Song:Mississippi To Chicago
Album:Kingsville Jukin'
Guitarist and harmonica player John Grimaldi has been a fixture on the Chicago blues scene since the 70s as Studebaker John. He named himself after a car he once owned. He was born Sept. 5, 1952 in Chicago. His father was an amateur musician. Grimaldi started playing harmonica at age seven. He started out playing at the Maxwell Street flea markets. He formed his first band The Hawks in the 70s. I don't know if Grimaldi has ever been a full time musician. His family is in the construction business. But he plays local clubs and tours the festival circuit. He was also in an early 90s revival of the British groups The Pretty Things and The Yardbirds let by original Yardbirds leader Jim McCarty. Studebaker John and the Hawks recorded for Blind Pig in the 90s and then switched to Avanti Records in 2004. Grimaldi signed with Delmark Records in 2010 as Studebaker John's Maxwell Street Kings. I don't know why he changed the band name. Delmark may have requested the change. Mississippi To Chicago is from the 2013 album Kingsville Jukin'. Musicians are Rick Kreher on guitar, Bob Halaj on bass and Steve Cushing on drums. Kreher and Halaj have worked with Grimaldi for years. Cushing is a veteran sideman who was in Muddy Waters' final band. His latest CDs have been as Studebaker John and the Hawks for Avanti so it look like he may have returned to the old band name. It hardly matters as Grimaldi plays a mean slide guitar that blues fans will enjoy. Here's Studebaker John's Maxwell Street Kings performing Mississippi To Chicago at the 2013 CD release party at Firzgerald's Lounge in Berwyn, IL.
Good band, excellent musician. I need to get some of their music and add it to my collection. Thank-you so much Frank for posting. Yours David.
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