If you listen to Little Steven’s Underground Garage (the greatest radio station known to humanity), you’ll get a deep mix of rock and soul. The Chicago Blues musicians often pop up on the playlist since their sound influenced so much of rock and roll. The music made it across the Atlantic Ocean and became part of the sounds that launched the British Invasion. Born In Chicago is a documentary that delves into how the city birthed such a rich musical scene that spread around the globe.
The artform didn’t originate in Chicago as many of the leading figures came up from the South to the city. The leading figures moved to the city for opportunities including playing Maxwell Street. Muddy Waters moved up from Mississippi and established the city as a place for the electric blues in the early 1940s live and on vinyl. He was the first superstar on the Chess label. Howlin’ Wolf (Chester Burnett) was his rival on the scene and at the label. We’re informed that their rivalry wasn’t cooked up as a publicity stunt. Wolf hooked up with songwriter-bassist Willie Dixon to record quite a few standards.
The movie features performances by Robert Nighthawk, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Little Walter, Willie Dixon, Magic Sam, Buddy Guy, Big Walter “Shakey” Horton, Otis Rush, Buddy Guy and more to give you a sense of the music that emerged from them during the late ’40s and ’50s. Instead of being major touring acts, the Chicago Blues appears to have stuck in clubs, bars and lounges around the South Side of the Second City. There’s plenty of photos and film of these less than prime clubs. While you expect a tale of how the Chicago Blues dominated the times, the performers weren’t that widely known or played. The juke boxes were dominated by more pop and soul sounding artists. But then a breakthrough happened when a late-night radio disc jockey played Chicago Blues records and the music found a brand-new audience: white kids who needed a sound heavier than Pat Boone and Doris Day.
We’re introduced to Mike Bloomfield, a white college age kid who dared to show up in the South Side to find the bluesmen that obsessed him. Instead of being intimated, they welcomed the kid to their haunts. The masters taught Bloomfield guitar techniques and songs. He proved to be a fast learner and impressed them so much that he was regularly invited on stage to play during shows. Another fellow pal from the Chicago University area was Paul Butterfield who took up the harmonica and sang. The two became the Paul Butterfield Blues Band along with a rhythm section that played with a few legends. The band quickly gained a national profile. Not only did they play the Newport Folk Festival, they became part of musical history. Bob Dylan shows up to talk about how Bloomfield showed up in the studio when he went electric, but the Paul Butterfield Blues Band backed him up at his Newport set. Among the musicians telling the story of Bloomfield and Butterfield are Barry Goldberg, Charlie Musselwhite and Elvin Bishop.
Eric Burdon gets into hearing Muddy Waters live in Manchester. Keith Richards discusses the Rolling Stones releasing Willie Dixon’s “Little Red Rooster” as a single. They group made sure on their first visit to Chicago to book a recording session at Chess Studios and meet the musicians that inspired them in London. When the Stones did Shin Dig, they demanded Howlin’ Wolf also appear on the show.
The Paul Butterfield Blues Band remembered influential pals back when they began playing nightclubs on the North Side of Chicago. Bloomfield told Bill Graham to book Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and others into his West Coast venues. B.B. King talks about his first time at the Fillmore when the young audience stood up as he took that stage. That’s the nice part of the film is that the college kids wanted us to hear the original artists as well as themselves. Thanks to them, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Buddy Guy and others toured far beyond South Side Lounges.
Born In Chicago is a nice film. It doesn’t go into the vices of various performers. This is about their music and not a VH1 Behind the Music special. The vintage performances that make you eager to break out your records or track them down at your local record store. Dan Aykroyd narrates the films which is appropriate since he brought a few of them to the big screen in The Blues Brothers. His House of Blues radio show brought his idols to classic rock stations. Born In Chicago gives a sweet taste of how the blues scene got rolling in the city.
Born In Chicago | Official Trailer | 2023 – YouTube
Shout! Studios present Born In Chicago. Directed by John Anderson and Bob Sarles. Screenplay by Christina Keating and Joel Selvin. Narrated by Dan Aykroyd. Running Time: 77 Minutes.
The movie is available on All Major Digital Platforms on August 1, 2023.
