Founding Father: Howlin' Wolf

Beginning in the late 1950s, British kids discovered American blues. The results of their discoveries are still audible today in the early recordings of some of Britain's most influential rock bands: the Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds, the Animals, Led Zeppelin, Cream. We've already discussed bluesman Muddy Waters as one of rock's Founding Fathers -- now meet another one: Howlin' Wolf.

Few men ever had a nickname that fit them better: Howlin' Wolf (born Chester Burnett) was six-foot-six and weighed nearly 300 pounds, and his voice was a powerful roar that still demands attention. Born in east Mississippi in 1910, he served in the military during World War II. Afterward, he became a popular local celebrity playing around Memphis. After scoring a hit record in 1951 with How Many More Years, he joined the great migration to Chicago, home of Chess Records, the label that issued his hit. There he formed a band with guitarist Hubert Sumlin, and also worked frequently with Willie Dixon, who wrote several blues classics that were first recorded by Wolf: Little Red Rooster, Spoonful and I Ain't Superstitious. Wolf's most famous recording is probably a song he wrote himself, Smokestack Lightning, most famously covered by the Yardbirds, but also recorded by people ranging from Lynyrd Skynyrd to Bob Dylan to Soundgarden, and featuring one of the classic riffs of all time. One of Wolf's early hits, I Asked for Water from 1956, contains one of the greatest lyric lines in the history of the blues. It begins, "I asked her for water/She brought me gasoline."

Just as they revered Muddy Waters, British rockers of the '60s revered Howlin' Wolf. And just as they had done with Muddy Waters, they invited Wolf to record with them. The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions, released in 1971, features Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman and Ringo Starr (credited under the name "Richie"), along with Sumlin. Clapton has criticized the album in succeeding years; Wolf was ill during its recording, and it's not especially well respected among blues fans. Nevertheless, the fact that it exists in the first place, and the star-studded lineup of players on it, both indicate Wolf's importance.

Wolf didn't learn to read or write until he was in his 40s, after he'd begun his recording career. He eventually learned, though, and became successful enough (and savvy enough) to pay his musicians extremely well and keep them working for him over long years. Sumlin remained in his band from the early '50s until Wolf's death in early 1976. Wolf is buried in suburban Chicago; Clapton bought his headstone. Sun Records founder Sam Phillips said of him, "When I heard Howlin' Wolf, I said, 'This is for me. This is where the soul of man never dies.'"