Billy Flynn (born August 11, 1956)
is an American
Chicago blues
Chicago blues is a form of blues music developed in Chicago, Illinois. It is based on earlier blues idioms, such as Delta blues, but performed in an urban style. It developed alongside the Great Migration of the first half of the twentieth cent ...
and
electric blues
Electric blues refers to any type of blues music distinguished by the use of electric amplification for musical instruments. The guitar was the first instrument to be popularly amplified and used by early pioneers T-Bone Walker in the late 1930 ...
guitarist, singer and songwriter.
In addition to his own work and works mentioned later, he has worked and recorded with
Bryan Lee,
Little Smokey Smothers,
Mark Hummel
Mark Hummel (born December 15, 1955) is an American blues harmonica player, vocalist, songwriter, and long-time bandleader of the Blues Survivors. Since 1991, Hummel has produced the Blues Harmonica Blowout tour, of which he is also a featured p ...
,
Willie Kent,
Snooky Pryor
James Edward "Snooky" Pryor (September 15, 1919 or 1921 – October 18, 2006) was an American Chicago blues harmonica player. He claimed to have pioneered the now-common method of playing amplified harmonica by cupping a small microphone in his ...
,
Big Bill Morganfield
William "Big Bill" Morganfield (born June 19, 1956) is an American blues singer and guitarist, who is the son of legendary McKinley Morganfield, also known as Muddy Waters.
Biography
Morganfield was born in Chicago, Illinois. He had little con ...
,
John Brim
John Charles Brim (April 10, 1922 – October 1, 2003) was an American Chicago blues guitarist, songwriter, and singer. He wrote and recorded the song "Ice Cream Man" which was later covered by the rock band Van Halen for their first album, and ...
,
Jody Williams
Jody Williams (born October 9, 1950) is an American political activist known for her work in banning anti-personnel landmines, her defense of human rights (especially those of women), and her efforts to promote new understandings of security i ...
,
Little Arthur Duncan,
Deitra Farr
Deitra Farr (born August 1, 1957) is an American blues, soul and gospel singer-songwriter.
Life and career
She was born in Chicago, Illinois, United States, and Farr began singing in the mid-1970s with various soul bands. Deitra graduated fr ...
, and
Billy Boy Arnold
William "Billy Boy" Arnold (born September 16, 1935, Chicago, Illinois) AllMusic biography">AllMusic.html" ;"title="AllMusic">AllMusic biography/ref> is an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter. Arnold is a self-taught harmonica p ...
.
Biography
Flynn was born in
Green Bay, Wisconsin.
In 1970, a local blues
club
Club may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Club'' (magazine)
* Club, a '' Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character
* Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards
* Club music
* "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea''
Brands and enterprises ...
opened and Flynn was inspired by the music provided there by
Luther Allison
Luther Allison (August 17, 1939 – August 12, 1997) was an American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist. He was born in Widener, Arkansas, although some accounts suggest his actual place of birth was Mayflower, Arkansas. Allison was intereste ...
,
Johnny Littlejohn
John Wesley Funchess (April 16, 1931 – February 1, 1994) known professionally as John (or Johnny) Littlejohn, was an American electric blues slide guitarist. He was active on the Chicago blues circuit from the 1950s to the 1980s.
Biography ...
and
Mighty Joe Young. Flynn was fortunate to be spotted playing outside the venue by
Jimmy Dawkins
James Henry “Jimmy” Dawkins (October 24, 1936 – April 10, 2013) was an American Chicago blues and electric blues guitarist and singer. He is generally considered to have been a practitioner of the "West Side sound" of Chicago blues.
Caree ...
, who arranged for Flynn to play with him on stage.
Flynn joined Dawkins's backing band in 1975, and he played and toured with them until the end of the decade.
Flynn also worked locally during this period and played alongside
Sunnyland Slim
Albert Luandrew (September 5, 1906March 17, 1995), "Blues pianist and singer Sunnyland Slim was born Albert Luandrew in Vance, Mississippi, September 5, 1906 (most sources say 1907, but the Social Security Death Index and 1920 census data give t ...
. In the early part of the 1980s, Flynn was a member of the touring ensemble Jim Liban and the Futuramics.
In the late 1980s, he joined the
Legendary Blues Band. He also played with
Mississippi Heat
Mississippi Heat is an American blues band based in Chicago, led by harmonica player Pierre Lacocque. Formed in 1991, the band has toured in the United States, Canada, and Europe, with occasional performances in South America and North Africa.
M ...
.
Willie "Big Eyes" Smith
Willie Lee "Big Eyes" Smith (January 19, 1936 – September 16, 2011) was an American electric blues vocalist, harmonica player, and drummer. He was best known for several stints with the Muddy Waters band beginning in the early 1960s.
Biograp ...
's 2008 album, ''Born in Arkansas'', utilized Flynn, plus bassist
Bob Stroger
Bob Stroger (born December 27, 1930) is an American electric blues bass guitarist, singer and songwriter. He has worked with many blues musicians, including Eddie King, Otis Rush, Jimmy Rogers, Eddie Taylor, Eddy Clearwater, Sunnyland Slim, Lo ...
, pianist
Barrelhouse Chuck, Little Frank Krakowski and Smith's son, drummer Kenny "Beedy Eyes" Smith.
In August 2010, Flynn and
Kid Ramos
Kid Ramos (born January 13, 1959) is an American electric blues and blues rock guitarist, singer and songwriter. Ramos has released four solo albums since 1995 on Black Top and Evidence Records. He has worked with James Harman, Roomful of B ...
backed
Kim Wilson
Kim Wilson (born January 6, 1951) is an American blues singer and harmonica player. He is best known as the lead vocalist and frontman for the Fabulous Thunderbirds on two hit songs of the 1980s, " Tuff Enuff" (which was the group's only Top 40 ...
at the
Edmonton's Labatt Blues Festival
The Edmonton Blues Festival (formerly Edmonton's Labatt Blues Festival) is an annual blues music festival in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, which was first held in 1999. The festival runs for three days (a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) in mid-August a ...
.
Discography
Solo albums
See also
*
List of blues mandolinists
*
List of Chicago blues musicians
Chicago blues is a form of blues music developed in Chicago, Illinois, in the 1950s, in which the basic instrumentation of Delta blues—acoustic guitar and harmonica—is augmented with electric guitar, amplified bass guitar, drums, piano, harmo ...
*
List of electric blues musicians
References
External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flynn, Billy
1956 births
Living people
American blues singers
American male singers
American blues guitarists
American male guitarists
Chicago blues musicians
Electric blues musicians
American blues mandolinists
Singers from Wisconsin
Songwriters from Wisconsin
Musicians from Green Bay, Wisconsin
Songwriters from Illinois
Guitarists from Illinois
Guitarists from Wisconsin
20th-century American guitarists
20th-century American male musicians
American male songwriters
The Legendary Blues Band members