''The Real Folk Blues'' is a compilation album by blues musician

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 ...

, which was released by Chess Records in 1965. The album's songs, which were originally issued as singles, were recorded in Chicago between 1956 and 1965.

Reception

The

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

review stated: "In the mid-'60s, Chess Records released a great series of compilations of '40s and '50s singles by some of its best blues artists, all of them called ''The Real Folk Blues''. The Howlin' Wolf entry is possibly the best of the batch, and one of the best introductions to this mercurial electric bluesman. Opening with the savage "Killing Floor," the album doesn't let up in intensity, and it happily focuses on Wolf's less-anthologized sides, which gives the album a freshness a lot of blues compilations lack".

Track listing

All compositions credited to Chester Burnett except where noted # " Killing Floor" – 2:48 # "Louise" – 2:42 # "Poor Boy" – 2:32 # " Sittin' on Top of the World" – 2:30 # "Nature" – 2:45 # "My Country Suga Mama" – 2:34 # "Tail Dragger" ( Willie Dixon) – 2:56 # "Three Hundred Pounds of Joy" (Dixon) – 2:59 # "The Natchez Burnin'" – 2:10 # "Built for Comfort" (Dixon) – 2:30 # "Ooh Baby, Hold Me" – 2:35 # "Tell Me What I've Done" – 2:47 *Recorded in Chicago on July 19, 1956 (track 9), June 24, 1957 (track 5), December 1957 (tracks 3 & 4), September 28, 1962 (track 7), August 14, 1963 (tracks 8 & 10), August 1964 (track 1, 2 & 6) and April 15, 1965 (tracks 11 & 12)

Personnel

– vocals, harmonica, guitar * J. T. Brown (track 7, 8 & 10), Adolph 'Billy' Duncan (track 5), Arnold Rogers (tracks 1, 2 & 6),

Eddie Shaw Eddie Shaw (March 20, 1937 – January 29, 2018) was an American Chicago blues tenor saxophonist, arranger and bandleader. He led Howlin' Wolf's band, the Wolf Gang, from 1972, both before Wolf's death in 1976 and subsequently. Biography ...

(tracks 11 & 12) – tenor saxophone *Donald Hankins – baritone saxophone (tracks 8 & 10) *Lee Eggleston (tracks 11 & 12), Johnny Jones (tracks 1, 2, 6 & 7), Hosea Lee Kennard (tracks 3-5 & 9),

Lafayette Leake Lafayette Leake (June 1, 1919 – August 14, 1990) was an American blues and jazz pianist, organist, vocalist and composer who played for Chess Records as a session musician, and as a member of the Big Three Trio, during the formative years of Chic ...

(tracks 8 & 10), Otis Spann (track 9) – piano *

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 Vaugh ...

(tracks 8 & 10-12), Willie Johnson (tracks 5 & 9), Otis "Big Smokey" Smothers (tracks 5 & 9),

Hubert Sumlin Hubert Charles Sumlin (November 16, 1931 – December 4, 2011) was a Chicago blues guitarist and singer, best known for his "wrenched, shattering bursts of notes, sudden cliff-hanger silences and daring rhythmic suspensions" as a member of Howlin ...

(tracks 1-4, 6-8 & 10-12) – guitar *

Jerome Arnold Jerome Arnold (born Romeo Maurice Arnold; November 12, 1936, Chicago) is an American bassist, known for his work with Howlin' Wolf, and The Paul Butterfield Blues Band in the 1960s. As an original member of the Butterfield band, he was subsequent ...

(track 7, 8 & 10), Willie Dixon (tracks 5 & 9), Alfred Elkins (tracks 3 & 4), Andrew Palmer (tracks 1, 2 & 6), Andrew "Blueblood" McMahon – bass *Junior Blackmon (tracks 1, 2, 6 & 7), Earl Phillips (tracks 3-5 & 9),

Sam Lay Samuel Julian Lay (March 20, 1935January 29, 2022) was an American drummer and vocalist who performed from the late 1950s as a blues and R&B musician alongside Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf, Paul Butterfield, and many others. He was inducted into ...

(tracks 8 & 10-12) – drums

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Real Folk Blues, The Howlin' Wolf albums 1965 albums Chess Records albums Albums produced by Marshall Chess