The Well
The Well
Product Description
Grammy-nominated blues harp legend's first new studio release in four years, a masterful return to his deep blues roots after a series of Americana-oriented releases. Nearly 300,000 career scans. Three best-scanning career titles are his 1990s Alligator albums. Recently performed with Cyndi Lauper on Celebrity Apprentice and featured on her Memphis Blues release. More television appearances with Lauper are possible and Charlie will be doing tour dates with her when not out with his own band. Hero's welcome due at over 600 commercial and non-commercial blues specialty shows nationwide.
Review
"Charlie Musselwhite's harmonica playing shows taste, bite, restraint and power. He's one of the best, and as a bluesman, he's as real as they come." -- The San Francisco Chronicle
"Musselwhite's rock-solid vocals creep up and overwhelm you before you know it. He plays magnificent harp with superb dexterity and phrasing. The results are amazing." -- Living Blues
"Superb, original and compelling....harmonica master Musselwhite sets the standard for blues." -- Rolling Stone
"the undisputed champion of the blues harmonica." -- Downbeat
From the Artist
According to Musselwhite, "It's about the feeling, and about connecting with people. And blues, if it's real blues, is loaded with feeling. And it ain't about technique, either. It's about truth, connecting to the truth and communicating with the people."
About the Artist
Charlie Musselwhite's life reads like a classic blues song: born in Mississippi, raised in Memphis and schooled on the South Side of Chicago. A groundbreaking recording artist since the 1960s, Musselwhite continues to create trailblazing music while remaining firmly rooted in the blues. His worldly-wise vocals, rich, melodic harmonica playing and deep country blues guitar work flawlessly accompany his often autobiographical and always memorable original songs.
Over the last 43 years Musselwhite has released over 30 albums. Three of those -- 1990's Ace Of Harps, 1991's Signature and 1993's In My Time -- were recorded for Alligator Records and remain among his best-selling titles.
Musselwhite's personal history is the kind of story a novelist would sell his soul for, but his indomitable spirit is crafted by him alone. Tough times have been a huge part of his life, and have shaped him into a true working-class hero. His fans include young hipsters, Vietnam veterans, convicts, bikers, jazz aficionados, aging hippies and hard-core blues fans.
Born into a blue collar family in Kosciusko, Mississippi on January 31, 1944 and raised by a single mother, Musselwhite grew up surrounded by blues, hillbilly and gospel music. His family moved to Memphis, where, as a teenager, he worked as a ditch digger, concrete layer and moonshine runner. Fascinated by the blues, Musselwhite began playing guitar and harmonica. It wasn't easy growing up a poor, white boy in Memphis, even among the rich musical influences the city offered. He felt like an outcast and a stranger (themes that have informed, inspired and haunted his music to this day).
Following the path of so many, Musselwhite moved to Chicago looking for better paying work. While driving an exterminator truck as a day job, Charlie lived on the South Side and hung out in blues clubs at night, developing close friendships with blues icons Little Walter, Big Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson, Big Joe Williams, Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf. Before long, he was sitting in at clubs with Muddy and others, building an impressive word-of-mouth reputation.
His first recording, under the name Memphis Charlie, was with Big Walter Horton on the famous Vanguard Records series, Chicago/The Blues/Today!. Signing with Vanguard, Musselwhite brought the amplified harmonica blues to a new audience of young, white rock and rollers, who discovered that Charlie personified the cool and hip counter-culture icons they admired.
After the release of his first full-length LP - Stand Back! Here Comes Charlie Musselwhite's South Side Band - he was embraced by the growing youth counter-culture and the newly emerging progressive rock FM radio stations. He relocated to San Francisco, often playing the famed Fillmore Auditorium. Over the years, he has released albums on a variety of labels, ranging from straight blues to music mixing elements of jazz, gospel, Tex-Mex, Cuban and other world music. He has been touring nationally and internationally for four decades and is among the best-known and best-loved blues musicians in the world.
Musselwhite has guested on numerous recordings, as a featured player with Tom Waits, Eddie Vedder, Ben Harper, John Lee Hooker, Bonnie Raitt, The Blind Boys of Alabama, INXS and most recently Cyndi Lauper. He has shared stages with countless blues and rock musicians. He was inducted into the Blues Foundation's Blues Hall Of Fame in 2010, has been nominated for six Grammy Awards and has won 24 Blues Music Awards.
Charlie Musselwhite today is as vital and creative as at any point in his long career. With The Well, Charlie Musselwhite returns with the strongest, most intimate album of his career -- a powerful, personal collection of songs. Musselwhite's blues, imparting his hard-won knowledge and working class wisdom, are a window into the deep well of his Mississippi soul.