"Chicago" Bob Nelson (July 4, 1944 – January 17, 2013) was an American

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

musician. "Chicago" Bob Nelson was a harmonica player and singer who is known for amalgamating Louisiana and Chicago blues styles. He was singular in being mentored by traditional rural southern blues harmonica practitioners and melding their approach with urban Chicago playing, thus creating his own distinctive sound.

Life and career

Robert Lee Nelson was born in

Bogalusa, Louisiana Bogalusa is a city in Washington Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 12,232 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. In th2020 censusthe city, town, place equivalent reported a population of 10,659. It is the principal city ...

, United States. His was a musical family. Bob's father, Versie Nelson, played upright bass and harmonica. From an early age Bob accompanied Versie to house parties, backyard barbecues and Saturday night fish fries around Bogalusa where

cajun The Cajuns (; French: ''les Cadjins'' or ''les Cadiens'' ), also known as Louisiana ''Acadians'' (French: ''les Acadiens''), are a Louisiana French ethnicity mainly found in the U.S. state of Louisiana. While Cajuns are usually described as ...

music,

zydeco Zydeco ( or , french: Zarico) is a music genre that evolved in southwest Louisiana by French Creole speakers which blends blues, rhythm and blues, and music indigenous to the Louisiana Creoles and the Native American people of Louisiana. Al ...

and

were performed. Nelson recalled, "It was just people eating, jamming and having a good time!" Nelson began playing the harmonica at the age of eight. As a youngster he was encouraged and instructed by Versie's musical cohorts, Louisiana blues musicians (and Excello recording artists)

Slim Harpo Slim Harpo (born James Isaac Moore; January 11, 1924 – January 31, 1970) was an American blues musician, a leading exponent of the swamp blues style, and "one of the most commercially successful blues artists of his day". He played guitar and w ...

and

Lazy Lester Leslie Johnson (June 20, 1933 – August 22, 2018), better known as Lazy Lester, was an American blues musician who sang and played the harmonica and guitar. In a career spanning the 1950s to 2018, he pioneered swamp blues, and also played ha ...

. Nelson credited Harpo, Lester,

Sonny Boy Williamson II Alex or Aleck Miller (originally Ford, possibly December 5, 1912 – May 24, 1965), known later in his career as Sonny Boy Williamson, was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter. He was an early and influential blues harp st ...

and

Jimmy Reed Mathis James Reed (September 6, 1925 – August 29, 1976) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His particular style of electric blues was popular with blues as well as non-blues audiences. Reed's songs such as "Honest I Do" (1957), " ...

(all of whom he knew) as his primary influences, as well as

Sonny Boy Williamson I John Lee Curtis "Sonny Boy" Williamson (March 30, 1914 – June 1, 1948) was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter. He is often regarded as the pioneer of the blues harp as a solo instrument. He played on hundreds of rec ...

whose recordings he studied. Through listening to these artists, Nelson learned to use his instrument as a "second voice" to interpret and elucidate the emotion and themes of a song. Trips to Chicago to visit family were a major part of Nelson's childhood. By the early 1960s he had taken up residence in Chicago. There he met and performed with

Howlin' Wolf Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910January 10, 1976), better known by his stage name Howlin' Wolf, was an American blues singer and guitarist. He is regarded as one of the most influential blues musicians of all time. Over a four-decade care ...

Buddy Guy George "Buddy" Guy (born July 30, 1936) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He is an exponent of Chicago blues who has influenced generations of guitarists including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Stevie Ray V ...

Junior Wells Junior Wells (born Amos Wells Blakemore Jr., December 9, 1934January 15, 1998) was an American singer, harmonica player, and recording artist. He is best known for his signature song "Messin' with the Kid" and his 1965 album ''Hoodoo Man Blues'' ...

Earl Hooker Earl Zebedee Hooker (January 15, 1930 – April 21, 1970) was a Chicago blues guitarist known for his slide guitar playing. Considered a "musician's musician", he performed with blues artists such as Sonny Boy Williamson II, Junior Wells, and ...

and

Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 April 30, 1983), known professionally as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer and musician who was an important figure in the post-war blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago b ...

. The latter, having run into Nelson at nearly every blues venue in Chicago, bestowed upon him the moniker that continues to identify him today. Nelson later performed with Muddy Waters at the

Newport Folk Festival Newport Folk Festival is an annual American folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959 as a counterpart to the Newport Jazz Festival. It was one of the first modern music festivals in America, and remains a foca ...

. Throughout his career Nelson toured with

Luther "Georgia Boy" Johnson Luther Johnson (born Lucious Brinson, August 30, 1934 ...

Tinsley Ellis Tinsley Ellis (born June 4, 1957) is an American blues and rock musician, who was born in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, and grew up in South Florida. According to ''Billboard'', "nobody has released more consistently excellent blues albums ...

and

John Lee Hooker John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1912 or 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. The son of a sharecropper, he rose to prominence performing an electric guitar-style adaptation of Delta blues. Hooker often ...

. Nelson died on January 17, 2013.

Discography

*''The Heart Fixers'' – (with

and the Heart Fixers) Southland Records *''Live at the Moonshadow'' – (with Tinsley Ellis and the Heart Fixers) Landslide Records *''Just Your Fool'' (1988) –

HMG HMG may refer to: Businesses and organisations * His Majesty's Government (term), a Commonwealth state's executive **Government of Canada **Government of Gibraltar **Government of New Zealand **Government of the United Kingdom * Holland Media Groe ...

*''Comin' Back Strong'' – Erwin Music *''Hit and Run Lover'' (1992) – King Snake Records *''Back to Bogalusa'' (1996) – King Snake Records *''Keep What I Got'' (1993) – Planisphare *''Flyin' Too High'' (2006 compilation) – 95 North Records

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Bob 1944 births 2013 deaths People from Bogalusa, Louisiana American blues harmonica players American blues singers American male singers Blues musicians from Louisiana Songwriters from Louisiana Singers from Louisiana American male songwriters

Life and career

Discography

See also

References