Howlin’ Wolf: Chicago’s Most Powerful Voice in Blues History
Sam Phillips had heard plenty of talent by May 1951. However, nothing set him up for the sound that hit his Memphis studio when a 40-year-old farmer named Chester Arthur Burnett grabbed the mic. Phillips called it “the most different record I ever heard.” Furthermore, he spent the rest of his life saying that losing Howlin’ Wolf to Chess Records hurt worse than losing Elvis. That fact alone tells you what kind of force Wolf was.
Howlin’ Wolf’s Mississippi Roots
Chester Arthur Burnett was born on June 10, 1910, in White Station, Mississippi. The tiny town sat about four miles from West Point. His parents — Gertrude Jones and Leon “Dock” Burnett — split up before his first birthday. As a result, young Chester moved back and forth between Monroe County with his mother and the Delta with his father.
The name “Howlin’ Wolf” came from his maternal grandfather, John Jones. Jones warned the boy that wolves would come for him if he kept squeezing his grandmother’s chicks so hard. Indeed, the nickname stuck for the rest of his life — a fitting moniker for a man whose voice would eventually terrify and thrill audiences across the country.
Learning from Charley Patton
Wolf’s big break as a student of the blues came in 1930. That year, he met Charley Patton — the top dog of Delta blues at the time. Wolf stood outside juke joints night after night, soaking up Patton’s gritty vocals and wild guitar tricks. Also, he watched how Patton worked a crowd. Eventually, Patton took him under his wing and taught him “Pony Blues.” It was the first song Burnett ever learned to play.
In particular, Patton’s stage moves left a deep mark. Wolf picked up the old man’s tricks — playing guitar behind his back, tossing it between his legs, flipping it in the air. He used those moves for the rest of his career. Meanwhile, Patton’s voice — said to carry 500 yards with no mic — became the model for Wolf’s own booming sound.
Sonny Boy Williamson II and the Harmonica
Wolf’s other key teacher was Sonny Boy Williamson II, who had married Burnett’s step-sister Mary. In 1933, Burnett moved to Parkin, Arkansas. There, Williamson taught him how to play the harmonica. Also, the two men spent the 1930s and 1940s playing together at juke joints and farm towns across the Delta and Arkansas. By 1949, Williamson had moved to West Memphis and was living in Wolf’s home.
Between those learning years and his first records, Wolf farmed for over a decade in Mississippi and Arkansas while performing at local gatherings and juke joints. In essence, he absorbed the Delta blues through direct apprenticeship with Patton and Williamson rather than from phonograph recordings. That hands-on training gave his music a raw edge that no studio player could match. Ultimately, those formative decades turned Chester Burnett into something far more dangerous than a skilled musician. They turned him into a force of nature.
The Memphis Recordings That Changed Everything
On May 14, 1951, Wolf walked into Sam Phillips’ studio with a small but potent band. Ike Turner — just 19 years old and still about six years away from meeting Tina — sat at the piano. Willie Johnson played guitar. Willie Steel sat behind the drums. Together, they cut two songs that would fundamentally reshape the blues world.
“Moanin’ at Midnight” and “How Many More Years”
“Moanin’ at Midnight” came out on Chess Records that August. By November, it had climbed to #10 on the Billboard R&B chart. The flip side, “How Many More Years,” then peaked at #4. Music writer Robert Palmer later called “How Many More Years” the first record to use a distorted power chord. Willie Johnson played it. In fact, that moment helped lay the base for rock and roll itself.
Phillips kept recording Wolf through 1951 and 1952, building a catalog of tracks that showcased an artist unlike anything Memphis had produced before. Nevertheless, a bidding war broke out between Chess Records and the Bihari brothers at Modern Records over the rights to Wolf’s recordings and future output. Chess eventually won the fight. As a result, Chicago blues gained one of its most commanding voices, and Memphis lost a talent that Sam Phillips would mourn for the rest of his career.
Howlin’ Wolf Conquers Chicago
Wolf moved to Chicago around 1952, and the city’s South Side blues scene would never recover from the impact. He stood six foot three and weighed approximately 275 pounds — dimensions that earned him early nicknames like “Big Foot Chester” and “Bull Cow.” His size alone filled up a room. His physical presence commanded attention before he sang a note. His voice, however, commanded absolutely everything else.
Building the Band
After arriving in Chicago, Wolf hired guitarist Jody Williams as his first regular bandmate. Then, in 1954, he persuaded a young Hubert Sumlin to leave Memphis and join the group as second guitarist. When Williams departed in 1955, Sumlin stepped into the lead role — a position he would occupy for the remainder of Wolf’s career. The pairing between Wolf’s volcanic vocals and Sumlin’s angular, unpredictable guitar lines became one of the most distinctive combinations in blues history. Remarkably, the two maintained their musical partnership for over two decades despite Wolf’s notoriously demanding temperament.
The Willie Dixon Songbook
At Chess Records, Wolf met his other great partner: Willie Dixon. Dixon was the label’s house bassist and top songwriter. He wrote most of the songs that made Wolf famous — “Spoonful,” “Back Door Man,” “Little Red Rooster,” “Wang Dang Doodle,” “I Ain’t Superstitious,” and “Evil.” Yet the two did not always get along. Dixon noted that Wolf kept close tabs on what he wrote for Muddy Waters. Wolf wanted songs just as strong — and he let Dixon know it.
The Rivalry with Muddy Waters
The battle between Wolf and Muddy Waters defined Chicago blues for a decade. At first, Waters gave Wolf a warm welcome. He even let Wolf stay at his house when he arrived from Memphis. However, both men loved to compete, and the friendship turned into a fierce contest for the top spot on the South Side.
They regularly poached each other’s sidemen and tried to outplay each other at every opportunity. At the 1969 Ann Arbor Blues Festival, Wolf deliberately stretched his set to prevent Waters from reaching the stage — a move that infuriated the festival organizers. Nevertheless, the rivalry gradually cooled as both men aged. By the late 1960s, they occasionally ate dinner at each other’s homes and commiserated over the challenges of being aging bluesmen in a changing music industry. After all, they had more in common than either one had ever cared to admit.
Musical Style: The Voice That Filled Every Room
Howlin’ Wolf was not mainly a guitar player or a harmonica star. Instead, he was something rarer: a singer whose voice had no equal in American music. People said he sounded 15 feet tall. He could growl, howl, moan, and shout — often in a single phrase. No one else sounded like him. No one has since. That voice was his greatest tool, and he knew exactly how to use it.
Vocal Power and Stage Presence
Wolf based his singing on Charley Patton’s rough style, but he pushed it much further. Early on, he tried to copy Jimmie Rodgers’ blue yodel. The result came out more like a growl, and he leaned into that sound. On stage, he was a force of nature. A 275-pound man would crawl across the floor, climb on speakers, and own every inch of the room. Consequently, crowds in Chicago’s blues clubs knew they were seeing something they would never forget.
Harmonica and Guitar
Wolf’s harmonica technique came directly from Sonny Boy Williamson II’s instruction, and he deployed the instrument to complement his vocals rather than to showcase technical virtuosity. Similarly, his guitar playing remained rooted in Charley Patton’s foundational approach — rhythmic, percussive, and perpetually in service of the song rather than the soloist. He knew that his voice and his size hit harder than any solo ever could. As a result, he consistently surrounded himself with extraordinary musicians — Sumlin on guitar, Dixon on bass — who could generate the instrumental intensity his performances demanded.
Key Recordings
Moanin’ in the Moonlight (1959, Chess Records)
Wolf’s first album pulled together his best Memphis and early Chicago tracks. It held “Moanin’ at Midnight,” “How Many More Years,” “Smokestack Lightning,” and “Evil.” Specifically, “Smokestack Lightning” — put out as a single in 1956 and peaking at #11 on the R&B chart — became his most well-known song. Its one-chord riff and Wolf’s wailing vocal showed what electric blues could be at its most basic and its most gripping. The song later entered the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999 and the National Recording Registry in 2009.
Howlin’ Wolf (The Rocking Chair Album) (1962, Chess Records)
Named for its cover art, this set gathered 12 Chess singles cut between 1957 and 1961. It featured many of Wolf’s Dixon-penned hits: “Spoonful,” “Wang Dang Doodle,” “Little Red Rooster,” and “Goin’ Down Slow.” Notably, the album caught Wolf’s band at its tightest. Sumlin’s guitar had never sounded sharper, and Wolf’s vocals were at their peak.
“Killing Floor” (1964)
This single showed Wolf at his most driven and urgent. Its riff became one of the most copied in rock. Led Zeppelin used it freely for “The Lemon Song” and later paid Wolf a copyright fee of $45,123. Furthermore, “Killing Floor” proved that Wolf could create raw power on his own, beyond Dixon’s pen.
“Evil” (1954, Chess Records)
Cut on May 25, 1954, this Dixon tune showed a different side of Wolf’s voice. Where “Smokestack Lightning” was hypnotic and “Killing Floor” was aggressive, “Evil” was dark and controlled. The song became a live staple for years. Moreover, it proved early on that Wolf and Dixon could craft songs with lasting power. Indeed, many of those early Dixon tunes still get covered today.
The London Howlin’ Wolf Sessions (1971, Chess/Rolling Stones Records)
Laid down in May 1970 at Olympic Studios in London, this album teamed Wolf with rock stars: Eric Clapton on lead guitar, Charlie Watts on drums, Ian Stewart on piano, and Klaus Voormann and Phil Upchurch on bass. Clapton insisted that Chess fly Hubert Sumlin to London for the dates. He refused to play without him. Remarkably, Wolf cut these tracks while taking kidney dialysis between takes. That fact says everything about his will to keep going.
The Back Door Wolf (1973, Chess Records)
Wolf’s final studio album contained entirely new material, recorded with his regular touring band: Sumlin, Detroit Junior, and bandleader Eddie Shaw. Although noticeably shorter than his earlier releases due to his deteriorating condition, the album demonstrated that Wolf still possessed genuine artistic conviction. Moreover, its stripped-down production captured his band with an intimacy that the more polished Chess recordings sometimes lacked. It remains his last statement in the studio — defiant and uncompromising to the very end.
Health Decline and Final Years
Wolf’s health began deteriorating in 1969, when he suffered his first heart attack. Then a 1970 automobile accident caused severe kidney damage that required regular dialysis treatments. In May 1971, a second heart attack compounded his kidney failure, and his physicians ordered him to stop performing entirely. Instead, Wolf continued playing whenever his condition allowed — a stubbornness that defined him as thoroughly as his voice did. Accordingly, he performed sporadically throughout the early 1970s despite increasing physical limitations. His last public appearance took place in November 1975 at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago.
In December 1975, he entered the VA Hospital at Hines, Illinois. On January 7, 1976, doctors found a brain tumor. They did surgery right away, but Wolf never woke up. He died on January 10, 1976, at age 65. His wife, Lillie Handley Jones Burnett — whom he had married on March 14, 1964 — outlived him.
Lillie had been a steady force in Wolf’s life. She managed money well and owned property in South Chicago. In turn, her stability gave Wolf freedom to focus on his music during the years when his body was falling apart. Few blues wives received the credit they deserved, and Lillie was no exception.
Lasting Impact of Howlin’ Wolf
Howlin’ Wolf’s mark on rock and roll is hard to overstate. The Rolling Stones took “Little Red Rooster” to #1 on the UK chart in 1964. It was the only pure blues song ever to top that chart. Cream turned “Spoonful” into a 17-minute jam on Wheels of Fire in 1968. Led Zeppelin owed a clear debt to “Killing Floor.” Indeed, the whole British Blues Invasion drew from Wolf’s Chess catalog.
Beyond individual compositions, Wolf helped establish the fundamental architecture of what an amplified blues ensemble could accomplish. His setup — big vocals backed by sharp lead guitar, harmonica, bass, and drums — influenced generations of players from Buddy Guy to the White Stripes. Consequently, the recognition followed. The Blues Foundation inducted him into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame added him in 1991. In addition, the Grammy organization awarded him a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008.
Four of his songs — “Little Red Rooster,” “Smokestack Lightning,” “Killing Floor,” and “Spoonful” — sit on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s list of 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll. According to the Blues Foundation, his reach goes past any single genre. His voice, his bands, and his stage work built a bridge from Delta field calls to arena rock. That bridge still stands strong today, and it shows no signs of falling.
Essential Listening
Start with “Smokestack Lightning” — its hypnotic one-chord structure remains unlike anything else in the blues canon. Then move to “Spoonful” and “Back Door Man” for the strongest examples of the Wolf-Dixon collaboration. “Killing Floor” showcases his raw, aggressive side without any Dixon involvement. For the complete arc of his career, listen to Moanin’ in the Moonlight (1959) first, then follow with The Rocking Chair Album (1962). Finally, if you want to hear Wolf battling physical decline with nothing but determination, The London Howlin’ Wolf Sessions (1971) is essential listening — imperfect but profoundly human.
Complete Discography
Studio and Compilation Albums
- Moanin’ in the Moonlight (1959, Chess Records)
- Howlin’ Wolf / The Rocking Chair Album (1962, Chess Records)
- The Real Folk Blues (1965, Chess Records)
- More Real Folk Blues (1966, Chess Records)
- The Super Super Blues Band (1968, Chess Records) — with Muddy Waters and Bo Diddley
- The London Howlin’ Wolf Sessions (1971, Chess/Rolling Stones Records)
- The Back Door Wolf (1973, Chess Records)
Posthumous Collections
- The Chess Box (1991, Chess/MCA) — the best career overview
- His Best (Chess Legendary Masters Series)
- Smokestack Lightning: The Complete Chess Masters 1951–1960 (2011, Hip-O Select)
