Hubert Sumlin

In May 2002 I had the unique pleasure of being on the same bill with the legendary guitarist Hubert Sumlin. For those of you who may not know, Hubert was Howlin’ Wolf’s guitarist for over 20 years, recording such classics as Spoonfu,l Little Red Rooster, I Ain’t Superstitious, and Smokestack Lighting.? Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Stevie Ray Vaughn and countless others attribute Hubert’s playing as a major influence in forming thier styles.

The following interview took place back stage at the New Daisy Theater in Memphis, the night we were playing the Tribute Concert To Howlin’ Wolf.

Hubert: I was born in 1931, in Greenwood MS. After my family moved over to Arkansas, near the river just outside of West Memphis. My momma bought me a guitar when I was little, and I used to play it in the church that we went to. That’s where I learned it. She paid around $8 for it, which was a whole lot back then.

The first record I ever had was warped so bad you could hardly play it on the record player. I could hear but one or two lines (Hubert sings - ‘ooooo’ ). I wanted to throw it away but I couldn’t ‘cause it was the only record we owned.

Hubert was 11 years old when he first heard the Howlin’ Wolf Band. Story has it that he sneaked up behind the building and stacked up some soda cases so he could reach the window and watch the band. When he reached the top of the cases Hubert lost his balance and went crashing through the window in the middle of Wolf’s set.

Hubert: He (Wolf) let me stay and I did, I got to see his band play. Later on he brought me home and told my mother in was ok, ‘cause I was just there to hear the music.

The first band I joined was with James Cotton, then I joined Wolf. I remember only getting paid some nights about twenty five cents and a pint. Wasn’t much. One time I made a dollar and I was afraid somebody was gonna take it away.

Then there was this time that when we were on our way to a gig, and it snowed so much that the telephone poles were almost covered. By the time we got to the gig, the doors were padlocked. Finally, the owners showed up and opened the place up. Only 2 folks came down that night to hear the band, but we still had a great time.