John Primer

John Primer & Friends: Tribute To Theresa’s Lounge

Blues House Productions

Alfonzo “John” Primer was born in Camden, Mississippi, in 1945. He was born on sharecropper land and grew up working in the fields. Primer migrated to Chicago with his mother in 1963. His blues career began on Maxwell Street, playing for tips. Primer got his first gig at Theresa’s Lounge, located at 48th and South Indiana Avenue, where he became a regular. Primer played guitar in Willie Dixon’s Chicago Blues All-Stars and in the Muddy Waters Band. He later joined Magic Slim and the Teardrops. Primer was nominated multiple times for Traditional Blues Male Artist at the Blues Music Awards, first winning in 2016. Primer was also the lead vocalist, guitarist, and featured artist on the Grammy-nominated “Muddy Waters 100” project. Overall, Primer is a three-time Grammy nominee. This is Primer’s twenty-first album. The album is dedicated to Theresa Needham.

Theresa provided a safe place for musicians. She gave them a place to connect and the freedom to play together. All the greatest blues musicians played there: Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, Howlin’ Wolf, Hubert Sumlin, Earl Hooker, Buddy Guy, Jr. Wells, Luther Tucker, Otis Rush, Magic Slim & the Teardrops, Mike Bloomfield, Little Walter, Otis Spann, Jimmy Rogers, and others. Featured on this tribute are Primer, Billy Branch, Bob Stroger, Willie Buck, Mary Lane, Harmonica Hinds, Carlos Johnson, Twist Turner, John Watkins, Tony Mangiullo, and Jeff Brinkman.

The album opens with “Up In Heah,” written by Daniels and Moore and first recorded in 1966. Featuring some great bass from Stroger, the song was sung by Jr. Wells to kick off his set, as Primer sings “So c’mon ya’ all, we’re gonna have a ball…up in heah, so c’mon ya’ all were gonna have a ball.”

On “7 Nights For 7 Years,” an original written by Primer for this tribute, he chimes “Going down to the river that’s where all the bluesmen hangout…it’s the home of Jr. Wells and James Cotton, when they play they make you jump and shout.”

“The Blues Is King” is another Primer original with some great slide guitar. He tells how important it is to keep tradition alive, as he chants “can’t change the blues no matter what you do, the blues is the only way, the blues will always be king, the blues is alive and the blues is strong, if you sing the blues, you can’t go wrong.”

On “Sugar Sweet,” written by Mel London and first recorded by Muddy Waters in 1955, the featured artist is Billy Branch on harp and vocal, as he moans “I’m gonna tell you about my baby, I speak of her with pride, she’ll go all the way to make me satisfied, oh she’s my baby, she’s my baby, can’t you see, I can’t call her sugar ’cause sugar never was so sweet.”

“Champagne And Reefer,” written by Muddy Waters, was first recorded by him in 1981, as Willie Buck groans “Yeah, bring me champagne when I’m thirsty, bring me reefer when I want to get high, well when I’m lonely, bring my woman, set her right down here by my side. Well there should be no law if people want to smoke a little dope, well you know it’s good for your head and it relax your body, don’t you know.”

On “We All Need Help,” another Primer original written as a tribute to Theresa, he cries out “well it’s been good, that’s all you need, just keep on trying and you will succeed, have faith in good, that’s all you need, just keep on tryin’ you will succeed.”

“She’s Nineteen Years Old,” written by Muddy Waters and first recorded in 1958, features Carlos Johnson on guitar and vocal, as he wails “I’m gonna tell something to you, don’t care how you feel, you just don’t realize you got yourself a good deal, she’s nineteen years old, got ways just like a baby child.”

On “Little By Little,” written by Mel London and one of Jr. Wells’ most notable songs, first recorded in 1960, it’s a song about a woman whose love is slowly slipping away, as Primer shouts “oh, oh, oh, you stay all night until the break of day, you don’t listen to the things I say, bit by bit, your slipin’ away from me…little by little your love is driftin’ away from me.”

“Mary’s Song” is written and sung by Mary Lane, at the time the only female regular at Theresa’s, now 90 years young, as she belts “how can you love me when you treat me like you do…have you ever loved someone when you know they don’t love you…if you don’t want me baby, why don’t you let me be,” with Primer on guitar.

On “Cut You Loose,” a third song credited to Mel London, originally released in 1963 by singer Ricky Allen, it is performed here by Primer as he whines “well I work, work, work… well I should quit you baby well I’m full, full, full up to my neck, the only time your nice to me, is when I cash my chack.”

“Blues Survivalist” is yet another Primer original, as he declares “I’m a blues survivalist, I’m gonna keep it going strong, I just can’t stop, I got to keep it going on.”

On “Here I Am Knockin’ At Your Door Again,” written and sung by guitarist John Watkins, first released in 1985 and often sung by James Cotton, Watkins pleads “Something you got changed my whole world…you set my soul on fire, I don’t want no one else I know…well here I am nothing is going to make me go away…just lookin’ at you is enough to drive me insane.”

The closer, “Mean Old World,” from Little Walter Jacobs, was first recorded in the mid-1950s. It was sung every night at Theresa’s by Muddy Waters’ guitarist Sammy Lawhorn. It is sung here by Primer as he croons “It’s just a mean old world if you try to live it by yourself, when you can’t get the one that your lovin’, you got to use somebody else.”

John Primer’s dream of becoming a musician came true at Theresa’s Lounge. It was like home to him and it changed his life forever. Primer states, “We are all in our seventies, eighties, and nineties now. I am so happy we were all healthy enough to make this tribute to Theresa’s Lounge and to Theresa Needham. I hope you enjoy this album as much as I do.”

Richard Ludmerer

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