Blues in the Box: John Primer

Growing up on sharecropper land in Camden Mississippi in 1945, inspired by his family’s deep devotion to spirituals and gospel on Sundays, and blues and R&B on Saturdays! John dreamed of one day playing with the Legendary Muddy Waters!

Moving to Chicago in 1963, he started on that path of becoming a great bluesman, wanting to meet and play with his idol. Getting his first steady gig in 1974 at the Legendary Theresa’s Lounge on the south-side of Chicago, he was taught by the BEST! Sammy Lawhorn, Jr. Wells, James Cotton, Buddy Guy, and many more! Then he joined forces and played in Willie Dixon’s band, where he became so good his dream came true when his idol, Muddy Waters called for him to lead his band in 1981! Here he learned priceless slide guitar lessons and how to be a band leader. He couldn’t believe that all his hard work took him all the way to the top!

After Muddy’s untimely death, he joined up with Magic Slim & The Teardrops for 13 years, traveling all over the world! While John played with Magic Slim they were awarded many W.C. Handy Awards for the best blues band in the world! They developed the “Chicago lump style” blues that is used by so many today!

John paid his dues and in 1995 he began leading his own band. He has recorded more than 15 independent record albums on more than 6 record labels including his own, Blues House Productions and has been recorded on more than 68 total recordings on countless record labels (see his website for a full discography). Earning 2 Grammy Nominations, given 2 Lifetime Achievement Awards, winning a Blues Music Award and countless other Nominations, John is a REAL DEAL Chicago Blues Legend!

When he plays he brings all the founding blues fathers back into his music! You can hear them! He is keeping them all ALIVE! They choose him to carry their music into the hearts of the next generation and John is fulfilling this promise to them every day. His Legendary Blues Status is recognized around the world!

Early inspiration came from his family steeped in spiritual, gospel, blues and R&B tradition. As a young boy John’s mother knew he would be a singer, “he came out singing” she would say. John first appeared on stage at the local Baptist church, in his hometown of Camden Mississippi. John was raised with blues records being played by his grandmother. He dreamed of one day playing his guitar on stage with his idol Muddy Water’s.

At the age of eighteen John followed the path of his mentors and migrated to Chicago in the fall of 1963. Once in Chicago, John quickly found the blues musicians and formed a band. After the success of his first band The Maintainers, in 1974 John replaced John Watkins in the house band at the world famous Theresa’s Lounge on the South Side of Chicago. Over the course of the next 7 years, John would play with such originators as Sammy Lawhorn, Junior Wells, James Cotton, Buddy Guy, and Lonnie Brooks, all innovators sculpting the sound of Chicago Blues.

Then in 1979, master songwriter and bassist Willie Dixon invited him to join his band The Chicago All Stars. Traveling through the US, Mexico and Europe, John developed his skills as a rhythm guitarist, a lead-guitar, slide player, and a powerful singer. Another blues master who believed in John Primer was none other than the “Hoochie Coochie Man” himself, Muddy Waters. Muddy recruited John not only as a guitarist, but also as an opening act and bandleader. John stayed loyal to Muddy until his untimely death in 1983.

Fresh off the heels of his success with the Muddy Waters Band, John signed on with the legendary Magic Slim. For the next 14 years, he toured with Magic Slim & The Teardrops, bringing tight, house rocking sounds to every corner of the planet. While John was the bandleader of Magic Slim & The Teardrops, they were voted the best blues band in the world year after year and are still today thought of as the inventors of “the lump”, a style of playing backup rhythm.

In 1995 the veteran blues man released his major label debut “The Real Deal”, on Atlantic Records. Deciding to make it out on his own, he began touring extensively in support of his fourteen solo albums to date, including two CD’s on Blues House Productions, John’s independent record label. John has recorded on several other record labels including: Wolf, Earwig, Telarc, Atlantic, Delta Groove and Raisin Music. He is a songwriter, producer and has taught many other blues musicians.

John Primer has been awarded many awards. He was given 2 Lifetime Achievement Awards in 2013 for Keeping the Blues Alive from the Pennsylvania Blues Society as well as from the Mississippi Valley Blues Society, he has been nominated for a Grammy Award by the Recording Academy in 2010 for Best Traditional Blues Album of the Year, and has been given many nominations year after year by the National Blues Foundation’s Blues Music Awards for the Best Traditional Blues of the Year as well as Best Traditional Blues Musician of the Year. John is one of the last Legendary Traditional Blues Musicians alive today with his roots in Mississippi. He is a living legend and a true master of the blues!

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