About That Ride: Cruisin’ With a Legend, Labor Day Weekend, 2005.
I picked Hubert Sumlin up at his hotel the day after the Hot Springs Blues Festival. It was my job that morning to deliver Hubert and his chaperone to the Little Rock airport for a flight to another festival in St. Louis Sunday evening. Saying it was a "job" is not exactly right. I was looking forward to riding along with this blues guitar legend.
For those of you who are uninitiated into the history of blues music, Hubert Sumlin began his career playing with harmonica great, James Cotton. From there he went on to play for a number of years with the late legend, Howlin’ Wolf. He has influenced guitar players from Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck to Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughn. Sumlin is responsible for writing the guitar lines to some of the all-time great blues songs. He is indeed a living legend in the world of music.
This Sunday morning, I had my oldest daughter, Lacy, with me. We picked Hubert up at his hotel and got him loaded. While we loaded, his chaperone (forgive me for not remembering her name) went back into the hotel to find something to drink. In the meantime, Hubert occupied himself by talking to a group of people who were sitting in front of the hotel waiting to board their tour bus. He was right at home, laughing and carrying on with this group of strangers.
As we took off from the hotel, we had not gone far when his chaperone asked him where his hat had gone. Sumlin had apparently left the hat in his hotel room. We turned the car around and head back to the hotel. While his chaperone went in to fetch the hat I commented to him that his next album would have to be called "About That Hat", referring to his most recent release, "About Them Shoes". Sumlin is notorious for leaving things behind in his hotel rooms. He laughed at my comment, appreciating the fact that someone had recognized his music and what it meant.
I had taken a copy of Moanin’ At Midnight, Howlin’ Wolf’s biography, with me this morning. I handed the book back to him, open to a page that had a picture of a very young Hubert Sumlin, playing guitar on a stage behind the Howlin’ Wolf. Sumlin studied the pictures in the book with the wide-eyed enthusiasm of child poring over a Christmas catalog. He began to laugh and tell stories about the pictures…where they were when the photos were taken…who else was nearby…what was happening at the time. Sumlin told stories about Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters.
"You know those two never fought like the papers made it out to be. Wolf was a big admirer of Muddy," Sumlin said. "Those paper folks played all that stuff up to make money."
He told stories about playing with Howlin’ Wolf and what a strict band leader the Wolf could be.
"I come in to a practice one day drunk on the whiskey. I mean I couldn’t play for nothin’. I tried to play but that liquor was still in my system and I couldn’t find the music," Sumlin commented with a laugh. Then he got serious for a moment. "When practice was over, Wolf sat me down and he talked to me. Now Wolf was a big man and I was a bit fearful. He sat me down and told me when I come back in tomorrow I better not be drunk or he’d fire me. I never played on the liquor again. Wolf was fair but he was strict. He wanted you to be perfect and he wouldn’t settle for less."
He would comment on Arkansas being his home and how he always felt at ease when he would come to the state.
"I was born over in Mississippi but I was raised up in Arkansas. This is my home. It always feels good to come home."
We talked about his wife who died several years ago. Sumlin lives in Wisconsin in the same house he shared with his wife for years. His devotion to his wife was evident in the story he told about buying their home.
"We used to drive back and forth by this house on our way into the city to play. It wasn’t nothing but and old barn," Sumlin says with a laugh. "She’d always say to me how much she admired the place and someday wanted to live there. Well, we bought the place and fixed it up. She made me promise before she died that I wouldn’t sell it. I’m still living there."
Sumlin has played with some of the biggest names in music, including the Rolling Stones. In fact, Keith Richards makes an appearance on Sumlin’s latest CD, About Them Shoes. I asked him about today’s music and specifically if he knew the Rolling Stones.
"Yeah I know those boys. They stole a few songs from me."
I mentioned earlier I had taken my daughter, Lacy, with me on this trip. Sumlin laughed and joked with her and made her feel at ease, something I get the feeling he is very good at doing. Lacy would later comment to me about what a nice man he was. She was markedly impressed when I explained to her who he was and the people and music he had influenced. It was nice to see someone her age recognize the importance of individual who has influenced an entire generation.
For all his fame and notoriety, Hubert Sumlin was a joy to be around. This man with smiling eyes and a humble spirit carried no ego. He made time to visit with folks. He was humble, accommodating and warm to each person I saw him interact with. He encouraged the young musicians he met to stay on course. He listened when someone else was talking to him.
On our ride this Sunday morning, he laughed and carried on like he had known me for years, often reaching up and patting my shoulder when he would make a point. When we dropped him off at the airport, I felt like I was saying so long to an old friend. I suppose I was.