- Format: MP3
Japan 24-Bit Remaster
When it came to recording an album as a leader, Arkansas native turned Chicago session guitarist Robert Lockwood, Jr. was definitely a late bloomer. Lockwood was first recorded as a sideman in 1941, but not until he was 55 did he record his first album as a leader, with 1970s Steady Rollin' Man (although he had provided a few singles here and there in the '40s and '50s). So why the delay? It came down to the fact that Lockwood had been so busy as a sideman: names like Sonny Boy Williamson, Little Walter and Otis Spann look very good on a résumé when you're a blues guitarist. But on Steady Rollin' Man, Lockwood is both a singer and a guitarist (Louis Myers helps with the guitar playing), and he sings on all of the tracks except for a few instrumentals. Steady Rollin' Man generally reflects Lockwood's many years of playing on electric Chicago blues sessions, and yet, his appreciation of Mississippi Delta blues icon Robert Johnson also comes through on this album (which ranges from Lockwood's own material to versions of Curtis Jones' "Blues and Trouble" and Joe Liggins' "Tanya"). This is a disc that, despite its electric orientation, is well aware of the subtlety of acoustic country-blues, and Lockwood's performances are fairly laid-back. Steady Rollin' Man (which Delmark reissued on CD in 2007) rocks, although it doesn't rock nearly as aggressively as the Chicago-style performances that Muddy Waters and Buddy Guy (just to give two examples) were offering in 1970. Nonetheless, Lockwood's emotional power comes through on an enjoyable outing that sounds like it was recorded in the big city but demonstrates that he never forgot about the blues of the rural South.
Robert Lockwood, Jr., also known as Robert Junior Lockwood, (March 27, 1915 – November 21, 2006) was an American blues guitarist who recorded for Chess Records among other Chicago labels in the 1950s and 1960s. He is best known as a longtime collaborator with Alec "Rice" Miller, a/k/a Sonny Boy Williamson II, and for his work in the mid 1950s with Little Walter Jacobs. An important session guitarist with many Chicago labels, especially Chess Records (w. Williamson, Jacobs, Eddie Boyd, The Moonglows, et al.), Lockwood influenced many who had no idea who the guitarist was on these tracks.
Early life
Robert Lockwood was born in Turkey Scratch, a hamlet west of Helena, Arkansas. He started playing the organ in his father's church at the age of 8. The famous bluesman Robert Johnson lived with Lockwood's mother for 10 years off and on after his parents' divorce. Lockwood learned from Johnson not only how to play guitar, but timing and stage presence as well. Because of his personal and professional association with the music of Robert Johnson, he became known as "Robert Junior" Lockwood, a nickname by which he was known among fellow musicians for the rest of his life, although he later frequently professed his dislike for this appellation.
Early career
By age 15, Lockwood was playing professionally at parties in the Helena area. He often played with his quasi-stepfather figure, Johnson, but also occasionally with Rice Miller (Sonny Boy Williamson II) or Johnny Shines. Lockwood played at fish fries, juke joints, and street corners throughout the Mississippi Delta in the 1930s. An anecdote from Lockwood's website claims that on one occasion Robert Johnson played on one side of the Sunflower River, while Lockwood played on the other, with the people of Clarksdale, Mississippi milling about the bridge, unable to tell which guitarist was the real Robert Johnson.
Lockwood played with Sonny Boy Williamson II (Rice Miller) in the Clarksdale, Mississippi area in 1938 and 1939. He also played with Howlin' Wolf and others in Memphis, Tennessee around 1938. From 1939 to 1940 he split his time playing in St. Louis, Missouri, Chicago, Illinois and Helena.
In 1941, Lockwood made his first recordings with Doctor Clayton for the Bluebird label in Aurora, Illinois. During these same sessions, he also recorded the four songs which were released as the first two singles under his own name, which were early versions of his staple repertoire. These recordings were released as 78s on Bluebird Records.
Also in 1941, Lockwood and Williamson were featured on the very first King Biscuit Time radio program on KFFA in Helena. For several years in the early 1940s the pair played together in and around Helena and continued to be associated with King Biscuit Time. From about 1944 to 1949 Lockwood played in West Memphis, Arkansas, St. Louis, Chicago and Memphis. Lockwood was an early influence of B. B. King and played with King's band during his early career in Memphis.
In 1950 Lockwood settled in Chicago and in the late '50s recorded several sessions with Williamson for Chess Records, sessions which also included Willie Dixon and Otis Spann. Lockwood also performed and/or recorded with Little Walter, Sunnyland Slim, Eddie Boyd, and Muddy Waters among others.
Later career
In 1961 Lockwood moved with his wife to her hometown of Cleveland, Ohio where he resided until his death. In the early 1960s, as "Bob Lockwood, Jr., and Combo," he had a regular gig at Loving's Grill, located at 8426 Hough Avenue. In the 1970s through the 1990s, he performed regularly with his band the "All Stars" at numerous local venues, including Pirate's Cove, The Euclid Ave. Tavern, and Peadbody's. For the last few years of his career, Lockwood played at Cleveland's Fat Fish Blue (corner of Prospect and Ontario, downtown Cleveland) every Wednesday night at 8 p.m.; the "All Stars" have continued to perform there after his death.
His Cleveland period also saw the release of some of his most noteworthy studio recordings as a band leader, first with a pair of albums playing solo and with his band of the time on the Trix Records label, and then with Johnny Shines for two LP's on the Rounder label. The latter showed both men determinedly playing the music they were interested in, rather than the familiar requests of the blues audience - an attitude Lockwood maintained.[4] Although he seldom performed without his band, he also recorded a solo album of his own material, along with a few Robert Johnson standards, under the title Plays Robert and Robert. Lockwood has dealt briskly, sometimes brusquely, with the Johnson legend. It's typical that when he gave one of his infrequent album recitals of Johnson songs, for Plays Robert and Robert (1983), he puckishly chose to use a 12-string guitar.
In 2004, Lockwood appeared at Eric Clapton's first Crossroads Guitar Festival in Dallas, Texas. A live recording with three other blues legends in Dallas October, 2004 – Last of the Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen: Live In Dallas – was awarded a Grammy for Best Traditional Blues Album. His last known recording session was carried out at Ante Up Audio studios in Cleveland; where he performed on the album The Way Things Go, with long time collaborator Cleveland Fats for Honeybee Entertainment.
Lockwood died at the age of 91 in Cleveland, having earlier suffered a cerebral aneurysm and a stroke. He is buried at Riverside Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio.