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San Luis Obispo Blues Society Check out these upcoming events! Saturday, January 6, 2001 eDDIE
KING &
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Band:
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NOW SHOWING
Saturday, JANUARY 6, 2001
EDDIE KING & THE SWAMP BEES
BLUES SHOW REVIEW
Celebrate the New Year with some high energy Blues. On Saturday, January 6, the SLO Blues Society will present Eddie King and the Swamp Bees. Opening the show will be the Demolition Blues Band. The show will be held at the SLO County Vets Hall and starts at 8 pm. Tickets are $10 for members and $12 for non-members. You can buy a membership for $10 at the door and get $2 off for this show. The new 2001 Blues t-shirts will be on sale at the show.
Eddie King & the Swamp Bees
Eddie “King” Milton
knew back in 1957 when he was sitting in with Muddy Waters or Howlin’ Wolf
in the Chicago South Side clubs that he’d have to pay some dues before
his star would rise. Eddie arrived on the Chicago Blues scene at
about the same time as Luther Allison, Magic Sam, and Freddie King.
From the mid-1950’s through the 1960’s, he played every famous blues spot
and hole-in-the-wall in Chicago, with the likes of Willie Dixon and Sonny
Boy Williamson. While Eddie was waiting for his big break to come,
he appeared on numerous recordings as a back-up musician.
Despite his obvious talents and reputation, Eddie wouldn’t record as a headliner until the 1980’s. Part of his problem was that he left Chicago for lengthy tours of the South and Alaska. He moved to Peoria and became the hottest act in town for over a decade. His reputation in Chicago remained solid because of his on-again off-again association as lead guitarist / band leader for Koko Taylor. His breakthrough recording hit of the 1980’s was put out by a Dutch record company that did not market in the States.
Back with Koko Taylor in the mid-1990s, Eddie continued to impress Blues fans with his guitar mastery. He was signed by Roesch Records and released the CD “Another Cow’s Dead” in 1997. The CD hit the big time, receiving the 1998 W. C. Handy Award for best “comeback blues album”. Here is a sample of from some of the reviews:
“It’s easily one of the best Chicago blues albums of the last ten years and it’ll have all the critics raving about this ‘new blues star out of Chicago’” (Real Blues Magazine); “King is a potent singer and player with a raw, gospel-tinged voice and an aggressive, thick-toned guitar sound” (Living Blues); “Eddie’s taste leans toward a mix of straight ahead blues and Memphis soul, a range that his gospel-inflected, down-home voice covers to great effect” (Living Blues).
