Chief Schabuttie Gilliame. With a gravelly voice that evokes Howlin' Wolf, the Chief delivers a tough set of old school blues on "Snakes Crawls At Night",Gilliame has been playing in the Phoenix area since the early
Gilliame possesses one of those great, deep blues voices that cuts right to the bone with Howlin' Wolf being the closest comparison. As producer Corritore has assembled an amazing cast of top West Coast players to back Gilliame: guitarists include Rusty Zinn, Kid Ramos, Kirk "Eli" Fletcher, Junior Watson, Johnny Rapp, Teddy Morgan with Louisiana Red sitting in on one cut plus one-time Wolf drummer Chico Chism and Corritore himself helping out on harmonica. The music here is tough, vintage blues circa 50's era Chicago/Southern blues and like the best of that music features excellent ensemble playing from all involved. The opener "Come To Me Baby" sets the blueprint for the rest of the album and is a classic blues shuffle featuring some fine Big Walter styled blowing from Corritore and ace guitar work from Zinn and Fletcher. The rest of the album is uniformly strong including the down and dirty "No More Doggin'", the retro R&B groove of "Big Legged Emma" with nice tenor from Baron Shul and the tough "Lie To Me" featuring some fuzz laden, grungy guitar from Louisiana Red. Other highlights include the dark, ominous vibe of "Snakes Crawls At Night" featuring the twin guitars of Rapp and Ramos and a similar
low-down groove on "Willie Brown Blues" as Gilliame really gives it to that no good woman and that "big shot" Willie Brown she's messing with.Chief spent time traveling with Albert King and loves to sing his music, Chief also calls "Arkansas" Larry Davis as a big influence, Larry was author of Texas Flood made a bar staple by Stieve Ray Vaughn. Chief spent time in the deep swamps of Lousiana soaking up the influences of Clifton Chenier and Bozo Chavis Cajun swamp sounds. OH boy alligator pie!
Chief is preproduction of a new cd to come out this summer and promise to revisit his roots from Arkansas and Lousiana with the music of his mentors and of course some killer originals. Only the Late Great Sonny Boy could write songs as salacious as the Chief so stay posted.
Thanks for listening.
