I get there on the 30th. I'll be there until the 6th. Then I'm going to be in Spain. Then I'm going to be in Paris, then I'm going to be in Belgium, then I'll be in Amsterdam all the month of August. So we're stacking episodes right now, but you can get tickets to any of the shows. Josh adam myers.com and then I'll be back and on the road the end of August. I'll be in the Dallas area at the Plano Mic Drop Comedy theater the last weekend. Let me just double check that. I will be there. Oh, there it is. The 29th and the 30th. Maybe the 28th. 29th and 30th. I think the 29th and the 30th mic drop. It'll be on my website. Josh adamyers.com or follow me at Josh Adam Myers on all social media. All right, guys, so today's episode is Wayne Fetterman because I needed somebody to who knew blues. And then the the great Kenny Wayne shepherd, who's been on a few times. Unfortunately, Kenny Wayne's Internet connection was crap, so halfway through we had to cut him loose and me and Wayne finished the episode. We tried a different things, but it just is what it is, guys. Still a great episode. So much fun and we'll definitely have Kenny Wayne back. So we apologize for any of the issues. Rate, review, and most importantly, subscribe to the 500 and listen free on all platforms or anywhere you get your pods. Follow me at Josh Adam Myers on all social media at the 500 podcast on all social media. Email the [e-mail] Follow the Facebook group run by Crazy Evan. And for all things 500, go to the website the 500 podcast Calm. All right, y' all, here we go with 154 out of 500 with Howlin Wolf's moaning in the moonlight. Happy birthday, Wayne.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

[Josh Adam Myers]

You're very welcome. Kenny, Good to see you again, brother. Is this your third time doing this?

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

I know it's at least my second. Could be the third.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Well, what have we done? You've. So you did. You did. Was it. Did you do Muddy Waters or did you do BB King? Because I know you did the Flying Burrito Brothers.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

Yeah, yeah, I was just talking about that with somebody. We did that for sure. I don't. If we did a. If there was a previous one.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I'm not.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

I don't.

[Josh Adam Myers]

There was. There had to have been a previous one. Where are you right now, Kenny? In the world?

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

I was told to say that I'm in Tennessee by my friend, but I'm actually at his house. We're up in. Outside of Pittsburgh. I'm doing a big Viper Owners association trip with a bunch of car guys. So I had like the week off before we head to Europe for our European tour. We'll be there the whole month of July, and so I decided to come hang out with a bunch of car guys and do some fun stuff before I leave the country.

[Josh Adam Myers]

How long are you going to the. Out of the country for the whole month.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

So basically I leave on the 30th of June, and we don't come back till I think the 29th of July.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And this is. And this is all for the tour? Yeah. Yep. Right on, dude. I'm. I'm leaving for England July 29, and then my August is pretty open and I haven't been on vacation in 17 years, so I was like, I'm going to get lost in just Europe. Jt, our mono podcast producer, lives in Ibiza. Ibiza. That's how you're supposed to say it. Wayne, I take you with me, but you're working on too many projects and too much.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Too busy. Too busy.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Too busy right now. So I don't know Kenny, if you've. If you've met Wayne, but Wayne is probably my most returning guest and is basically a legend in stand up comedy, but also is one of the most knowledgeable and I'd say guitar, like, you know, I don't. What is. What is your way, like your background?

[Wayne Fetterman]

I love music. I love music. But I say I'm especially like, I'm a guitar hero guy, so.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

Right.

[Wayne Fetterman]

That would be just. But I like really old music. Like, I like stuff from the 20s.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And he likes that Creole crackle, like when you put it on.

[Wayne Fetterman]

I like it very well. Right.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

But like, so then. So are the guitar players that you're fond of from that era or you like.

[Wayne Fetterman]

No, no, no, no. When I was a kid, I was like all of those. Wait, that. He's all of the, like the class, you know, Paige Tandrix, clap, You know, Clapton, those. The English guy. The English guys.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

My people.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So those are the ones When I was a little kid, that really got me into that. And then it just continued. I know you're a huge Stevie Ray Vaughan guy. Same here, so.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

Well, I'm a huge fan of all of them. Clapping back. Hendrix, Paige, you know, you name it. I mean, Albert, Cam. We can go down the blues list, you know, I mean, look.

[Wayne Fetterman]

No, that was why I wanted to bring. I have a million questions. So I have a million questions, which.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Is great, because here's the deal. He's like, Kenny. He's like, I'm still that dude that is, like, going through this list and studying the records, finding out all the info. But am I, like, the biggest blues fan? I'm becoming one. You know what I mean? There's. I think there's nothing sexier and cooler than slow blues. Learned that from Mark Marin, but. But it's like, as I've gotten down into this list, it's like we've just. You know, it's like I'm still scratching the surface on people like Howlin Wolf, you know, and that was funny because when I brought up. They said you were doing it. That made sense. And I was like, oh, let me have Wayne on to kind of. Kind of like cut the mustard on it a little bit. But you had said that he's not known so much for his guitar playing as he's more known for his voice. Is that wrong?

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

For sure? No, that's true. 100. So there you'll find. You can find pictures of how I Wolf playing the guitar. And by the way, if you do. If you come across one, just make a mental note of how small that guitar looks on him, because he was a mighty big man. And anybody who knew him would tell you he was a very towering presence. Big individual. Big individual. And also could be a scary guy at times. You know, he was intense. But I think that intensity was also reflected in his music and the way he sang and the lyrics that he wrote. But, yeah, he. He could play guitar. He was a great harmonica player. He's probably, for an instrument more well known for his harmonica playing, most well known for his unique voice because, you know, he had. They called him Howlin Wolf because he kind of had that raspy. And he would howl in his songs. And his howling was almost like. It was almost like blues yodeling, if you will. You know, it's kind of a trip, but completely his own thing. And a lot of guys since him have kind of learned how to do that, will mimic him and stuff. But he was the originator when it Came to that stuff, as far as I'm concerned.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And how far into, like, because I know you. You got into blues and guitar at a young age. But like, how far into your journey did you discover him?

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

Oh, early. Early on. So. Well, I mean, my dad listened to a lot of blues music. My dad was a disc jockey, so we listened to music 24 7, all kinds. But he loved blues. He loves, you know, old school R B and funk and, you know, I mean, everything. At the end of the same time, he was running, you know, top 40 radio stations, active rock, classic rock, I mean, whatever. So when I was a kid, he was on country radio. So my dad, we grew up listening to everything, but a lot of blues around the house. And being from Louisiana, so I heard Howlin Wolf, but I think, you know, the thing that like, firmly put me on, put Howlin Wolf on my radar was hearing about. So, like, you know, when you find out some of the heroes, some of the contemporary heroes. And I've tried. Tried to. I've tried to do the same thing that my heroes did where, you know, you talk about the people that inspired you. Right. Because none of us are inventing anything. I mean, even going back, like the king of the blues, B.B. king, would tell you that T Bone Walker was his hero. And you go back and listen to early BB King music, and his early playing sounds just like T Bone Walker. So T bone Walker inspired B.B. king and then B.B. king evolved into becoming himself and. And ultimately the king of the blues. So, you know, we're all inspired by what we heard from somebody else and then we learn their stuff and we figure out a way to kind of take that and make it our own. And so I would look at my contemporary guitar heroes like Hendrix and Stevie Raybon, and you go, well, who do they listen to? Or, you know, you would read interviews where they would talk about the people that they listened to and names would be brought up, and Howlin Wolf was one of those names. But as far as guitar playing goes, Howlin Wolf, now his music was very guitar heavy. Actually. All of his instruments were featured. You know, the piano, you can hear a lot of piano work, a lot of harmonica, a lot of guitar. Every instrument was featured in all of his songs very well. But Hubert Summlin was the sound. He was a huge part of the sound of Howlin Wolf's music. And Hubert someone was a guitar player. So then you find out there's these albums called the London Sessions, and they did them with Muddy Waters and Howlin Wolf and. And maybe Some others. But those are the two most famous London sessions albums where they took these blues legends and they brought them over to the UK and they put them in the studio and they recorded songs that they had. I think. I don't know all the track listings, but I'm pretty sure most of those songs that they had already recorded them in their career. But now they're recording those songs with the hottest English players on the planet. So you had Clapton and Beck and all these guys. I think maybe Paige might have been on it. It's been a while since I've listened to him. But they would team up the hottest English guys to play with Muddy Waters and do a record of his material and to do a Howlin Wolf album of his material. And. But Howlin Wolf was like, I'm bringing Hubert someone with me. Like, he's coming with me. Like, I gotta have Hubert. And those guys were in awe of Hubert, like, they love. Because they learned all those Howlin Wolf songs and everything that Hubert played on guitar. So, like, they looked up to Hubert. He was like one of their heroes. He was clapped and looked up to Hubert song, you know. Yeah. Jeff Beck did so. And I got to know Hubert very well in the later part of his life, and he became like another adopted father to me, you know, And I got to play with him many, many times and watch and watch the genius of Hubert Sumlin in real time and in real life. But he was an incredible guitar player. Deserv to be in the Rock and Roll hall of Fame, by the way. And I don't know when or if that'll ever happen, but he should be.

[Josh Adam Myers]

So, so. So you can't talk about Howlin Wolf without talking about Hubert. It's. It's basically, he's. This guy's just as important for the guitar part, right?

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

Well, for sure. But like, a lot of the guitar riffs and his songs were part of the hook. I mean, part of those guitar riffs that Huber played is also what made the song as catchy as it was. So, yeah, I do believe it's kind of like Hubert and Wolf go hand in hand. For sure.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Especially, you know, he's one of these guys that came up from the. From the Delta to Chicago. Right.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

Well, I don't know Hubert's geographic history.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Oh, I mean, Howard.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

Oh, Helen. Well, I don't. I don't know that either. I do know that the Chicago scene is where it was at at that time. And all those guys were. You know, I can't even imagine what the Scene must have been like at that time. It had to be pretty incredible to be there. But Hubert told me all kinds of stor stories about playing in the. In the clubs up there and, you know, Muddy and Wolf and those guys getting together and all the different players and the dynamics and how, you know, they all, you know, there was a competition, but it was a friendly competition, you know, which is kind of how it always is. It's like, you know, musicians are like. Are like athletes, you know, it's like you're competitive, but hopefully it's. It's only just like to make each other better, you know, but they were always trying to outdo one another and up their game and try different things and stuff. And sometimes they would rotate, you know, Hubert would play with other people and, you know, musicians would go from band to band. So, like, they all played together at some point or another. But, yeah, Hubert's thing. I mean, I wish he was here to tell you guys his story, but he had a pretty incredible story, actually. In my documentary, we did a documentary years ago, almost 20 years ago, called 10 Days Out Blues from the Back Roads. And we featured Hubert in a big part of that. And he told the whole story of working for Howlin Wolf and how. How Wolf fired him at one point because he was playing with a guitar pick and he said playing with the guitar pick was making him play too much. And he's playing all over him while he's trying to sing and he's like, where I'm trying to go, you've already been there. And he sent Hubert home and. And Hubert was really sad about it and kind of, you know, a bit depressed and didn't know what to do. And then. And then he decided to put the guitar pick down and he learned how to play with just his fingers and it trans his entire style. And he said he found his own sound because of that. And I was listening to the record that we were talking that were. I think we're kind of focusing on today. Yeah, that Alan Wolf record. And I was listening to a lot of that. And so there was a part of Wolf's career where I think Hubert wasn't necessarily playing guitar. I don't know how long Hubert was fired for. And maybe there was an earlier days before Hubert joined his band. And they did have guys like Buddy Guy, for example, was a session guitar player at Chess Records. So Buddy Guy played on all kinds of people's records, records that weren't just Buddy Guy records. So there's other guitar players that could be appearing on some of this stuff. But on this particular album, I'm pretty sure that he was playing on several of these songs. And I can hear that it's. It's from the era where he was still using a guitar pick. Some of this.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Oh, wow. And so I was fired. Yeah, yeah.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

I was thinking about that, you know, as I was listening back to it, and. And he was a little bit more busy. But he said the minute he put the pick down, it just transformed his style and it gave him his own voice. And so Hubert is one of the distinctive guitar players, and you can hear a few notes of him playing and you go, that's Hubert Sunlin right there. And that's what every guitar player hopes for, you know, so you identified like that.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Good.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Right. And outside of Howland, he was the only one they brought over for those London sessions, Right?

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

Right. Yeah. So Wolf said, you know, I'm. I'm coming to do this record in the uk, but I'm bringing Hubert Sumner with me. And Muddy, I don't think did that. When Muddy did his London Sessions album, he didn't bring anybody with him. Unless maybe. I don't know if he brought James Cotton or not, but. But Wolf brought Hubert someone. And. And so Hubert played guitar on that stuff along with the English Cats and collapsed in.

[Wayne Fetterman]

And those guys.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

Yeah, and those guys, they were thrilled about it because they. They looked up to Hubert because they had already learned all of his licks and stuff. I mean, you can hear early Clapton stuff and early Jeff Beck stuff when they were playing blues, and you can hear them playing, like, Hubert Summons guitar licks. So I'm sure that was a big thrill for them when Hubert showed up for that.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Right. And why do you think England, of all places, became so enamored with the blues in the early 60s with the Chicago blue sounds?

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

Well, I mean, you'd have to ask those guys. I can't speak for them, but I would like to think that it's. Because the music is great, it's real.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah, yeah.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

And there's something about it, you know, that I think people, like, can identify with. I think universally anybody can identify with blues music, because the one requirement for blues music, to play it authentically is to play from your heart. And so when you're tapping into that source, that's something people can feel without words, you know, and so you don't have. The language barrier doesn't exist when you're dealing, like, soul to soul. And Hubert said the same thing. He.

[Josh Adam Myers]

His.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

The way he said it was he was like, man, if I'm playing it and I'm feeling it, then they gots to feel it, you know, and that's the truth. And I think that's. That's probably what they picked up on. And then the rest is history. You know, you had guys, and not just the English guys. I mean, it was happening here in America, too, but they took the blues music and then they transformed it into rock and roll.

[Wayne Fetterman]

No question. No question. And what was it like for you when you were, like, playing guitar next to Hubert? Was that it? Surreal? Was it?

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

Yeah, man, it was incredible. I mean, we had some really amazing experiences, and there was one really frightening experience where I thought he died on stage.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Oh, no.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

Yeah, it was crazy. But, you know, just to watch him and watch his hand technique, you know, and all the little things that these guys learned how to do to entertain people when they were playing on the chitlin circuit and playing in these juke joints and stuff, and their showmanship and I mean, they just entertain people in a way that, you know, even people in my generation, we just. We don't do it like that because we didn't grow up, you know, learning that they, you know, they watch somebody else do it. And then it evolved and. But Hubert had a lot of tricks up his sleeve. Things that he would do that you just wouldn't see coming, and it would just. Your jaw would hit the floor, you know, because you just never expected that. And he just whipped it out and just blew everybody away. So it was pretty incredible watching him on stage every night and playing and interacting with him.

[Josh Adam Myers]

So I got a question. Well, I got a question. So if. When I. Because as a guy that's still on the outside of why of, like, the blues, that's starting to figure out about it. If we sit there and we talk about Muddy Waters and we talk about Howlin Wolf and B.B. king, then. Then am I wrong that. I mean, because I hate to say that this is like, besides, from reading this, this is the first time I've really heard about Hubert. Like, why isn't he, you know, up there with those other guitar guys if he was so important to. If he's basically the, you know, the. The Van Halen to the. To the David Lee Roth. I don't know why I chose that different. But. But yeah, like, why isn't. Like, why am I just finding out about this guy and how dope this dude is?

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

Well, that's exactly. I posed the same question. But, you know, I think if any. Once you find out About Howlin Wolf, then you do find out about.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Right, Hubert. Yeah.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

So I don't know how familiar you were with how. And Wolf or not, but, you know, I. I just think. I. I don't know. I think Hubert. I mean, I think Howlin Wolf might be in the Rock and Roll hall of Fame. I'm not sure if he is.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Oh, for sure. He is, for sure.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

But I think Hubert deserves to be right there with him. The problem is, is, like, you know, they had guys like Howlin Wolf and Muddy Waters, and, you know, they looked at them like they were solo artists, and they were, but the musicians that they had around them were. Were legendary as well. They just didn't have the big name. They weren't the big. The name. But, you know, those guys made a huge contribution to the sound of those people's music, you know, And I wish they kind of broaden. Well, you know, whatever. They can do what they want, but I wish they would kind of broaden it out a bit and really take a look at some of these people that. That made significant contributions to the band, to the music and music history that deserve to be recognized as well. And Hubert is absolutely one of those people.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Oh, no, quite. No question. And how did you come up with just. I like the set list of what you guys were gonna play. Did you banter or. He was just like, I need to play these songs?

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

No, no, we.

[Wayne Fetterman]

We put the set.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

We put the set together.

[Wayne Fetterman]

We did.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

Yeah, but we did songs that. They were Howlin Wolf songs when he came up with us. And so it was stuff that he was comfortable with. And, you know, there were some songs that, like, I always. I loved playing those songs when I was a kid, so it was like a dream to play those songs with him, you know, and stuff like that.

[Josh Adam Myers]

So what were those songs that you loved playing as a kid? Like, what were the ones that.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

Well, the biggest one is, like, there's a song called Rockin Daddy, which is, like. It has this really cool guitar riff that's all Hubert Sullen. And. And it's just like. It's one of the first ones that I think a lot of people learn.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Is that the first song on that London sessions?

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

I don't know. I'd have to look it up to see what the track listing is, but it's just super cool. 100 Hubert, 100 original. And so to play that with him and to just be able to look over at him and see him doing his thing, man, it's just. It was incredible.

[Wayne Fetterman]

I had A question just about. Because we were talking about slow blues, but I feel like a lot of, like Hubert and Howlin were doing was a little more up tempo, a little closer rock. Is that right?

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

Well, I will say some of it.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Some of it, yeah, sure.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

But, like, one thing about Howlin Wolf is like, you know, he. He did songs that were like shuffles and stuff like that, but he really. There was two things that I noticed a lot about his music is that he really was trying to do things that were kind of outside the box. Whether it was like, you know, the groove they were playing to or whatever it was. It was like, I don't know, it seemed really innovative to me for blues music at the time. But then there's also, like, you can listen to a lot of his songs, and there's. He would make. He could make five different songs out of a variation of the same idea, one of the same single idea. So, like, when I'll sit down and I'll have an idea on guitar and I'll go, oh, that's kind of cool. And then I'll keep messing with it, and then it'll evolve into something else, and maybe, you know, I'll keep messing with it until finally it evolves into something that. Okay, that's. That sounds right to me. We're going to write a song with that idea. But prior to that, it may have evolved into four different, you know, things along the way. Well, how. And Wolf just decided to write songs for all four of those different things instead of. Instead of just the one final thing. So, like, you can hear, like, I'll. I'll hear these songs, and they're completely different songs, but I'm like, it has elements of this other song and elements of this other song. And so he obviously just decided to write all the songs along the way instead of just the one song, you know.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Wow, that's so cool, man. It's like you. I'm reading all this stuff because I'm going through, like, the tracks that we have from this, and it's like, you know, because we're talking about specifically Moaning in the moonlight compilation record released in 1959. It contains songs recorded between 51 and 59. Would you say those are the peak years of. Of Helen, or did he get better after? No, man.

[Wayne Fetterman]

And he.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

I mean, his recording career went well beyond that in his.

[Wayne Fetterman]

He had bigger. Like, he had Killing Field and all of that stuff.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

Yeah, the Killing Floor.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Killing Floor. Excuse me. Yeah, after that and the Spoonfuls and stuff, what's interesting because we had done a Sun Records compilation.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah.

[Wayne Fetterman]

And so the first two tracks, Moaning and How Many More Years is on that Sun Records compilation. Because he recorded those for Sam Phillips down there in the Memphis recording suit before he was even called Sun Records, and then sold them or leased them. I'm not sure exactly how it worked to, you know, the Chess brothers up there, the two Polish Jewish guys in Chicago who sort of started that, you know, that scene. Right.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, I love that. Jews always at the forefront of.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah, I know.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Ground four. Get us Jews in there, dude. We'll kick it into high gear. Yeah.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

I'm not sure how the deals were worked back then either, but I was surprised to find out a lot of these blues players didn't write songs. Like, Willie Dixon was probably the most prolific blues songwriter maybe of all time. Right. So a lot of famous blues players would record songs that Willie Dixon wrote. And. And some of these songs on this record are Willie Dixon. But the majority of these songs were written. It says Chester Burnett, that's Helen Wolf's real name. So he was kind of an anomaly in that regard, too, because, like, he wrote a lot of his own songs and went in an era where not a lot of those artists actually did do that. So, yeah, things. And I'm curious. I mean, it's not in my business really, but like, did. Was he. Did he have the foresight to hold on to that publishing and did, you know, and. Because some. Some guys, Sol. Some guys got ripped off, you know.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah, a lot of guys got ripped off by those Chess brothers because Willie Dixon was the in house producer, arranger, talent scout for Chess Records. But also. And all of that stuff he wrote under that label, Chess owned, unfortunately.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

Yeah.

[Wayne Fetterman]

And then.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

Not the best.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Not the best. Not good for the Jews. Not good for Leonard, whatever his buddy's name.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Think we. You think we need better PR now.

[Wayne Fetterman]

But I will say I do feel like Smokestack Lightning is kind of the quintessential Howlin Wolf song. Because he does the howling, right?

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

Yeah, yeah. But he does it in a lot of songs. They kind of trademark thing, you know. But, yeah, Smokestack Lightning is certainly. I mean, that's another one where it's like, what an interesting riff and what an interesting, like, drum beat. And it's not like. It's not your typical blues song. The arrangement is incredibly unique, you know, and it's outside the box of what kind of. Was the mainstream blues sound or what was the standard kind of blue sound for the time?

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah. His use of horns, too. Or like always.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, wild. So what I've got from this is, this is at night, Chester Burnett would sit outside watching trains roll across the Mississippi countryside. Sometimes the train smoke stacks shot off sparks. The image stuck in Burnett's mind. And one day he wrote a song about it. And by that time, he was known all around the world as a Howlin Wolf. Already the original title was Crying at Daybreak. The lyrics discuss an unfaithful woman and Wolf's heartbroken knee to hop a train and leave town. I mean, how many times have we been in that position? Get me a knapsack on a stick and get the. On the rail system. So it's darker. This song's like, you know, it's. There's something dark and mysterious about this song that I got because it's like, you know, the first listen, I always go the full way through. And I know we're skipping ahead to the third track on the record, and I want to go back and talk about those first two in a moment. But I mean, this was like the first one I was at the gym and I was like, this is. It just. It just sounds a lot. Whereas the music doesn't feel that way. It definitely seems like this is like there's some insidious going on in this world. Am I wrong?

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

Well, if you listen to a lot of his lyrics, he's got some really dark lyrics. I mean, I think even on this record, I don't have the track listing in front of me, but I believe one of the songs is I Asked her for Water and She Gave Me Gasoline.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Right.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

So, yeah, I mean, the dude wrote some hardcore lyrics. And I actually was thinking this guy was like, kind of like a. He could be a scary guy. He could be a really intimidating person from what I heard. And so I'm going to, you know, wow. A guy that intimidating for him to be dealing with women that would. Were willing to do stuff like that to him. It's like he was dealing with some hardcore women, bro. You know, like, where did he find them at?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, but a lot of the stuff is.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

Is. Lends itself to the darker side of the blues, for sure.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Is. Would you say, like, who. Who is probably the darkest of the, you know, lyrically and musically of all blues musicians? Like, who is. Who's the Marilyn Manson of blues?

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

Well, some of these lyrics and his songs, I would say, you know, if you want to go there, I mean, it's. It's pretty low down stuff, man. Yeah, I mean, it's pretty low down, you know, it's like he's not trying to be funny about it. Like he's like getting straight, you know, to the point about like what cuts, you know, the hardest, what, you know, like really makes you bleed.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, it's funny. Funny. I just found this out in 2001. Erectile dysfunction medication. Viagra ran a commercial with smokestack lightning playing in the background while a middle aged gentleman in a cowboy hat harness horses to his pickup.

[Wayne Fetterman]

That would have been funny if it was like the Bob Dole one.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, yeah. Oh God, it's like you, you. I mean, I wonder if he. Hopefully he got PA for that. I'm assuming he. He must have gotten paid for that. Do you know anything about that, Kenny?

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

Somebody got paid for for sure. I don't know his steak or the record company or who, but somebody got paid for.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, dude. Let's go back though. Let's talk about the opening track, Moaning at Midnight. I mean, this was Sam Phillips produced.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yes. Track.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, Sam Phillips, you got. You got Willie Johnson on guitar, you got Willie Steele on drums, Ike Turner on piano. And then Hubert is not on this song. No, he is on this song. I'm sorry, wait, no. Moaning for My Baby. No, he's not on this one. Yeah, I mean, great opening track. This is probably. I mean, it's the title track on the record, obviously. Chesson came in August 1951 with how many more years as the B side reached number 10 on the billboard Most played Jukebox R B records chart of November 10, 1951. Like you said, Sam Phillips described Moaning at Midnight as the most different record I have ever heard. Phillips had not yet founded Sun Record, so he leased the song recordings to Chess Records. Why? Why do you think, guys? Why do you think he would say something that. It's the most different record I've ever heard.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

Because at that time, like I was saying, Malin Wolf's music was outside the box of the blues. Like he was always like trying to do something different. And if you listen to this particular. So it starts off with this really crazy moaning sound that he's doing that and I get. And you know, back then they didn't have a lot of studio trickery. They didn't have all this technology to make these crazy sounds in the computer the way we can do it nowadays. So he was like singing that stuff. It almost sounds like the tape's moving backwards instead of forwards kind of thing. But like it was just out of this world. Like it probably in the world of blues. Nobody had ever heard a song come out of a guy like that? For sure. I would agree with that.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Wayne Fetterman]

You want to have him pop out.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

And pop back in again to see if we can?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, the audio is going a little shitty. Your video is perfect right now, Kenny, but the audio is going crinkly again. So.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah, on a side note, both those songs that they did at the Memphis Recording Service, that one and how many More Years were, like, huge hits, which created, like, a bidding war for him.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Him.

[Wayne Fetterman]

And that's how he moved up to Chicago. Really? Yeah, yeah. He was in west. A place called West Memphis, which is in Arkansas, not Memphis, which is in Tennessee. And, yeah, like, right out of the gate, he was just a unique. That voice. That voice is insane.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Wait, Kenny, talk.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

Yeah, now you guys sound clear. There's just a faint amount of crackling.

[Wayne Fetterman]

All right, let's keep going.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

Let's do it while we got it real quick.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Crackle free, baby.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

Crackle free.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I don't even know what the. We were talking about. Wayne. Wayne Fetterman. You ask a question, you lead this, bro.

[Wayne Fetterman]

No, no, no. We were talking about how those two songs that he recorded in Memphis before he got up to Chicago really kicked off his career in a big way. And again, it's like, if you think about it, Ike Turner and Sam Phillips, like, discovering this guy in, you know, the Howling. At the time, he was still called Chester Burnett, the Howling Wolf. It was like, sort of his thing. So those two songs are really kicked off his whole career. And those are the first two tracks.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. How many more years? So Howlin Wolf, just so everybody knows, Kenny mentioned it earlier, but this is a big dude. He is six. Six.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Comes in close to £300. But in this song, how many more years? He's been pushed around and wonders how much longer he's gonna endure it. At the end of the song, he says he's gonna get his stuff and leave, but we're not sure if he'll go through with it. Led Zeppelin borrowed extensively from this song for their. For their 1969 track how many More Years. Rolling Stones did their part to spread the gospel of Howlin Wolf. When they appeared on the American variety Show Shindig In 65, they made sure Wolf, then 55, was on the program.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Them.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, that's awesome. And they had number one footage of that.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah, he did Little Red Rooster in that, right?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yes, yes. Little Red Rooster originally recorded. That's so funny, that Little Red rooster. So I. The story. So Kenny Wayne. So I do a show called the Goddamn comedy jam where comics do stand up and then they sing a cover song. And I had Mark Marin on the first time. Marin, one of the biggest podcasters in the world at that time. Bill Burr was supposed to do it. Bird dropped out. He got me Marin. I called Marin and Marin's like, so, what's the show? And I explained it to him and he goes, I want to do a Rolling Stone song. And I'm like, oh, cool. You could do like, Sympathy for the Devil or, you know, Honky Tonk Woman or Satisfaction. The audience will love that. And he goes, yeah, I could give a. About the audience. I want to do a Little Red Rooster, a Japanese only B side so I can shred on it. That was my first introduction to that, so God bless it, dude. Thoughts on how many more years and thoughts on like, you know, the bands like Led Zeppelin and Rolling Stones giving. Giving the kudos and the honor to Howlin Wolf. What do you think about it, Kenny Wayne?

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

Well, I think that's, you know, what we talked about in the very beginning is like, you know, when you're inspired by somebody, it's your duty to, like, tell the world about them and that they inspired you. And so it's, you know, those huge bands were inspired by people like Helen Wolf and Muddy Waters. And a big part of their sound came from listening to those people's records. And so I'm glad that they helped spread the word, you know. Now there are some Led Zeppelin songs that some people are like, hey, man, they just straight up ripped off, you know, some of these blues guys. Or maybe they gave them the credit.

[Wayne Fetterman]

But.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

But publicly, people didn't realize that these were actually old blues songs. They thought Led Zeppelin invented into this stuff. But they'll. They'd be the first to tell you if you ask them, like, yeah, man, Howlin Wolf, Muddy Waters, you know, we got all that stuff from them. And. Because that's the truth. And that's why they say the blues had a baby and they named it rock and roll.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. As far as how many more years do I want to take it about? Touring is like, do most blues musicians just basically, you know, play a show, you know, in the. Into their 80s and then die? Is it like, do. Does any blues musician ever really retire?

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

I. I don't know. I don't think so. I think it's kind of like, I don't know that many blue. That many musicians do. I mean, you just feel like you're called to do this. It's your passion. It's what you're put here to do, and you do it as long as you can possibly do it. You know, that's just part of who you are. I mean, look at these songs. I mean, they're still going. I mean, just about everybody I know, as long as they can perform, they feel compelled to do it.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Do it.

[Wayne Fetterman]

So are like the stones are like 20 years older than Howland Wolf was when they put him on the Shindig show. Yeah. Like, that's how long they've been touring.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. Oh, and they're killing it.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Still killing it.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Killing floor. Killing. There was a Howlin Wolf song, not on this album, called Spoonful that Cream did an incredible cover of.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

Yep, exactly. It's another perfect example of the British rock bands that were influenced by these American blues musicians. Yeah, they did a really cool kind of version of that. They. They touched, you know, kind of gave it a little more of a. A hint of a psychedelic rock vibe, you know, but absolutely did it their own.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

And then they turned on a younger generation. Like their fans found out about how Wolf, you know, because of that song.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Why is it that we always talk about the people that came afterwards, but not the people, you know what I mean? Like. Like, if Led Zeppelin is stealing from all of these guys. But it's like, you know, and we're talking about how great they are, and they have on thing on this list. I mean, we have the first Les Zeppelin record coming up in a few weeks. I think it's House of the Holy, but I think we're knocking out like five of their records or whatever. And it's like you have one Howen Wolf record on this whole thing, you know. Why is it these guys get all the shine? Is it because they took. They took the blues and. And basically rock and rolled it. And that was basically the Fed, I'm assuming.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

Well, there's that. I mean, they. They took the blues and they turned into something that became bigger, you know.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Hey, everybody. So you guys have probably heard me talk about how I've been in bands my whole life. I love writing so songs and performing in front of crowds. Just like with comedy, as a musician, it can be kind of hard to cut through the noise and really stand out as an artist. I feel like half the music projects I've been in have ended just because we couldn't figure out the answer to that eternal question of how do we get people to hear us? But then again, that was before there was Distrokid. Distrokid is a digital music distribution service. That brings your sound to the masses. It's a one stop shop for getting your songs on itunes, Sports, Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Amazon, Deezer, Tidal and many more. What's Deezer? I never even heard of Deezer. How many of them are there? I know all that. That's like the holy grail of streaming services though.

[Wayne Fetterman]

And.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And getting paid. They want to. We want to get you paid for your music. That's huge because a lot of bands go broke before they get big. But Distrokid collects earnings and payments and sends 100% of these earnings to artists minus banking fees and applicable taxes. And that's just one of the tons of benefits of using Distrokid. You can send big files to anyone with their Instant Share feature. You can use the Hyper Follow feature to promote your release and get pre saves on your song. You can even create personal landing pages for yourself, your band, your brand and whatever you like. It has a free Spotify Canvas generator too to generate your own Spotify Canvas service for your songs. And the Mixia feature instantly masters your tracks for higher quality audio. So if you're ready to bring your band to the next level, it's time to check out Distrokid. The Distrokid app is now available on iOS and Android. Go to the app or Play Store to download it. Listeners of this show can get 30% off their first year by going to distrokid.com 500. That's distrokid.com VIP the 500 for 30 off your first year. Dig it.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Hi, I'm Richard Karn and you may.

[Josh Adam Myers]

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[Wayne Fetterman]

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[Josh Adam Myers]

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[Wayne Fetterman]

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[Josh Adam Myers]

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[Wayne Fetterman]

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[Josh Adam Myers]

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[Wayne Fetterman]

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[Josh Adam Myers]

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[Wayne Fetterman]

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[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

Messages from Pocket Host.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Message and data rates may apply. No purchase required. Terms apply. Available@pocket host.com terms. Yeah, it's getting really crinkly again, Kenny. I'm sorry, dude. Let's hear. Let's. Let's do. I know there's nothing we can do. We tried everything, dude. Let's. Let's cut you loose. Me and Wayne can finish this. We got it. We got a lot of great from you.

[Wayne Fetterman]

You.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And it's not that we don't want to keep you, but it's just the audio is just. So we want you. It's just the audio is right now, dude. Okay, guys, thank you. Thank you, brother. And, dude, we'll get you. We'll get you. We have more blues coming up. We'll definitely get you back. You know we will, brother. Have a great tour, dude. Enjoy Pittsburgh. Thank you, brother. All right, Fetty. You better. You better. Kenny. Wayne shepherd. This.

[Wayne Fetterman]

I don't know if I can do that. I don't know if I can do it.

[Josh Adam Myers]

What a bummer, dude.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Like, no, but there was also another. That he did this song called Back Door man that the. Obviously the Doors did like, a version of. So it's just really interesting, like, how many of these songs specifically of Howen Wolf made it to that next generation. And to answer your question in a less crinkly manner, the reason that the. The Led Zeppelin is because it was. Was more commercial than these blues records. Like, blues were basically, like, on the R B charts, which was sort of the race record charts. And they sold. They sold records, don't get me wrong. But, like, they really became valuable in England. These blues records, these. Chess records, these. There was many vj, there's many other blues labels, but Chess was like the main one. And so when they got over to England, they. They would trade these records. Remember we talked about John Mayall?

[Josh Adam Myers]

I was gonna bring him up earlier, but I didn't want to. Like, yeah, sounds stupid, but I was like. I was like, blues breakers, are we?

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

By the way. By the way, by the way. Wayne, I know I'm off topic, but because it was your birthday yesterday and I. Did you see the video I made of all. All the records that. All the. The episodes that you. That you've been on. Oh, my God, it's on Instagram and Oh, you'll love the song. Oh, can I ruin it? Do you want me to ruin it?

[Wayne Fetterman]

Ruin it, ruin it, ruin it.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Cry, Cry, Cry by Bobby Blue Bland.

[Wayne Fetterman]

It was also part of that Memphis scene.

[Josh Adam Myers]

No way.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Professor Long Hair.

[Wayne Fetterman]

No, Professor Long. Here's New Orleans, but.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I know.

[Wayne Fetterman]

But that whole thing of the Delta blues, which is basically acoustic blues, and all of those guys went to Memphis when. And then from Memphis, went up to Chicago, and then those albums make it over to England, and next thing you know, they're. They're inviting these blues guys over to England to do these tours. They were called the Blues folk tour. In 64, Howlin Wolf was, like the headliner. Muddy Waters, all of these guys. And they just. And from there we get this crazy blues explosion, which becomes the Yardbirds, which becomes Zeppelin, which becomes Cream, which becomes all of this stuff. And it all goes back to these guys. And that's why they're in the Rock and Roll hall of Fame. That's why that. That is why they're in the Rock. Because it is a direct line. It's not like a little bit of an influence here and there.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Let's find out when. When Howlin Wolf actually got inducted into the Rock and Roll hall of fame in 1991. Inducted. So. Wow. Very, very early on.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah. He's a pioneer, no question. I mean, it's like of the. Of the Chicago guys, he's one of the top three. He's. No question.

[Josh Adam Myers]

So what is.

[Wayne Fetterman]

I love that. Kenny Wayne talked also about Willie Dixon, who was this bass player there who wrote a lot of these incredible, incredible songs that these blues guys did. And then. Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Helen Wolf, following a number of legal issues in a stint in prison. Do you know anything about that?

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah, that was early on. That was. That was when he was, you know, he was like. You know, his mom didn't like the music he was playing, and they ended up moving in with his daddy. He got in a little, like, trouble and he went into the Army. That didn't work out. He did manage to get an honorable discharge, but he just had a raw. You would love his voice. His voice is so evocative. It's. It is just a classic blues voice. And again, when I was a kid, I thought he was a guitar player. I had no idea that it was mainly vocal and harmonica.

[Josh Adam Myers]

So. Yeah, that's. What's funny is I was just assuming that it was. But no, the more I think about it, and I think I probably gave this record about four or five listens.

[Wayne Fetterman]

The Whole thing.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, all the way. It's very short. I mean, it's 33 minutes long, if I'm not mistaken. Let me just double check the math. Yeah. This came in at 33 minutes. I was right.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And the only. You know, it's. The only way to, like. It's like his voice is. Is. How do I put it? Like, primal.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah. Yeah. I think.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Is that a good way? I mean, it's just more than just gravel.

[Wayne Fetterman]

More than just gravel.

[Josh Adam Myers]

It's. Yes. Yeah. More than just like a sandpaper growl. There's a. I mean, like, almost like. It's like, who is. Who is the other. You know, is it Betsy Smith or like, who is another famous, like, blues singer?

[Wayne Fetterman]

Like, well, they had a lot of those guys. They had Ma Rainey and, you know, they were called Blue Shouters was the name. Literally the.

[Josh Adam Myers]

The.

[Wayne Fetterman]

The category of that. And. And then I'm trying to think of the guy's name. It wasn't Joe Williams, who. Who sang with Count Basie's orchestra. But no, he was just so. I think, because he was so huge a guy like, you know, what was he, 66 is what you said.

[Josh Adam Myers]

6, 6, 300 pounds. Died at 65. Yeah. God damn, dude. That's crazy.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah. Here's a crazy little story about him. He, you know, he was estranged from his mother because his mother thought, you know, she was a church lady and thought the blues was the devil's music. So that was a real thing back then. And when he was on his deathbed, he had dialysis and then had the heart attacks and all that. He, like, I want to see my mom before I die. She wouldn't see him. How crazy.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Wow.

[Wayne Fetterman]

How crazy is that after selling all those records?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. Well, I didn't even think about that.

[Wayne Fetterman]

After inspiring Led Zeppelin.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I know, but, dude, you go against the.

[Wayne Fetterman]

I know. I know.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Things. He went to the devil. And I mean, it's. It's the movies. Have you seen Sinners?

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yes, of course.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah.

[Wayne Fetterman]

I think about, like, that. That barn they bought to create the juke joint is like. That's what that kind of looked like in Mississippi down there. Like these just, like, wooden barns that they. There'd be a kitchen, and then they'd. They play these songs and get people and charge the corner. Yeah. Drive. Charge a quarter to get in. And I mean, it didn't become a vampire movie, but still, it was very evocative.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Very. And also that I loved the. The scene where he's playing guitar and as he's playing guitar he's. He's conjuring up the spirits of the musical history going all the way back to like the African dance.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Might be the best moment of the movie, right?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. But I definitely think it was the moment that, that. Because then after the movie Burr, I. Well, Bird explained it to me before because he saw it with his wife and he was like, no, it's not about vampires. It's about the white record labels coming in and stealing the black music and what they did. And it's like take. I mean, because you know, that's Bill, Leonard Chess. The two Polish Jewish guys, the Chess brothers. How you doing? Howling. Good to see you. We really like money.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Meet Howling Buddy.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

Howling.

[Josh Adam Myers]

BB Good to see you boys.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Okay, just sign right here.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And we'll take 99.9. We're the original Spotify. We. We'll pay you 0.02% of every listen at a record player. For every crinkle of the record will give you a negative scent. Yeah, that's crazy, dude. You know. Is he on the.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Go ahead.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Well, I was gonna say is he. Is he on the Mount Rushmore of like blues guys?

[Wayne Fetterman]

Is like how the woman Chicago of Chicago Blues. Definitely.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Okay, now, now take it here, Wayne, because I want you to explain this to me like I'm a two year old old. Is what is the difference between the Delta and Chicago. Chicago Electric.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yes, that. You got it. You answered, you asked, you answered. You know, okay, I'm gonna sign off. You don't even need me anymore. It's basically. That's it. Like the Delta blues was basically acoustic. And then they. In Memphis as well, they started plugging in. Remember BB King was always like, oh, they created electric blues in Chicago. No, they were doing it in Memphis as well. Bobby Blue Bland and all of those guys. But yes, the Delta was basically acoustic. That Sun House, Charlie Patton, all of those. The guys before the. Before Howlin Wolf, you know that he learned from Robert Johnson. I'm sure you've heard of him.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Signed a deal with the devil.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yes. It all goes back to. Yeah, so Crossroads Blues. So. And then. Yeah, it's all about.

[Josh Adam Myers]

It's really.

[Wayne Fetterman]

When you think about the blues as a genre is especially what happened in Chicago. It's a testament to electricity and innovation. It's like these guys, it's like even Kenny Wayne shepherd, like his. His Stratocaster is. He's. That's like from 1961. It. They were just between Leo Fender and Les Paul, they were figuring out how to electrify these instruments and Then they. It just went to a whole nother level. Could you. Could play louder, could you?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. Then the pedals and the tones and the this and that.

[Wayne Fetterman]

I mean, and then you get a genius like Jimi Hendrix, who. Who can play blues, obviously does all. You know, he does so many blues songs. Red House in particular. That's a. Just incredible. But also at psychedelia, adds jazz, adds fusion. You know what I mean? Like, so he keeps building on all of that stuff. I mean, Tendrix is the guy, but yes. Of the Chicago blues. Howlin Wolf, no question, is on the Mount Rushmore. No question. Question.

[Josh Adam Myers]

All right. This is a weird question, Wayne, but if you. If you could bring back. If there was a. If there was a musician that died early, you know, one of those guys in the 27 club or even before, like, you know, like Buddy Holly died at 22. You know what I mean? Whose career would you have loved to have seen, you know, die of natural causes, you know, in their 80s or 90s? Who would you have loved to see? That's a good question. Question.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah, this might be too good for me. This might be.

[Josh Adam Myers]

No, this is a great question for Wayne Fetterman on his birthday, day after. Post birthday.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Post birthday. All right. Well, I mean, obviously, I'm. Obviously, Hendrix is like, just pops into my mind more than Janis Joplin, like, just because Hendrix was like. He was writing songs, he was super creative. And then there was a guy in the 30s named George Gershwin. Win. Who else?

[Josh Adam Myers]

God, yeah.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah. He died young. That's him.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, yeah.

[Wayne Fetterman]

By the way, if you think about.

[Josh Adam Myers]

That song Rhapsody in Blue, by the way, everybody in what?

[Wayne Fetterman]

Rhapsody in Blue.

[Josh Adam Myers]

In blue. I said that.

[Wayne Fetterman]

But he's basically doing blues music into adding blues music to classic classical. That's what. That's a blue scale. That's what I'm saying. That's why it's called Rhapsody in Blue. It's the blues in classical music.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Holy.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Are you. Can you handle it?

[Josh Adam Myers]

I'm blown away right now. This is. I'm blown away. Like Halliburton's Achilles, dude. I am blown away.

[Wayne Fetterman]

So we're just talking about blues music. That's just electric guitar blues. There was, you know, many, you know, many different versions of this, but it's basically a scale where they drop down, you know, a couple of the notes to flats, and it gives it that. That off tone, like, oh, this. The devil's here, the devils. And that's what Gershwin did with that, Well, I don't know. Symphony piece. Yeah, yeah, that sympathy. But Think about it. We're talking about the blues. That was him. Him. And you know, his big. His first big, huge show was Portugame Best, which was about black people. So he could write blues music as well. Summertime. Do you know that song Summertime in the living ZZ?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. And from 1924. So that. So Rapson Blue came in 1924.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah. So there was blues music, but yeah, before all of the. Before the Delta guys.

[Josh Adam Myers]

So was. Was. How did Gershwin did he. He was going out there and probably listening to all of that in Harlem. Yeah. Wow.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Harlem. Slumming up in Harlem. He loved it up there. Yeah. So. And then this guy named Paul Whiteman, one of the worst names for a jazz lead band leader, literally. Whiteman. That's his name.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah.

[Wayne Fetterman]

I wish it wasn't, but it is. Is. He was like. He had this thing and he hired him. He's like, can you write something for this show we're gonna do? And then he was. And Gershwin was really influenced by this new kind of African American black music called the blues. And so he incorporated it into a symphony or into a. A classical music. And that's why you have it. I know. I just. I'm repeating myself.

[Josh Adam Myers]

No, no, no. But I dig it.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Okay, so who else? Who else who died?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Well, like Lennon. Let me got to 40.

[Wayne Fetterman]

But yeah, Lennon, Elvis also. Yeah. Oh, my God.

[Josh Adam Myers]

You know, I mean, I always wonder, like, Nirvana. Nirvana, I think.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Oh, obviously the Big Bopper. That's the biggest. No, I'm kidding.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, dude, no Big Bopper. Richie Valens.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I was literally on IMDb looking at IMDb on Wikipedia, looking at them today about. Because somebody had just played Iowa where they had died. And that story is like so crazy. Also, Buddy Holly's wife, who he had met, you know, maybe within the year prior and married. He got engaged the night that he met her. She was pregnant with his. With his child. And when she found out that he had died via the television.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Right.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Or the radio. And that was what. And that caused her to have a miscarriage, which. Which then changed the law that you're not allowed. You have to. You have to reach out to the. To the loved ones of the person. They can't find out via the television. It's got to go to them first before you can make the announcement.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Right.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Very interesting, Very interesting. I mean, Buddy Holly, I mean, I mean, could he have been maybe turns into like a Roy Orbison type character and he's. You know. And so years later, the Beatles are bringing him up on Stage the way that John Lennon did with Chuck Berry.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Crickets were so influential for the Beatles.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Just a name alone.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. But also. Yeah, I didn't even think about that. Yeah. The Crickets, the, the Schlickets, the Sticking. The Rickets, the. Yeah. Like, like who? Like, so if you were to bring one, who, who is the thing.

[Wayne Fetterman]

It would either be Gershwin or Hendrix. More than John. John Lennon made it to 40.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah.

[Wayne Fetterman]

But I don't know, it's hard because that's just Lennon is like everything.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. So great.

[Wayne Fetterman]

It's hard not to say John Lennon.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Because he was right.

[Wayne Fetterman]

I don't, I don't. I mean not Jim Morrison. Sorry, sorry.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

Fans.

[Josh Adam Myers]

No, no, no, it's, it's, you know, I think that they had their moment.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Who were you thinking? Who were you thinking?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Like, man. I mean, Presley. No, no, I don't, I don't know who I would pick because I would pick like influential to really my life.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Kurt.

[Josh Adam Myers]

No, I always, I'm curious, I'm curious what Nirvana would have done though. Like how they would have changed. I'm curious what the next record would have been after. Because they were going, you know, in uter different than Nevermind. Like they tried to make a non pop record. Whereas like. Never mind, if you remove all of the distortion, it's. And you know, it's a, it's a pop record. It really is. I mean, and he, he knew how to write these really great songs. I, I don't think he would have gone like, you know, new metal esque, like the way that like let's. I'm just using Tommy Lee as an example, but like Tommy Lee, he's a drummer and gun and Mle Crew and they're hard rock. And then, then when the late 90s came and everybody's doing that like rap rock mix, he starts doing that and he's kind of now doing like drum and bass or whatever the he is or, or dubstep. I, I don't know. I, I, you know, I think I would have loved to have seen like you mentioned Janice Joplin.

[Wayne Fetterman]

I mean, yeah, maybe she let me.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Look at the 27 Club. Is that what it is? The 27 Club? Let's see everybody. Amy Winehouse. I would have loved to see what she would have done and because I really got into her. There's some great recordings of her and Paul Weller. Do you know Paul Weller?

[Wayne Fetterman]

I do, I do.

[Josh Adam Myers]

There's, there's some great. They did a stuff on Jules Holland together that is just like phenomenal Music. Yeah. So Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, Basquiat. But he's not really a musician as, as such, but.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Right.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Amy Winehouse. Those are just from the 27 Club. But then they have like Mac Miller and there's, you know, he, I think he was 27. I don't know, man. I, I think, I think Jimi Hendrix, like.

[Wayne Fetterman]

I might be wrong about that, but that's, that's the one that. Just because he was so. He was getting into jazz. He was. I don't know, I might be wrong.

[Josh Adam Myers]

About that because I think Jim was pretty much. Jim Morrison was pretty much already starting to venture out of music.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Right.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Like he was starting to do poetry more and he, the band was already kind of falling apart and it was probably from his drug use and his drinking. Janice, though, I mean, dude, like, how great would her voice have matured the older she gotten? And it really would have like the tone of it, like, like 20 years later into the 80s, like it would have been. Or the, the 90s because she died in Wed. When did Janice Joplin die? In 1970. Let's see, I got right here. She died 1970 at 27 in Los Angeles.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Wow. Not even 71. Wow.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. October 4th, 1970. Yep. Heroin overdose.

[Wayne Fetterman]

She's from Texas. She's from Texas.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Port Arthur. Port Arthur, Texas.

[Wayne Fetterman]

I know we've been making fun of Leonard and Phil Chess of Chess Records, but they did, besides putting out those records for the blues guys, they did, they were very influential in getting Bo Diddley on the Ed Sullivan show and of course Chuck Berry, those. So they're very influential. I just wanted to think like they were just ripping off.

[Josh Adam Myers]

But were they ripping everybody off though? When we're giving them a respect? I mean, they're not like, listen, you can, you can respect an artist and respect an art form and help it grow, but if you're, but if you, you know, you give bad deals to these guys.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah, I, Yeah, I think it, I think they were known for not great deals.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, I mean, how much did Howlin Wolf's estate? Like, like how much you think it's worth? Like I'm saying, how much Howland his net worth. It's not specific. There's not an available source.

[Wayne Fetterman]

You know, this is another interesting thing about Howlin Wolf that was that he, he was a very stand up guy in that he paid as all his players gave them paid unemployment insurance, so when they weren't working they could collect unemployment, which is something almost no band bleeder did back then.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Wow.

[Wayne Fetterman]

And he lived a very. You know, he could have been driving, like, Caddies and that stuff around town, but he drove a Pontiac his whole life. And he was very. A store. That's not the right word. He was very frugal guy, not showy, and just loved playing that music right till he died, you know, and they. His doctors were like, please stop. And he's like, I can't stop. Like, it's like what you said earlier. Like, they just go until they drop.

[Josh Adam Myers]

It says that we're talking about Hubert. Hubert Sumlin.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah, yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Jagger and Keith Richards. Hubert. Yeah, yeah. Hubert Sumlin, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards offered to pay the bill for his funeral when he died in 1980.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

So.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. Man says he died. No, no, he died at the age of 80. I'm sorry. Died the age of 80. Yeah. That means Kenny Wayne Shepard played with him and he was. He was Negative three.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, really? Yeah, I. You know, you asked a great question of all the questions, there was just one great one and that was what was the. Why isn't Hubert in the Rock and Roll hall of Fame name? And I think it's because he was a. Just part of. It would be part of Howlin Wolf's universe, that's all. His name wasn't on the poster. It was Howlin Wolf. And that's what people went to see. And he was crucial to his sound. Once he gave up the pick.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Once he gave up the pick. Yeah, that pick, dude. So who's it. So if. If. If Hubert is. If Hubert is that to Howlin Wolf? Who. Who is. So that's. He's the Keith Richards to Mick Jagger or is he?

[Wayne Fetterman]

Right.

[Josh Adam Myers]

You know. Yeah, he's the.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Well, again, Slash to Axel, right? Is Slash gonna be alone in the Rock and Roll hall of Fame? No, but he's. But that was a band. That's a good question. Question. That's a good question. Like, like, in other words, all of those bands, all of the members of it, it's just Howling Wolf's bands change so many members. But maybe. Maybe he should get in. There he is in the Blues hall of Fame, right?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. Oh, let me double check. The. And the. The. Who's the guy I was thinking of? My Lord. Who's the guy who's just. No, no, like, because it's like, it's the way that you think of. Because you can't. Because Guns N Roses is Guns N Roses, the base fan. So they're all, in a sense, equal under the name.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Oh, I have one. I have one for you. I have one. I think the Steve Stevens who played with White Wedding. What is that guy's name?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Billy Idol. Yeah.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Played with Billy. It was Billy Idol's guitar player. Is he in the Rock and Roll hall of Fame? Because he's like the main guitar player who did all of that stuff. This might be a good example because.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Because Steve Stevens is nominated in 2025 this year. Nominated alongside Billy Idol. Billy Idol. But okay.

[Wayne Fetterman]

They did it as a team.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yes.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah. I don't know. I. I just don't think they care enough. Maybe they do.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I was gonna say. I was gonna say the way maybe like the way that Randy Rhodes played with Ozzy Osbourne horn. And even though it was, like, only for a couple records or I think it was maybe even one.

[Wayne Fetterman]

But he had the best thing, right?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, he was the guy. And like.

[Wayne Fetterman]

So, you know, what was that big hit they had?

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, I Walk Alone. That Simon that's in that crazy train.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah, that's a crazy Blizzard of Oz.

[Josh Adam Myers]

He was inducted. Randy Rhodes was inducted in 2021 1. It doesn't say with, you know, because Ozzy got in. Well, when did Ozzy get in?

[Wayne Fetterman]

Well, I'm sure Black Sabbath got in.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Black Sabbath got in. And Black Sabbath got in in 26. Oh, no. 2026. 2006. And Ozzy got in as a solo artist in 2024.

[Wayne Fetterman]

And that's when Randy.

[Josh Adam Myers]

No, Randy got in in 2021 one. So Randy got in. You know, we had. Very interesting.

[Wayne Fetterman]

They do have the side guy guitar.

[Josh Adam Myers]

So what? So, like, so. So to start wrapping this up, like.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah, yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

If we've got a. You know, I think we got an episode out of this. I think we did pretty.

[Wayne Fetterman]

No question. No question. It's the funny thing about this record is, like, some of his biggest hits aren't on this record, even though it is a compilation album. So, like, Red Rooster isn't on there and that. You saw Clapton do Red Rooster when you went to see Clapton in that show you hated. Right. Remember that? Clapton more.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I. He didn't. He didn't do. I mean, am I looking for. What is the song I loved off of. What is it Something Florida? What is that song? Song? The Clapton. Hold on. Wait. And you're from Florida.

[Wayne Fetterman]

No, I know. I know all of Clapton songs. Wait, Florida.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Mainline Florida. That was. That's a top. That's probably. That's in my top five songs I discovered from doing this podcast.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Oh, really?

[Josh Adam Myers]

You want to know what number One is.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah, let's hear it.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Look Out Joe by Neil Young.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Oh.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Oh, dude, that song rules. And it. But it. But the thing is I. I need. I need Neil Young to redo the song and do the chorus. Chorus back to back twice. Every time it's not enough. Does that make sense?

[Wayne Fetterman]

Like, I want more momentum. Does gets cut. I have to.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I. Dude, I think I listened to that song. Oh. The first time I heard it over and over and over. I mean, at least 100 to 200 times in a row. Because I wanted more of that chorus. Dude, look out Joe gonna go all times. I want that part again twice. But he only does it once. Mainline Florida. I remember that stopped me in my track and guest of that episode. Not Joe Bonamassa. The other guy. Who's the other guy? Joe Satriani.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Oh, wow.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah, we had Joe Satriani early on in the podcast. So. Yeah. So, Wayne, wrap this up. Get, get. Tell us the meat and potatoes.

[Wayne Fetterman]

What do we think? This is the thing it's. We've talked about it in this entire podcast, both myself and the other ones, Wayne, is that this is a blues Chicago blues icon, Howlin Wolf, that influenced mainly a lot of English blues players. Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin. Clapped in particular those guys. And. And so their music was reflected back and then became this huge movie movement. But he is a key figure in Chicago blues. And one of these guys who came up from the Mississippi Delta, learned from early blues guys down there in Mississippi and in Arkansas, came up to Memphis, recorded, believe it or not, Sun Studios, which wasn't even called Sun Studios back then, discovered, like by Ike Turner and these records went to Chicago, became very popular. And then he had this incredible career along with Hubert, his guitar player and just important figure in the history if you like rock and roll, if you like Led Zeppelin or the Rolling Stones or if you like the song Red Rooster, you're gonna love this guy by Howlin Wolf. And unlike BB King, he's mainly known for his vocals. He's like Bobby Blue Bland. He's mainly known for his. His vocals.

[Josh Adam Myers]

So is Howlin Wolf the most famous blues singer?

[Wayne Fetterman]

He's. That's a good question. He's got to be one of that era. Definitely, definitely. He's always on the top of that because if you think about Bo Diddley and the other channel, best recording artists, Chuck Berry, those guys are like, they're making teenage music for, you know, for the Ed Sullivan show, you know, Chuck Berry is doing nobody, you know, up in the morning and out the skies, doing Teenage music. That was not what Howlin Wolf was doing. He was talking about brutal getting somebody trying to serve him gasoline instead of a drink because they wanted to kill him. Like, it was. It was bad.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

It was.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Was intense, intense, intense. So, yeah, thrilled to be part of this. I said, yeah, thrilled to be part of anything. Allen Wolf. And by the way, on a side note, I had never heard of how and Wolf when I was a kid. Like, I heard of Led Zeppelin, Cream, all of those, before I had heard of him. But it wasn't until that 1971 album where he went over to England and they recorded basically with the Rolling Stones. Side note, Ringo is on one of those tracks. Yeah. And so that's when I first heard the name. I was like, oh, who is this guy? And that album is incredible. Incredible. Like, they do just great versions.

[Josh Adam Myers]

What's it called? What should we. Because I want to listen to it.

[Wayne Fetterman]

I think it's called the London Sessions, 1971. So see if you can find out what it's called. I would recommend that album. I know that sounds sacrilegious just to say over these original recordings, but for my ears, they're just. It's incredible.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Yeah. The London Sessions came out in 71 on chess records and on Rolling Stone Records. This is setting a blues master among famous musicians from the second generation of rock and roll, in this case, Clapton, Wynwood, Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman. Backstage at the Fillmore after a concert by Paul Butterfield, Blues Bland, Blues Bland Band, Electric Fagging Flag, Different Band and Cream, Chess record staff producer Norman Dayron spotted the guitar players of the latter two bands, Bloomfield and Clapton, talking and joking around, approached Clapton and said, how would you like to do an album with Howlin Wolf? And after confirming the offer was legitimate, he agreed. And there you go.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Go. They jumped on it. They jumped on the chance to play. And also, if you're listening and you want to know about how and Wolf, check out that clip from Shindig where he does Little Red Rooster and literally Mick Jagger, Keith Richards are sitting on the stage looking, pull it up, Ryan.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Pull it up, pull it up. That's how we end this. Pull it up. And then what are we looking for again?

[Wayne Fetterman]

It's called Shinde, Rolling Stones, Howlin Wolf. Yeah, it's. It's incredible moment. And you know that Go Go dancers on that show, and the Go Go dancers are just sitting in their chairs doing this to this blues guy. It's wild. It is a wild. A moment. Wild convergence of. I don't know why I'm yelling. It's a wild convergence. You're excited and Rob. And that's how it all started.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Brian, you got it.

[Wayne Fetterman]

I don't even think he's there.

[Josh Adam Myers]

He's there. He's there. He's not going anywhere. Rock and daddy. Poor boy, what a woman. I ain't superstitious.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Oh, yeah. That was Jeff. That was Jeff Beck. That's another one of those. I think that's a Willie Dixon tune.

[Josh Adam Myers]

You gotta it?

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

Yeah, I got it.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Play it. Play. Play the video for us.

[Wayne Fetterman]

All right, so. All right. Do you want me.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Hold on. No, I'm gonna. No, I'm gonna do. Oh, we're gonna end it like that. Okay, cool. I thought we were gonna comment. All right, before we go, favorite song on this record, Wayne.

[Wayne Fetterman]

I like the. The hit. I like Smokestack Lightning. It's. I know it's a boring choice, but I love. I also like that song Evil on side two.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Okay. Is there anything you skip over?

[Wayne Fetterman]

I. You know that. No, no. They're all, I don't know somebody in my home that much. The last track on it, but it's really. All Night Boogie is good. The early ones are great. My second favorite track, may I say that instead of the one I skip over, please, is how many more years? Because that is really. Because that's up Temple. It's incredible. And then Led Zeppelin completely rips them off. Rips them off for that. Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Can you. Can you make out with a girl to this?

[Wayne Fetterman]

Oh, yeah. I mean, to evil or to moaning Admit. I mean. Yeah, of course.

[Josh Adam Myers]

And on the. And on the. The London sessions, you can. You can. You can really slip it in during Wang Dang Doodle.

[Wayne Fetterman]

I think you're gonna love the album. I think you're gonna love the. Again, I know it's not the original recording to. It's British guys going, yes, we will record with How. And Wolf, you tell us where. We will be there and again. On one of those tracks or two of them, Ringo sits in on drums.

[Josh Adam Myers]

So is that. Yeah, because Wyman and Charlie Watts were unavailable for the first day.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Oh, is that what it is? Okay. Yeah.

[Josh Adam Myers]

So. So. So on Rock and Daddy and Rock and Daddy. No, no, Rock and Daddy's got Charlie Watson. I. I ain't Superstition. You've got Klaus Vorman.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Yeah, he was a very influential with the Beatles. The German guy also played bass in the concert for Bangladesh. Great bass player.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Playing drums. Yeah.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Richie. Richie. But I think you'll like that. Check out that album. Check out.

[Josh Adam Myers]

I'M gonna listen to it as soon as we're done after I do the intro. All right, and how do you sum this up? I feel like you've already done it, but just.

[Wayne Fetterman]

I've found it up. I mean, you've done it.

[Josh Adam Myers]

You summed it. All right, play the thing and we'll get out of here. Wayne, always a pledge. I'll see you at Master Fleece Theater, everybody. Kenny Wayne, we love you. We apologize for the issues.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Double Wayne.

[Josh Adam Myers]

It was a Double Wayne. Double Wayne bow. What did I tell you? When I tell you the one and only Kenny Wayne Shepard and Wayne Federem. Follow him on Instagram at Kenny Wayne Shepherd. Kenny Wayne Shepherd.net and on YouTube. Kenny W. Shepard. Shepard Federman Insta Fetterman on Instagram and Wayne Fetterman on Twitter, Facebook. But Kenny Wayne is on tour throughout Europe in July and back in the States in August. So go to his website for more info and buy his latest record he released with Bobby Rush called Young Fashion. Ways out right now. So for new music, since we just listened to Howlin Wolf From 19, our new music pick this week brought you in part by distrokid is Uncle Esau by our guest Kenny Wayne Shepard in collaboration with Bobby Rush. And you can find links to the music on our website, the500podcast.com and if you were in a band and were directly influenced by one of these albums, artists, you want your music featured on the 500 website. Send your song to 500podcast gmail.com and make sure you put the album and artist and influence you in the subject line. Next week it's Tribe called Quest, Low end theory from 91 at 150. It's a great record, guys. So do yo homie work homie work sound do your homies sound real sexual? We'll see you later, guys. Me the hound, you know the hound bomb and the billy goat jumping.

[Wayne Fetterman]

He.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

Was so outdone he didn't know what to do well get tired of what.

[Wayne Fetterman]

The.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

Sam.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Uncle Esau had a nanny goat tied him up but the rope broke Ran the town.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

All day long.

[Josh Adam Myers]

He run around play so hard and you know what to do Grab it hard start to playing the blues he.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

Went.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Sam.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Arkansas Craig is tired like a crossau.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Every night when the sun.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

Go down you can hear pray went.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Cross town he plays so good people throwing money he kept on playing the money kept coming ease off Every Saturday night the hambone, the hambone.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Just like.

[Josh Adam Myers]

This.

[Wayne Fetterman]

Oh, there you go.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

Look at it, look at it, look at it.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Got his shoes on his head, hat on his feet are these are.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

Dragon wine.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Hide the cap of these all.

[Wayne Fetterman]

The.

[Josh Adam Myers]

500 keeping it flee.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

For the fleece.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Nation.

[Kenny Wayne Shepherd]

On the 500 the 500.

[Josh Adam Myers]

Hey folks. So here at the 500, we want to create the best overall listening experience. And even though we've been at this for almost seven years now, we know there's still some things we could be doing better. That's why we would appreciate your feedback about the show so we can learn more about you guys, my beloved fleece army and what your indu. That way we can provide the best experience for our audience and sponsors who support the show. So please go to theshowsurvey.com 500 to take a very short anonymous survey. It would really help the pod and as our way of saying thanks, survey participants will be entered into a drawing to win a hundred dollar Amazon gift certificate. Again, that's the showsurvey.com 500 for the quick survey to help the show. Each week we'll select a winner for participating. As always, thank you for listening and stay fleecy. Next Chapter Podcast.