CURTIS OBEDA:
I'm the guitar player in the Butanes. Junior Wells is one of my favorite people of all time...Junior was one of those folks who loved me--or ignored me. It's like, if Junior was drinkin' too much he might not recognize me, I was just, you know, somebody else...One of my favorite times was, we were down in the Checkerboard Lounge, Buddy Guy's old place on the south side. And I was a very young man, I was in my very early 20's--and I used to come down to the jam session every Monday. And Junior was like, "Hey, Curtis, how are ya!" And it's like, "Junior Wells remembers me from last week," you know. I was very full of myself. And so I was sayin', "You know, Junior--oh, I love you--but I'd really like to see Sammy Lawhorn, and I have not been able to find him." And he said, "Well, let's go git 'im!" So we jumped in my car and we drove to Sammy Lawhorn's house. Now, Sammy had had some physical problems. He had broken both of his ankles when some gangsters of some kind had beaten him up and thrown him out of, like, a third-story window--and when he landed on his feet he broke his ankles and so he was not able to sit up. And he was constantly worried about this. So, Junior cautioned me, "Don't get out of the car!" And I thought, "Well, it's a bad neighborhood." He said, "No no no, that's not it." You know, so he waved to Sammy's wife, who actually had a shotgun out the window of their apartment, in case there was any of these perceived gangsters comin' into the joint...So we got Sammy, and Sammy had been drinkin' all day, he wasn't expectin' us to be there. He was pretty well loaded. And we brought Sammy up to play, and me'n Junior were havin' a ball, we were re-doing the album, 'On Tap', which was a great album on Delmark Records. And I'm havin' a ball--I get to be Phil Guy! Because Sammy Lawhorn is playin' his parts, and I get to be Philip Guy, and Junior's singin' his stuff--and we're havin' a great time. Well then Sammy says, "I wanna do one. This is a song I wrote." And it was 'Chicken Shack.' And whether he wrote it or not, that's a whole different story--but, right in the middle of this thing he had to sit on his amplifier, because of his ankles. He passed out in the middle of the song. So, it's just a shuffle in G. And so we played some more songs with Junior Wells, and about four songs later we were shufflin' in G again, and Sammy wakes up and he says, "Junior you gotta take me home! None o' you guys can keep time." Because we were playin' at a slightly different tempo. And Junior said, "Curt--this is the blues." And it always struck me as, like, yeah, you're right--people drink too much, and then you're the fool. And I've often been Sammy Lawhorn, so--that's my favorite Junior Wells story. And I've known Junior up until the day he died. He used to always tell me 'blues secrets'...he'd whisper in my ear and it wouldn't make any sense. And you'd just say, "Yes. Yes." And you'd agree with 'im. And he was just your best friend after that. (7/15/00 AE)
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I'm the guitar player in the Butanes. Junior Wells is one of my favorite people of all time...Junior was one of those folks who loved me--or ignored me. It's like, if Junior was drinkin' too much he might not recognize me, I was just, you know, somebody else...One of my favorite times was, we were down in the Checkerboard Lounge, Buddy Guy's old place on the south side. And I was a very young man, I was in my very early 20's--and I used to come down to the jam session every Monday. And Junior was like, "Hey, Curtis, how are ya!" And it's like, "Junior Wells remembers me from last week," you know. I was very full of myself. And so I was sayin', "You know, Junior--oh, I love you--but I'd really like to see Sammy Lawhorn, and I have not been able to find him." And he said, "Well, let's go git 'im!" So we jumped in my car and we drove to Sammy Lawhorn's house. Now, Sammy had had some physical problems. He had broken both of his ankles when some gangsters of some kind had beaten him up and thrown him out of, like, a third-story window--and when he landed on his feet he broke his ankles and so he was not able to sit up. And he was constantly worried about this. So, Junior cautioned me, "Don't get out of the car!" And I thought, "Well, it's a bad neighborhood." He said, "No no no, that's not it." You know, so he waved to Sammy's wife, who actually had a shotgun out the window of their apartment, in case there was any of these perceived gangsters comin' into the joint...So we got Sammy, and Sammy had been drinkin' all day, he wasn't expectin' us to be there. He was pretty well loaded. And we brought Sammy up to play, and me'n Junior were havin' a ball, we were re-doing the album, 'On Tap', which was a great album on Delmark Records. And I'm havin' a ball--I get to be Phil Guy! Because Sammy Lawhorn is playin' his parts, and I get to be Philip Guy, and Junior's singin' his stuff--and we're havin' a great time. Well then Sammy says, "I wanna do one. This is a song I wrote." And it was 'Chicken Shack.' And whether he wrote it or not, that's a whole different story--but, right in the middle of this thing he had to sit on his amplifier, because of his ankles. He passed out in the middle of the song. So, it's just a shuffle in G. And so we played some more songs with Junior Wells, and about four songs later we were shufflin' in G again, and Sammy wakes up and he says, "Junior you gotta take me home! None o' you guys can keep time." Because we were playin' at a slightly different tempo. And Junior said, "Curt--this is the blues." And it always struck me as, like, yeah, you're right--people drink too much, and then you're the fool. And I've often been Sammy Lawhorn, so--that's my favorite Junior Wells story. And I've known Junior up until the day he died. He used to always tell me 'blues secrets'...he'd whisper in my ear and it wouldn't make any sense. And you'd just say, "Yes. Yes." And you'd agree with 'im. And he was just your best friend after that. (7/15/00 AE)
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