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Community Corner

Studebaker John's Maxwell St. Kings Delmark CD Release Party plus Willie Buck and Special Guests; Barrelhouse Chuck Trio opens

STUDEBAKER JOHN GRIMALDI was born in an Italian-American section of Chicago and started playing harmonica at age 7. Under the spell of music he heard on Maxwell Street, Chicago's famed blues melting pot, Grimaldi began performing as Studebaker John and the Hawks in the ‘70s. The band name referenced the Studebaker Hawk, a car Grimaldi still owns today, and was also intended as a tribute to his friend, J.B. Hutto and the Hawks. John began playing guitar after a life-changing experience of seeing Hound Dog Taylor and the Houserockers perform. “…Hound Dog started playing, hitting notes that sent chills up and down my spine. He was versatile and powerful and would play rhythm as well as leads. I left there knowing what I wanted to do. I had to play slide guitar.” As a songwriter and musician, Studebaker John has emerged as a major creative force in the world of the blues today. Ahead of the pack, with vision and foresight, creating a new standard and landscape for this music’s future.

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WILLIE BUCK was born in 1937 in the small town of Houston, Mississippi. When he was a boy, Willie spent most of his time working at a local paper mill making $5 during the day and honing his voice by night. He began his craft singing in the most popular form of the day, rock 'n' roll. Inspite of his vigor for the newly developing artform, his passions began to lean towards the more traditional sound of the delta...blues. While still in "Da South," Willie performed on what became known as the "Chittlin Circuit." Shortly after developing a reputation, Willie did like a lot of Southerners during that time by migrating to Chicago in 1954. Once here, he immersed himself in the Chicago blues scene. He became a real force in the "Maxwell Street" blues legacy which boasts of the raw blues talent that it has produced. Willie was inducted in the Blues Hall of Fame among many of his fellow performers here in Chicago in the summer of 2004. His sound is one that only gets better with age. 

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2010 Grammy Award nominee, and 2013 BMA Pinetop Perkins piano player of the year nominee Barrelhouse Chuck is the only Chicago blues pianist to have studied under Sunnyland Slim, Pinetop Perkins, Blind John Davis, Detroit Junior and Little Brother Montgomery. Barrelhouse Chuck draws on this distinguished lineage to create a blues, boogie-woogie and barrelhouse piano style that places him at the forefront of this celebrated tradition.

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 Admission is $10.
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