John Grimaldi (born November 5, 1952) , better known by his stage name Studebaker John is an American blues guitarist and harmonica player. He is a practitioner of the

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 ...

style, with his stage name arising from an automobile he once owned.

Biography

He was born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

, United States. Studebaker John's father was an amateur musician, and he played early in life at the Maxwell Street flea market. Grimaldi began playing harmonica at age seven. In the 1970s he put together his band, the Hawks, and worked as a

construction worker A construction worker is a worker employed in the physical construction of the built environment and its infrastructure. Definition By some definitions, workers may be engaged in manual labour as unskilled or semi-skilled workers; they may be sk ...

while recording and performing on the side. He recorded extensively for

Blind Pig Records Blind Pig Records is an American blues independent record label. Blind Pig was formed in 1977 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, by Jerry Del Giudice, owner of the Blind Pig Cafe, and his friend Edward Chmelewski. The label is now based in San Francisco. I ...

in the 1990s. Grimaldi counts

Hound Dog Taylor Theodore Roosevelt "Hound Dog" Taylor (April 12, 1915 – December 17, 1975) was a Chicago blues guitarist and singer. Life and career Taylor was born in Natchez, Mississippi, in 1915, though some sources say 1917. He first played the piano and ...

as the reason he began playing slide guitar.

Atom Egoyan Atom Egoyan (; hy, Աթոմ Եղոյեան, translit=Atom Yeghoyan; born July 19, 1960) is a Canadian filmmaker. He was part of a loosely-affiliated group of filmmakers to emerge in the 1980s from Toronto known as the Toronto New Wave. Egoyan ...

chose three of John's songs for his 1993 film '' Calendar'', and included two songs in his 1994 film ''

Exotica Exotica is a musical genre, named after the 1957 Martin Denny Exotica (Martin Denny album), album of the same name that was popular during the 1950s to mid-1960s with Americans who came of age during World War II. The term was coined by Simon Wa ...

''. In 1995, John played on Little Mack Simmons', ''High & Lonesome''

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

Discography

*''Straight No Chaser'' (Retread Records RRLP-0003, 1979) *''Rockin' The Blues '85'' (Avanti Records 603071, 1985; CD reissue: ''Double Trouble'', 1992) *''Nothin' But Fun'' (Double Trouble 3025, 1990) *''Born To Win'' (Double Trouble 3027, 1991) *''Too Tough'' (

Blind Pig A speakeasy, also called a blind pig or blind tiger, is an illicit establishment that sells alcoholic beverages, or a retro style bar that replicates aspects of historical speakeasies. Speakeasy bars came into prominence in the United States d ...

5010, 1994) *''Outside Lookin' In'' (Blind Pig 5022, 1995) *''Tremoluxe'' (Blind Pig 5031, 1996) *''Time Will Tell'' (Blind Pig 5042, 1997) *''Promise Of Love'' (Avanti PC: 800492185656 2000) *''Howl With The Wolf'' ( Evidence 26112, 2001) *''Between Life & Death'' (Avanti PC: 620673230827 2004) *''Self-Made Man'' (Avanti PC: 800492176456 2006) *''Waiting On The Sun'' (Avanti PC: 800492193583 2008) *''That's The Way You Do'' ( Delmark 810, 2010) with the Maxwell Street Kings *''Old School Rockin (Delmark 818, 2012) *''Kingsville Jukin (Delmark 830, 2013) with the Maxwell Street Kings *''Eternity's Descent'' (Avanti PC: 692193999515 2016) *''Songs for None'' (Avanti, 2017) *''The Resonator'' (Avanti, 2020)

References

External links

Studebaker John website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Studebaker John 1952 births Living people American blues guitarists American male guitarists American blues harmonica players American slide guitarists Chicago blues Guitarists from Chicago 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians Blind Pig Records artists Delmark Records artists