Re: [Harp-L] Howling Wolf

[Joe and Cass Leone <leone@xxxxxxxx>]

On Dec 10, 2004, at 7:40 PM, Winslow Yerxa wrote:
> The Wolf was a powerful and tasty, though simple, harp player. he
> learned to play from his brother in law, Sonny Boy II.

 Yeah, I thought his playing was very appropos for his material. Never 
overwhelming, never too sparse. Like the porridge, it was just right.
> As to his voice, he had at least three dramatically different vocal
> sounds in addition to his wolf howl, all of which which he used to
> great effect. There was the pinched, nasal sound, the hollow sound
> that seemed to be coming out an airshaft, and the flat out gravelly
> belt. Listen to his recordings of "Evil" and "How Many More Years"
> for a demonstration.

 I preferred both the "hollow" sound (where he sounded like he was 
singing down into a metal waste paper basket), and the nasal sound 
(where he sounded like Vaughn Monroe in pain). The gravel sound was a 
little too much for me and I always wondered if it was HE that "Wolf 
Man Jack" copied from.
> In his day he was as big as Muddy Waters and they had a rivalry going.

 Yes, what little I DID recall about them, I would say that they were 
about equal in rep at the time, but like I said, I wasn't a big 
follower. I had heard a lot of those old guys live, but not Chester 
Burnett nor Muddy Waters
> Do you know what network that's on? The channel numbers in my area
> are probably different.

 Comcast cable. Those channels are in an ENCORE add on package (# 
150-171). I believe the network was "Sundance", or it could have been  
"Encore TRUE stories (east)". At any rate, these channels keep 
switching stuff around and what was on one channel one week can be on 
another the following week or month. The other night had Eric Clapton 
with an Indian orchestra (coming FROM India).
> Winslow