Yank Rachell & Jimmy Walker

Pianist Jimmy Walker, associated with the blues scene in Chicago, should not be confused with James "Jim Daddy" Walker, linked likewise to the blues scene in Kansas City. The former was actually born a few years earlier than the latter, 1905 rather than maybe 1912, and also outstrips in a variety of fame markers such as having an actual agreed-upon date of birth as well as several releases under his own name. Rough and Ready The latter would be where the real interest would lie for blues fans used to the vigor and spark of the Chicago scene. Several complete sessions have been released in which this artist held forth in great freedom, playing as a soloist or with drum accompaniment that approaches perfection. Walker uses the recording medium to express his desires, "Getting Out of Town" in a shuffle of a hurry, inquiring like a lot of other people as to "Where's the Money," rotting away in a "Small Town," and even urging the typical blues couch potato to "Come on, Get Your Morning Exercise." The excellent Testament label was the first to track Walker with the superb 1964 album entitled Rough and Ready.  

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Yank Rachell and Homesick James 5-28-93 Chicago Blues Fest

Born James Rachell, his career as a performer spanned nearly seventy years, and was often teamed with the guitarist and singer Sleepy John Estes. He grew up in Brownsville, Tennessee, but in 1958 moved north to Indianapolis during a revival in old blues music. He recorded for Delmark Records and Blue Goose Records. Though a capable guitarist and singer, he was better known as a master of the blues mandolin; he had bought his first mandolin at age 8, with a pig his family had given him to raise. "She Caught the Katy," which he wrote with Taj Mahal, is considered a blues standard
In his later years he appeared in filmmaker Terry Zwigoff's documentary about fellow musician Howard Armstrong, and was a featured performer with John Sebastian and the J-Band.

By the mid 1990s, Henry Townsend and his one-time collaborator Rachell were the only active blues artists whose performing lives stretched back to the 1920s. In later years he suffered from arthritis which shortened his playing sessions, though he still recorded an album just before his death, Too Hot For the Devil."


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Yank Rachell on the death of John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson 1914-1948

Sonny Boy Williamson (John Lee Curtis Williamson, March 30, 1914 — June 1, 1948) was an American blues harmonica player, and the first to use the name Sonny Boy Williamson.

This is Sonny Boy I as opposed to Alex Rice Miller known as Sonny Boy II.

I love these old interviews