Barrellhouse Chuck with the
Kim Wilson Blues Revue
Kim Wilson brings his rowdy blues revue to Humphrey's Backstage Live on Friday night (Dec 11, 2009).
Detroit native Kim Wilson is best known as the leader of veteran Texas blues-rockers the Fabulous Thunderbirds, a group he has led for more than 30 years. But in the early 1970s, this ace harmonica player and singer cut his teeth sitting in at San Diego clubs with such local mainstays as Tomcat Courtney and the King Biscuit Blues Band.
After moving to Austin in 1974, Wilson teamed up with guitarist Jimmie Vaughan to form the original lineup of the Thunderbirds. The band's fifth album, 1988's Vaughan-less "Tuff Enuff," sold more than a million copies and - improbably - gave the band a Top 40 hit with its blues-drenched titled track.
Wilson, who lives with his family just up the coast in Laguna Niguel, recently completed a recording session in Los Angeles for Eric Clapton's next album. He now divides his time between the Thunderbirds and the Kim Wilson Blues Revue, with which he performs tomorrow night at Humphrey's Backstage Live (Humphreysbackstagelive.com) on Shelter Island.
A powerhouse ensemble anchored by longtime Tom Waits bassist Larry Taylor and drummer Richard "Big Foot" Innes, the Revue allows Wilson, 59, to focus on a more gritty and raucous style of blues than he typically performs with the Thunderbirds. He benefits greatly from the blazing dual guitar work of Rusty Zinn and Billy Flynn, as well as from the rollicking piano-playing of Charles "Barrelhouse Chuck" Goering.
Wilson, Taylor, Goering, and all received Grammy Award nominations last week for their contributions to the soundtrack for the Beyonce-starring film "Cadillac Records." Not coincidentally, that movie found Wilson re-creating - off-camera - the harmonica parts of his early idol, Little Walter. (Blues icon Muddy Waters, in whose band Walter played, was so impressed by Wilson's playing when he first heard him with the Thunderbirds that he declared him "the greatest" since Little Walter.)
The Revue's performance here tomorrow is billed as a "holiday party," which means you might just hear the group play Charles Brown's seductive 1947 classic, "Merry Christmas Baby." Then again, with musicians this capable of rocking the house, listeners can expect a festive night any time of year.
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