INDUCTED into the Blues Hall of Fame last year, John Primer joins names like the Reverend Gary Davis, Willie Johnson and the man whose band he once played in, the great Muddy Waters.
More than 40 years after appearing in Jersey at Fort Regent in the Muddy Waters Band, the Mississippi-born guitarist is returning to the Island this week to give three very different concerts with Jersey bluesman and promoter Giles Robson.
“John’s history is really quite something,” Mr Robson said. “He picked cotton with his family and then he moved to Chicago, where he learned his craft on Maxwell Street which is the famous market street where all the musicians started out.
“And then he became part of the house band at Theresa’s Lounge, which was a small 45-to-50 capacity blues club – the most famous club in the 70s in Chicago and a kind of laboratory where all of the giants went to play when they were in the city.”
Subsequently bandleader and lead guitarist for Junior Wells and Sammy Lawhorn, Willie Dixon, Magic Slim and The Teardrops, Mr Primer’s virtuosity as a blues musician was forged by the Blues greats of his generation, but he was perhaps best known for his connection with Muddy Waters.
“He ended up as the last guitar player in Muddy Waters’ band, and if you go on YouTube you can see lots of videos of them together. Muddy really loved John’s playing and you can see him in one video applauding his solo, so he’s a really great player,” Mr Robson added.
His own connection with Mr Primer goes back to 2022, when he was booking a tour for Chicago Blues legends and signed the guitarist up to fill one of the available slots in what turned out to be a particularly happy move.
“John and I – both musically and personally – really hit it off instantly.
“I did the opening set for a show in Skegness and, from then on, he really fell in love with what I was doing, my singing and my playing. He said to an audience: ‘When Giles and me play the blues, we put hot sauce on it so you can feel it’, which I took as a tremendous compliment. Ever since then, we’ve been very tight.
“It’s been a real musical bond, which is quite amazing because we come from such different backgrounds and generations,” he explained.
In Jersey this week the two musicians are appearing in three concerts together – a dinner concert at Sumas restaurant on Wednesday[25 Sept], an intimate concert at the Porter’s Store the following evening and a third concert in the larger setting of the Pomme d’Or’s Golden Apple Suite on Friday.
“These duo shows are going to be really wonderful because they really unleash him – you know, you can hear everything, both the guitar mastery and the singing, and then we link up together and play some really great intimate music. And John’s also got stories about his time on the road, so it will be really magical,” Mr Robson said.
Tickets for the three performances are available online from Eventbrite.
