RIP Hubert Sumlin

We first heard the great bluesman Hubert Sumlin play live at The Lobby in Cork during the 2000 Jazz Festival. We had just finished playing in Counihans’s and we ran straight from the stage hoping to catch some of his show before he finished. The Lobby was packed to the rafters and we were sadly told that the pub was filled to capacity (and then some); there was no way we could be let in; and nobody was about to leave. We sat on some beer kegs outside the pub, had a drink, and just listened to Hubert play.
We had grown up listening to Howlin’ Wolf, had danced to his records at parties, had listened to him full volume while lying on the floor in the dark, and when you heard Howlin’ Wolf, you heard Hubert Sumlin. Hubert’s unique guitar sound was as much Howlin Wolf’s sound as his own, the two were inseparable and became one. Hubert defined the musical shape, tone and texture behind blues music’s most distinctive voice, and his talent and genius equalled that of his ferocious partner. Hubert Sumlin created an individual guitar approach and style which can be immediately recognised as his alone, while also inventing and providing an unmistakably original trademark guitar backing for one of the greatest “Masters of the Blues”. Hubert’s haunting chords and quirky, hypnotic riffs perfectly complimented Howlin Wolf’s powerful, raw voice, and blended together they made a single instrument. Like his beloved musical partner before him, the bluesman Hubert Sumlin has also gone to his rest a great “Master of the Blues”.
After Hubert’s show at The Lobby finished, he and his band stepped out onto the street right beside us. He got a big laugh seeing us seated on our beer kegs, and we found ourselves having a friendly chat with a living legend of the blues, one of our main musical influences, a genuine American icon, and a thoroughly charming man. We struck up an immediate rapport with Hubert as we discussed mutual friends in the blues such as John Lee Hooker, Carey Bell, Bo Diddley, BB King and Fats Domino, among others. Hubert invited us to join him on the rest of his Irish tour which started the following night in one of our favourite places to play, The Rock and Blues Club in Ennis. Joining Hubert on stage for several songs was one of the high points of our blues career, but it was when he and Mary hit the opening notes of “Smokestack Lightning” to the amazement of his own band and to the delight of the crowd that we knew we were part of something exceptionally profound, rare and wonderful. Hubert had staunchly refused to play Howlin’ Wolf’s signature tune since his partner’s death, feeling that he could not do justice to their song without its famous vocalist. Mary sang it with a depth of power and passion which paid respect and tribute to not only Howlin’ Wolf himself, but to the “Master Bluesman” the great Hubert Sumlin.

Brian Palm