Meeting Hubert Sumlin, David Johansen and the basically the blues themselves
On the contrast of legends...
Meeting my Heroes is an occasional essay series from Matt Carmichael.
Hubert Sumlin was one of those people who never quite made the big time, household fame, but inspired a lot of people who did (and countless other who didn’t either). He was a blues guitarist. Played with the greats most notably as Howlin’ Wolf’s sideman, but also with Muddy Waters. He inspired Clapton and Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones. “Hubert was an incisive yet delicate blues player,”Mick Jagger said in a statement when Sumlin died. “He had a really distinctive and original tone and was a wonderful foil for Howlin’ Wolf’s growling vocal style.” (Keith and Mick paid his funeral expenses.)
I met Sumlin a couple times. He played two benefits I worked on. One was the Waltz with Nick Tremulis. He was performing with David Johansen, himself a legend as the frontman for punk stalwarts, the New York Dolls, who later also had some solo hits under the name Buster Poindexter. Johansen was a big blues fan and that influenced his own music. But how these two hooked up I don’t really remember. What I do remember is how well they sounded together, and clearly appreciated each other as musicians and people.
I was helping out on another charity gig called Hopefest (my friend Sharyl who helped put on the Waltz was producing this show, too. Pinetop Perkins, and Honeyboy Edwards were performing, too. That’s quite a lineup. I mean, Honeyboy Edwards played with Robert Johnson in the ‘30s!!! All three have passed now. Pinetop was considered the last of the Delta Blues musicians when he died in 2011. Studs Terkel, did a reading too. How cool is that? And I got to meet Sumlin at his hotel and drive him to the venue in my little Saturn. He was sweet, and polite, and funny and charming and I was honored to chauffeur him around a bit.
I had a bunch of duties that day but one of them was to shoot a story for my friend Brian J. Bowe who was then the editor of a revived Creem Magazine. Each issue featured a portrait of a musician or band holding a prop Creem beer can with its mascot, Boy Howdy on the can. Johansen had done one of the first such shoots 30 years earlier with the Dolls. So Brian interviewed them both and I took some photos of that and then sat them down to do the portrait. My assistant John Shearer and I had gotten to the venue super early to set up the lighting for it and get the shot staged just right. And then, as photographers often have to do, sat around and waited hours to get the time with the artists.
David was handed the can and became rather surly. “What? No one told me this was a beer commercial?!?” he growled. Brian tried to explain the set-up and history. David still bristled. I got I think three frames off before he got up and walked away.
But John and I had put in the work, spent time time and were ready. Three frames was enough. Nailed the shot, which did indeed run in Creem (that, too, was an honor for me.) And I think it captures everything rather perfectly including the joy and humor Hubert brought to every situation and he just slapped his leg and laughed at David’s reaction to everything. Seems he was a good foil for David Jo, too.
And yes, all of this wonderful, contagious love for everything is ironic for a man famous for playing the blues.
I was glad to meet him and eavesdrop on some of his conversations and watch him with his legendary peers and watch them all just appreciate each other. And the magic. And the music.
So take whatever road you can to meet the storytellers. Arrive early, stay late, and be ready when they are. Pick ‘em up at their hotel. Because stars are often late, rarely on time and worst of all, sometimes they’re early.
I mean, really, what better do you have to do than wait for your man?