![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/john_primer_hard_times.jpg\")
John Primer has an impressive pedigree; he\u2019s worked as bandleader for Willie Dixon, Magic Slim, Muddy Waters and Junior Wells, which in and of itself is enough to warrant further investigation of his artistry. As a solo artist, he founded the Real Deal Blues Band in Chicago in the mid \u201890s; he has released a great volume of material.<\/p>\n
About seven years ago he was part of an all-star musical cast paying tribute to Muddy Waters; his guitar work is featured on Muddy Waters 100<\/i><\/a>, a document of that project. In recent years he has collaborated on several recordings with blues harpist Bob Corritore; 2020\u2019s The Gypsy Woman Told Me<\/i><\/a> is a highlight of that creative pairing. He\u2019s also on a must-0hear album released last year, Johnny Iguana\u2019s Chicago Spectacular!<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n And Iguana \u2013 who\u2019s also on that Muddy tribute \u2013 returns the favor on Hard Times, the latest release from John Primer. But the core of the music is Primer\u2019s Real Deal Blues Band, and the star is guitairst Primer himself. Across 13 songs \u2013 all original, something of a rarity in the world of blues releases \u2013 Primer e,bodies the soul and spirit of Chicago blues. Me moves I na variety of style; while \u201cDon\u2019t Wait too Long\u201d is standard uptown blues, there\u2019s a Howlin\u2019 Wolf vibe to the title track.<\/p>\n Primer rarely ventures outside the blues idiom, and there\u2019s no need for him to do so. He takes it low and slow on \u201cBlues Blues Blues,\u201d and if the lyrical content doesn\u2019t offer up anything new, it provides a vehicle for some searing slide work. And that\u2019s enough.<\/p>\n There\u2019s an upbeat, positive character to songs like \u201cI Won\u2019t Sweat It,\u201d and Iguana\u2019s spirited piano adds just the right element to an already tasty tune. The loping \u201cAll Alone\u201d is a highlight as well. Daughter Aliya Primer guests on vocals for \u201cTough Times,\u201d and makes it plain that talent runs in the family. Steve Bell\u2019s harmonica work on the track is deeply soulful.<\/p>\n Lyrically, Primer concerns himself with workaday topics, the kind of things with which listeners can surely relate: \u201cHot Meal, \u201cWhiskey\u201d \u2026 you get the idea. It\u2019s meat and potatoes Chicago blues, played with passion, grit and the skill that comes from years of honing one\u2019s craft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" John Primer has an impressive pedigree; he\u2019s worked as bandleader for Willie Dixon, Magic Slim, Muddy Waters and Junior Wells, which in and of itself is enough to warrant further […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24077,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,49,65],"tags":[4183],"class_list":["post-24076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blues","category-new-release","category-review","tag-john-primer","cat-9-id","cat-49-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24076"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24076\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24078,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24076\/revisions\/24078"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}