1 	The Clock 	5:11
2 	Blue And Lonesome 	7:01
3 	When I Get Lonely 	5:41
4 	Cairo Blues 	5:30
5 	Leanin' Tree 	6:16
6 	Harmonica Joyride 	2:33
7 	Little Boy Blue 	6:55
8 	Just Like I Treat You 	4:42
9 	Man Or Mouse 	3:30
10 	Going Back Home 	7:53

Barrelhouse Chuck - Piano 
Bob Corritore - Harmonic
Billy Flynn - Guitar 
Chris James - Guitar 
John Primer - Guitar, Vocals 
Patrick Rynn - Bass
Kenny "Beedy Eyes" Smith - Drums
Bob Stroger - Bass 

Chicago blues guitarist John Primer and Arizona (by way of Chicago) harp master Bob Corritore team up for the first time on this session of raw Chicago blues, Knockin' Around These Blues. It's odd these two have never collaborated on a project, as Primer began playing the blues in the early '70s at the famous Chicago club Theresa's, while, at the same time, Corritore started hanging around the Windy City learning the harp from such legends as Walter Horton, Carey Bell, and Junior Wells. The ten-track program boasts gutsy, heartfelt cover versions of material by Little Walter ("Blue and Lonesome"), Robert Lockwood Jr. ("Little Boy Blue"), Willie Dixon ("Just Like I Treat You"), Jimmy Reed ("The Clock"), and Lightnin' Hopkins ("Going Back Home"). Rounding out the band are guitarists Billy Flynn and Chris James, pianist Barrelhouse Chuck, bassists Bob Stroger and Patrick Rynn, and Kenny "Beedy Eyes" Smith and Brian Fahey on drums. ---Al Campbell, AllMusic Review

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01. Shake Your Moneymaker 02:04
02. It Hurts Me Too 04:20
03. Sunnyland Train 03:01
04. Too Much 05:56
05. I'm In Love 04:02
06. Can't Stop Loving 02:23
07. Since My Baby Left This Town 05:23
08. I'm A Blues Man 06:02
09. I'm Worried 04:39
10. 1839 03:17
11. Fine Little Mama 02:37
12. I Held My Baby 03:23
13. I Had A Dream Last Night 05:18
14. Stranger Blues 03:26

John Primer — Guitar, Vocals
Bo Trisko — Rhythm Guitar, Weissenborn
Steve Bell — Harmonica
Detroit Junior — Piano
Michael Morrison — Bass
Mark Diffenderffer — Drums
Little Bobby Neely — Saxophone

The highlight of any John Primer show is when he pulls out the bottleneck and uses it to vivaciously perform ripping and pumping slide guitar. On Blue Steel you can experience his enthusiastic slide for 56 minutes via 14 staple cuts which are mostly short and sweet. Appropriately, most of them are Elmore James classics but Primer sneaks in 3 of his own on the self-produced CD. After a very brief (one release) stint with Telarc, Primer returns on Wolf Records. Shaped under the pressure of backing greats like Muddy Waters and Magic Slim, Primer is a modern day traditional electric Chicago blues master. He has played with the best of them and now he is one of them. Backed by regular touring members of his Real Deal Blues Band (Bo Trisko rhythm guitar, Michael Morrison bass and Mark Diffenderffer drums), John works his listeners into a blues trance. Shake Yo Moneymaker is played the way it was intended. Here (and throughout), a completely revitalized Detroit Junior comes alive on the piano and performs like a man half his age. On Sunnyland Train, John’s guitar sounds just like a charging locomotive clicking and clacking down the track. Experience real deal blues on Too Much. Forget about the tribute and sit back and enjoy a brilliant blues tune where Steve Bell’s harp sounds like it is going to split in two. Little Bobby Neely’s saxophone creates an atmosphere of the era these songs are originally from on I’m In Love. Can’t Stop Loving is up-tempo and bouncing with Bo on lap steel guitar. Here, ballroom dancers will be in their glory. You will not want the infectious rhythm of Stranger Blues to stop. I’m A Bluesman was written and is performed by someone who is truly qualified to write and sing the blues, Mr. John Primer. On lyrics like ‘I was born with the blues and I haven’t had enough of the blues yet’ and ‘blues gave me a feeling that can’t be beat’, John’s strong, confidant voice has as much conviction as a preacher. Ironically, this song and 1839 were recorded with completely different musicians (including Magic Slim) and these tunes are two of the disc’s best.

Many tribute discs don’t work. This is one that does thanks to the genuine homage from one of today’s blues experts to one of yesteryear’s – both originally from Mississippi. Primer is quoted from Lisa Becker and Bo Trisko’s fantastic liner notes, ‘I wanted Elmore to be recognized for the incredible impact he had on all of us . a new generation will be exposed to Elmore, keeping his style alive.’ Primer seems to have made a personal musical ambition to bring the older blues traditions to a wider, modern audience. Blue Steel contains authentic down home blues and magnificent slide which the larger labels avoid. Sure, some of the more common riffs are repeated once too often. However, Primer proves himself a blues slide guitar aficionado. This is old-style blues we can NOT afford to lose. --- whoisthemonk.wordpress.com/category/john-primer/

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01. Sweet Man 07:50
02. My Little Sister 05:10
03. You Can Make It If You Try 09:05
04. Big Fat Woman 06:00
05. Love In Vain 06:43
06. Don’t You Hear Me Crying For You 04:52
07. If I Could Hold You In My Arms 09:12
08. Standing At The Crossroads 05:40
09. Things I Used To Do 06:28
10. Corinna 04:48
11. Long Distance Call 08:00

John Primer (vocals, guitar)
Nick Holt (bass)
Earl Howell, Michael Scott (drums)

This CD was recorded live in the early 1990's in Vienna Austria while Magic Silm and the Teardrops toured Austria. This is an amazing CD dedicated to the memory of Nick Holt and also to Earl Howell for all the dedicated years of hard work and for laying the solid "Chicago Lump Style" blues foundation that pushed the Chicago Blues Style to the next level. --- johnprimerblues.com

The good folks at Wolf Records have once again delved into their vaults and found a golden nugget. Recorded at various shows in Austria while playing as part of Magic Slim & The Teardrops in the 1990s, John Primer is in full swing on these numbers that were used to warm the audience up prior to bringing Magic Slim to the stage. The sound quality from these live recordings is amazing. And listening to these tracks will have you believing that the opening sets featuring Primer were perhaps just as awesome as what Magic Slim would deliver once he came on stage.

Primer has always been a true master on six strings. Working with Muddy Waters before taking on The Teardrops bandleader role, these recordings are pure Chicago blues at its absolute best. The take on Otis Rush’s “You Can Make It If You Try” will leave you with your jaw dropped by the sheer workout he gives his guitar. Multiple solos keep coming at you throughout the song. And Primer is pumping the audience to a frenzy. Save for one point of feedback (this is a live recording remember) you just cannot find a better example of how the blues are supposed to sound in a perfect world. Nine minutes of pure guitar bliss, and still this is not the only magical moment occurring on this eleven song disc. The songs are truly stretched out to give the added flavor, with the shortest piece here, a take on Albert King’s “Corinna” still logging in at 4:46 minutes. Robert Johnson’s “Love In Vain” is a prime example of how the band is capable of stretching a well-known number to nearly 7:00 minutes, making it sound unique and still maintaining the strength behind the song.

If you take the time to read the liner notes, you’ll discover what the band referred to as the “Straightforward Lump” style. While the rhythm section provides a lump da lump pace, Primer plays all four guitar parts: rhythm, bassline, picking lead and slide, all within the same song. It’s said that he became known as the “Four Man Guitar Show,” or as Sammy Lawhorn said to Junior Wells, “John plays all four parts on that guitar, man, he’s a ‘bad’ guitar player!” Bad obviously meaning out of this world.

All the tracks included on the recording are covers. But as with “Love In Vain” the band has made each of them their own personal property. Songs usually associated with those who penned them have been reborn behind Primer’s guitar approach. It does not matter who may be the song’s author, be it Muddy Waters, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Elmore James, Hound Dog Taylor, whoever, they’ve been reborn in these approaches. Especially those done in the “Lump” style, like “My Little Sister,” “Standing At The Crossroads,” “Big Fat Woman,” or “Don’t You Hear Me Crying For You.”

This one is for anybody who loves Chicago blues. It just can’t get too much better than this. Enough said. --- cascadebluesassociation.org

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01. Bad Blood - 3:30  
02. Blind Man Blues - 4:34  
03. Come Back Baby - 4:54  
04. Cryin' For Your Love - 3:51  
05. Good Understanding - 3:00  
06. How Long Will You Be Mine - 3:23  
07. I Called My Baby - 4:51  
08. She Won't Give Me No Lovin' - 3:40  
09. Still In Love With You - 4:53  
10. Stop Draggin' That Chain Aroun - 4:15  
11. Tired And Worried - 3:22  
12. Tomorrow Might Not Be The Same - 4:08

John Primer - Guitar, Vocals
Jake Dawson - Guitar
Johnny B. Gayden - Bass
David Maxwell - Piano
Earl Howell - Drums
+
Billy Branch – Harmonica

Thought they didn't make traditional Chicago blues albums worthy of the name anymore? Guess again: Primer's major-label bow is an entirely satisfying affair produced by Mike Vernon that's long on intensity and devoid of pretension. Lots of originals, a handful of well-chosen covers, and a vicious band (pianist David Maxwell and harpist Billy Branch solo stunningly) help make the set go, while Primer grabs hold of the opportunity with a vise-like grip and makes believe it's the 1950s all over again. ---Bill Dahl, allmusic.com

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01.Hiding Place
02.Take Care Of Me
03.Blues On Solid Ground
04.When I Get Lonely
05.Power Of Attorney
06.Crazy For My Baby
07.When I Met The Blues
08.I Just Got Some News Today
09.I Want To See You Before I Go
10.Happy Blues
11.Rambling Blues
12.When I Leave Home
13.Poor Man Blues

Imagine yourself living in 1945 in Mississippi, being a person of color, on sharecropper land, deep in the woods. Living with your entire family in a shack with three rooms, and without indoor plumbing or heat. You’re sharing the daily back-breaking work of picking cotton or corn in 90+-degree weather from sun up to sun down. You’re doing all this work every day just so you and your family can eat another day, never getting ahead and always wanting more. Physical items are special and rare, but family time, prayer, laughter and music are all you have to get through. This is how John Primer was raised. Dreams of better days got him out of bed every day. The thought of someday playing his guitar on stage with Muddy Waters was his dream that pushed him to keep going. Missing his father (who passed away when he was only four years old) and wanting to be with his mother (who moved to Chicago when he was ten) and living in these oppressive conditions gave John his deep blues roots. The feelings from his up-bringing would not fully be understood until he got out of there, moved to Chicago with his mother and started playing blues music professionally. The full circle of his blues life was only then realized. The songs on this CD illustrate this emergence as well as give you John’s self portrait, an auto biographical look into his life through his music.

Staying true to his beginnings and sharing his life experiences has brought John a Grammy Nomination and a Blues Music Award as well as an ever-rising career in the blues world. When he got to Chicago John played with and learned from so many of the blues masters: Willie Dixon, Muddy Water’s, Sammy Lawhorn, Junior Wells, Buddy Guy, Magic Slim, Pine-Top Perkins, Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, Honey Boy Edwards and so many more…John tries to keep their styles and legacies alive in his playing today.

Blues On Solid Ground is John’s 2nd CD from Blues House Productions. This intimate, ‘down-home’ style CD is John’s first tribute to his early Mississippi life and showcases his powerful, soulful voice along with his masterful guitar style. The intent of the CD is to keep the blues traditions John grew up with alive and on solid ground, as well as exposing those traditions to the next generation. These 13 songs are all Primer originals, “I really don’t try to change the blues I just try to keep it original. You do want to expand it, but you can’t expand it too much”, he says. Mixing John’s traditional rhythm with all new lyrics keeps the blues up to date and relevant to its roots.

The intimate, ‘in your kitchen’ sound of John Primer’s Blues On Solid Ground is alive and well. John’s main message to all of us is: “Don’t worry, the blues will be around for a long time and as long as he is around it’s standing on solid ground!” – Lisa Becker

Special thanks go to: my family for all their hard work on this CD. Thanks to Russ Green, Kenny Smith, E.G. McDaniel, Barrel House Chuck and to Brian and Blaise at Joy-Ride Studios for all your hard work. Thank you to all my dedicated fans (without you I would not be able to do what I love). I tried to come into your kitchen and sit down with you one-on-one, I truly hope you like it! - John Primer, cdbaby.com

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01. Dreaming (5:53)
02. Cuttin' Loose (4:42)
03. Cold Blooded Blues Man (4:07)
04. What Love Will Do (5:34)
05. Meet Her In The Dark (5:04)
06. Sad Sad Day (7:14)
07. Mojo Hand (4:46)
08. Cairo (3:26)         play
09. I'm Worried (4:22)
10. Malted Milk (4:23)
11. Waitin' For My Time (4:04)
12. Love In Vain (4:49)
13. Red House (3:02)     play

By any yardstick, Chicago guitarist John Primer has paid his dues. Prior to making The Real Deal for Mike Vernon's Atlantic-distributed Code Blue label, Primer spent 13 years as the ever-reliable rhythm guitarist with Magic Slim & the Teardrops. Before that, he filled the same role behind Chicago immortals Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon.

All that grounding has paid off handsomely for Primer. His sound is rooted in the classic Windy City blues sound of decades past: rough-edged and uncompromising and satisfying in the extreme. He's one of the last real traditionalists in town. By the time he came to Chicago in 1963, Primer was thoroughly familiar with the lowdown sounds of Waters, Wolf, Jimmy Reed, B.B. and Albert King, and Elmore James. He fronted a West Side outfit for a while called the Maintainers, dishing out a mix of soul and blues before joining the house band at the Southside blues mecca Theresa's Lounge for what ended up being a nine-year run. Elegant guitarist Sammy Lawhorn proved quite influential on Primer's maturing guitar approach during this period.

Always on the lookout for aspiring talent, Willie Dixon spirited him away for a 1979 gig in Mexico City. After a year or so as one of Dixon's All-Stars, Primer was recruited to join the last band of Muddy Waters, playing with the Chicago blues king until his 1983 death. Right after that, Primer joined forces with Magic Slim; their styles interlocked so seamlessly that their partnership seemed like an eternal bond.

But Primer deserved his own share of the spotlight. In 1993, Michael Frank's Chicago-based Earwig logo issued Primer's debut domestic disc, Stuff You Got to Watch. It was a glorious return to the classic '50s Chicago sound, powered by Primer's uncommonly concise guitar work and gruff, no-nonsense vocals. With the 1995 emergence of The Real Deal -- produced by Vernon and featuring all-star backing by harpist Billy Branch, pianist David Maxwell, and bassist Johnny B. Gayden, Primer's star appeared ready to ascend. He soon transferred back to the Wolf label for sets such as 1997's Cold Blooded Blues Man, 1998's Blues Behind Closed Doors, and 2000's It's a Blues Life.

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