Legendary Cotton blows into NPAC

Blues lovers will experience a living legend when James Cotton takes the stage at the Northshore Performing Arts Center Jan. 25.

Celebrating his 65th year in the entertainment business, Grammy Award winner James “Superharp” Cotton is a veritable who’s who in the world of the Blues. Inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame, the Smithsonian Institute, and winner of countless W.C. Handy Blues Awards, he has shared the stage with B.B. King, The Rolling Stones, Johnny Winter, the Allman Brothers, Santana, Bonnie Raitt, Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead, and many others.

Cotton was born in Mississippi in 1935, youngest of eight brothers and sisters who grew up in the cotton fields working beside their mother. Cotton’s earliest memories include his mother playing chicken and train sounds on her harmonica and for a few years he thought those were the only two sounds the little instrument made.

By his ninth year both of his parents had passed away and Cotton was taken to Sonny Boy Williamson by his uncle. When they met, the young fellow wasted no time – he began playing Sonny Boy’s theme song on his treasured harp.

As a teenager young Cotton played on Beale Street in Memphis for tips, having no real home to go to. Then at the ripe old age of 15 he cut four songs at Sun Records: “Straighten Up Baby,” “Hold Me In Your Arms,” “Oh, Baby,” and “Cotton Crop Blues.”

KWEM, a radio station in West Memphis, Arkansas, directly across the Mississippi River from Memphis, gave Cotton a 15-minute radio show in 1952. This was a great achievement for a bluesman who was only 17 years old. It gave him a wider audience; not everyone went to juke houses, but the radio was on everyday from 3-3:15 p.m. Mississippi and Arkansas held the very essence of the blues in their cotton fields. People wanted to hear their own music.

Cotton had gigs every weekend but to help support himself better he found a job in West Memphis driving an ice truck during the week. When he got off work one Friday afternoon in early December 1954, he walked to his regular Friday happy hour gig at the “Dinette Lounge” and played his first set. The club was getting crowded and he recognized many familiar faces but when the band took a break, a strange man approached and extended a handshake to Cotton saying, “Hello, I’m Muddy Waters.” He’d heard about the young James Cotton. “I didn’t know what Muddy looked like but I knew it was his voice ‘cause I’d listened to his records,” said Cotton. Muddy needed a harp player. Junior Wells had abruptly left the band. He asked Cotton to play the Memphis gig with him. The answer is history. Cotton remained Muddy’s harp player for 12 years.

The year 1967 is well-documented as Cotton’s first year as a bandleader with the two CD’s “Seems Like Yesterday” and “Late Night Blues” recorded live in Montreal at the “New Penelope” club and unreleased until 1998 on the Justin Time label. It was the first gig on the first tour of the first James Cotton Blues Band.

From that night forward Cotton embarked on tours all across the country. He had crossed over into the blues-rock genre because of his reputation as Muddy Waters’ harp player. During the last half of the 60’s decade Cotton made four records. “Cut You Loose” was released on Vanguard, “Pure Cotton,” “Cotton In Your Ears,” and “The James Cotton Blues Band” were released on the Verve label.

As 1960s rock artists sought to trace back the origins of their music, Cotton recorded with, opened for and/or sat-in with the likes of the Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin, Santana, Steve Miller, Freddie King, B.B. King.. He played the Fillmore East in New York, the Fillmore West in San Francisco, and almost every major venue between those two cities including the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin, Texas.

Cotton became known as the ultimate showman. By the time he got to the center of the stage and blew his first note, the audience was on it’s feet, dancing, screaming, sweating right along with him, and having a good time. That is what it was all about. “Boogie, boogie, boogie,” he’d wail from the stage. He became famous for his back flips. An old fan reminisced with him at a recent festival, “James, the first time I saw you do a back flip, man, I was shocked,” he said, shaking his head, “I’d never seen one before! Thanks.” Cotton laughed, patted his stomach, and replied, “Well, you aren’t getting the flips tonight but you WILL get the music!”

It is an old, true story – there are nights when he blows his harmonica so hard the keys fall out in his hands. A man with a good sense of humor, his old fans and friends like to remember one night when he began playing so hard his harp fell apart, “Oh, I’m just warming up,” he teased them with a big smile.

The 1970’s brought releases from Buddah Records of “100% Cotton,” “High Energy,” “Alive and on the Move,” and “Live at the Electric Lady.” All this time he was touring, crossing the country many, many times, and playing to packed houses.

The name “Superharp” has been with Cotton ever since Kenny Johnson, the drummer in Cotton’s band at the time, arrived at the gig one evening with a denim jacket adorned with silver studs, a popular clothing decoration at the time.

A recording contract with Alligator Records in 1984 produced “High Compression,” and two years later, Cotton’s first Grammy nomination, “Live From Chicago: Mr. Superharp Himself!” Cotton’s next Grammy nomination was for Blind Pig Records’ 1987 release “Take Me Back.” “James Cotton: Live” was just that – and it captured the blues spirit of the world-renowned Antone’s nightclub in Austin, Texas. Cotton’s third Grammy nomination was recorded on the Antone’s label in 1988. Cotton recorded “Living the Blues” a 1994 release on Verve Records. It garnered one more Grammy nomination.

Cotton has always been known for having one of the best bands in the business. The members are: Slam Allen, guitar, vocals; Tom Holland, guitar, vocals; Noel Neal, bass; Kenny Neal, Jr., drums; and, of course, Superharp, James Cotton. His eyes light up when he talks about his band, “My audience always tells me how I’m doing. If I look out there and don’t like what I see, I work harder.”