J.B. Hutto

• Genre: Chicago Blues
• Hometown: Blackville

About

The late J.B. Hutto was a singer and slide guitar player in the slashing Boogie and blues style of Elmore James. Slightly more refined than his contemporary, Hound Dog Taylor, Hutto understood his mandate to get the party rocking -- which he did, night after night in Chicago's South Side clubs during the 1960s. By the '70s, Hutto had moved to Boston and he and his ever-changing backing band, the New Hawks, played the blues club and festival circuit worldwide. Hutto's raw, searing guitar style sliced through his band's sound like a hot knife through butter, and his vocals were equally powerful. He died in 1983.

- Tom Heyman