Little Walter Emulators (was Re: Country Harp)

[Joe.Lempkowski@xxxxxxxxxxx (Joe Lempkowski)]

Since Karl made mention (and light) of Little Walter emulators. :-( 
I thought I would tell a short story about a person that sort of cloned 
Little Walter,  Little Willie Anderson.  

In the 80's, the BOB label initially issued two albums (one by Big Leon Brooks 
and Little Willie Anderson,  both recently re-issued on Earwig).  They both 
were billed as harp players in the Little Walter vain so I broke down and 
purchased both of the LPs.  

Reading the liner notes on the Little Willie Anderson LP was kind of 
interesting.  Willie was about the same physical size as Walter and 
would occasionally substitute on gigs when Walter was too messed up to
play or couldn't make it for other reasons.  After reading the notes,
I eagerly opened the LP and put it on my turntable.  I received something
totally different than what was advertised.  I expected that Willie's playing
would be a lot like some of Walter's instrumentals,  instead he had more of a 
raw tone,  but some of his phrasing and tone I found to be very interesting.
The more I listened to this LP,  the more I liked it. 

Later that year at BLUES which held yearly tributes on the anniversary of 
Big Walter Horton's death.  Many harp players showed up.  Little Willie 
Anderson,  Carey Bell,  Billy Branch,  Jewtown Burks (a favorite of many 
harp-l'ers :-)) and many others.  According to some friends, Willie Anderson 
played a couple of tunes and was really hot.  The audience really popped 
for him.  Unfortunately,  I missed the entire set. 

Also at that time,  BLUES used to feature continuous music on Thursdays.
On one such Thursday,  they featured Little Willie Anderson with the Aces
(Louis and Dave Myers and Fred Below) and Little Arthur Duncan and the 
Backscratchers.  I walked in during the first Willie Anderson set.  This 
guy looked and sounded a lot like Little Walter with one of the hottest 
bands backing him.  He was sitting on a silver faced Fender Super Reverb 
and playing through a Shure SM58.  He was also singing through the amplifier.  
(Unfortunately,  he was not blessed with a great singing voice.)  He really 
rocked the house. There were more a few harp players sitting in the audience.  
During his break,  I stopped to talk with him.  He seemed like a pretty nice 
guy.  He autographed quite a few albums and sold a few more.  He almost seemed
a bit puzzled by the amount of attention he received that night.  I learned a 
lot of things watching Willie play that night.  

He never gigged around Chicago a whole lot.  Every once in a while he would 
come into BLUES on Sundays and sit in with Sunnyland Slim.  I think he could 
have done pretty well in the clubs,  but he usually seemed to enjoy playing 
a couple of songs and leaving with the people in the audience wanting more.

Cheers,

Joe 

P.S.  BTW, Little Arthur Duncan and the Backscratchers were also very good.
Little Arthur did an awesome version of Forty-Four Blues that still sends
chills up my spine.  He is regularly featured at the Artesia Lounge on the 
west side of Chicago,  which I believe he owns.