Bluesman Willie Buck Gets His Due at CD Release Shows

It certainly was nice to see bluesman Willie Buck getting his due at a trio of recent CD release shows.

Willie Buck at SPACE. Photo by Mike Murphy

This isn’t to say that Buck has been overlooked. After all, he’s been a popular figure on the Chicago Blues scene for over eight decades. He’s headlined clubs, hawked CDs, helped younger artists get their start and frequently hits the local blues benefits to help “buck up” the beneficiaries.

But, with the recent release of his Oh Yeah collaboration with Bob Corritore and an ultra-talented backing band, it seems like the 87-year-old Buck’s musical trajectory will be rising dramatically. This is all due to Oh Yeah being a testament to old-school Chicago blues with Buck’s vocal talents delivering that distinctive sound to lucky listeners.

Oh Yeah dropped on Friday, June 20^th, and Corritore coordinated three shows to coincide with its release. The first show was on June 20^th at the Nordlof Center in Rockford with an all-star cast that included Bob Stroger, Jimi “Primetime” Smith, Billy Flynn and Steve Bass.

Gearing up for Willie Buck in Rockford. Photo by Jean Vetrovec

The action moved over to Rosa’s in Chicago on June 21^st with Harlon Terson replacing Stroger on bass. They wrapped it up with a final show at SPACE in Evanston on June 22^nd with Kenny “Beedy Eyes” Smith on drum duty with Bob Stroger back on bass.  But, despite this stellar cast, the shows were focused on headliner Buck.

That’s not to say that the other artists didn’t shine. These players have been baptized in the Chicago blues tradition, and they delivered the flavor and feel of real-deal Chicago blues from back in the day, Jean Vetrovec of Naperville attended the Rockford opener and said, “It was a really good throwback show” and added that the powerful 2-set performance brought back memories of “the old times seeing blues!”

Like so many others, Vetrovec marveled at 94-year-old Stroger’s skills on bass and his showmanship. She said, “What a treasure! He was so good that night!” Vetrovec also had high praise for Chicago blues’ go-to guitarist, Billy Flynn and complimented Corritore’s strength as a bandleader.

For his part, Corritore said, “it just felt good to be in my own turf kind of reclaiming the blues I grew up around.” He was raised on Chicago’s North Shore where he caught the blues bug at an early age. Corritore credits Buck with giving him the opportunity to play in his band in the late seventies, which gave Corritore the chance to perform with many of his early Chicago blues heroes. The band often included Louis and Dave Myers, Big Moose Walker, Odie Payne and Byther Smith. Corritore moved to Arizona in the early eighties, but the two men remained close with Buck making frequent stops at Corritore’s Rhythm Room in Phoenix.  

After reuniting and rocking the house in Rockford, the Oh Yeah caravan moved the show over to Rosa’s Lounge on Armitage in Chicago. Billed as “Chicago’s Friendliest Blues Club” with a Mississippi juke joint vibe, Rosa’s welcomed a variety of blues lovers, musicians, assorted family members and luminaries like Dick Shurman and Terry Abrahamson.

Willie Buck front and center at Rosa's. Photo by Angela Annoreno

The first show kicked off promptly at 9:30 and started with some solos by Flynn and Smith. Then, it was time for the man of the hour to arrive and Buck was quick to remind people what the show was all about. After receiving a few resounding “oh, yeahs” from the enthusiastic crowd, Buck launched into a few songs from the CD including the catchy title track.

But there were more surprises for blues lovers at the 11 pm show as Buck was joined by many of his contemporaries including Lil Ed and Buck’s guitarist and bandleader, Thaddeus Krolicki. Like Corritore, Krolicki credits Buck with giving him the ability to know and work with many great musicians including Barrelhouse Chuck, Tail Dragger, Mojo Mark, Byther Smith, Sumito “Ariyo” Ariyoshi and Martin Lang along with Flynn and Stroger. 

The 35-year-old Krolicki has been with Buck since 2011 and said they met and “instantly clicked” at the Woodlawn Tap’s Traditional Sunday blues session , which was led by Scott Dirks and Dave Waldman. Krolicki noted that he was already a fan of Buck after listening to a Delmark re-release of his that featured Krolicki’s favorite blues guitarist, Louis Myers.

Besides getting to play next to many of his blues heroes, Krolicki said that “the main things I learned from working with Willie all these years are to be loose and ready for spontaneity. You can’t be too rigid when playing the blues!” He also said that his time with Buck taught him to “work with the singer and serve the song over your own personal ego.”

The songs were all served up in fine fashion when the Willie Buck whirlwind weekend wrapped up with a show at SPACE in Evanston. Here, I was fortunate enough to have a front row seat to see traditional Chicago blues in its finest form. Before the man of the hour arrived, Flynn, Smith and Stroger all excelled with their solo material, and no one blows traditional harp like Bob Corritore.

Bob Corritore and Bob Stroger. Photo by Mike Murphy

All this led up to Buck’s grand entrance and the wily veteran didn’t disappoint.  Jennifer Noble, longtime blues aficionado and author of 50 Women in the Blues, summed it up when she said that “I gotta say, I never saw Willie Buck so happy on stage and he sounded great. Such a strong voice!”

Besides the full-blown old school Chicago blues in its finest form, there were fun unscripted moments during the SPACE show. At one point, Buck received a phone call right before he launched into “Brand New Cell Phone” from Oh Yeah.

With Corritore and Smith both back in Arizona, it would be difficult to predict when this group will get together again. However, the good news is that these

musicans are featured on Oh Yeah, which is avaialble on all platforms.