Did Guitarist Jimmy Rogers Invent Chicago Blues?

Ted Drozdowski | 06.02.2009

Muddy Waters is credited with defining the ensemble sound of Chicago blues. But there’s a school of dissenters who argue that it was another Mississippi expatriate, Jimmy Rogers, who actually crafted and perfected the electric style that’s come to define the genre.

Rogers, who was born in Ruleville, Miss., as James A. Lane on June 3, 1924, was Waters’ friend and bandleader during a crucial early period in Muddy’s recording and performing career, from 1946 or ’47 to 1955.

Rogers was a more sophisticated player than Waters. He schooled Muddy on jazz chords and phrasing, and helped the blues-giant-to-be polish his command of standard tuning. Additionally, Rogers brought his friend Little Walter into Muddy’s band, and the three men developed a style apart from the amplified Delta blues sound that distinguishes Waters’ early sides like 1948’s "I Can’t Be Satisfied" and "I Feel Like Going Home."

On-stage and in rehearsal it was often Rogers who took the reins, recruiting rhythm sections and helping Waters work out arrangements for his songs. Hence the dispute over who really honed the sound of Chicago blues to its classic form.

Although Chess Records did not allow Waters to record with his full ensemble until 1951, his band with Rogers and Walter had taken Chicago clubs by storm and hit the road almost since its inception. And Rogers and Waters had a spellbinding way of meshing their guitar lines. Their interplay can be heard on great singles like Muddy’s 1951 "Stuff You Gotta Watch" and ’52’s "Standing Around Crying," where Rogers’ chunky sliding chords apply soulful counterpoint to Waters’ heart-piercing slide guitar. 

By that time Rogers was also an established recording artist in his own right. In 1950 he’d had his first back-to-back smash with "Ludella" and "That’s All Right." You can hear Waters’ playing as Rogers’ sideman on "Blues All Day Long" and "Chicago Bound" as well as other tracks on the excellent two-CD Jimmy Rogers: The Complete Chess Recordings.

Through the early ’50s Rogers played a variety of Gibson electric guitars, but quickly seized upon the ES-335 when it was released in 1958 and favored that model for the rest of his life.

Rogers’ string of recordings for Chess, which includes his classics "Sloppy Drunk" and "Walking By Myself," ended in 1959 and Rogers transitioned briefly to Howlin’ Wolf’s band. But the hits thinned out and so did the popularity of blues. A few years before the music’s mid- and late-’60sresurgence, Rogers quit the business and drove a cab before opening a clothing store in Chicago.

His shop was burned in the riots that followed Martin Luther King’s assassination, and Rogers returned to performing. By 1971 his recordings were rediscovered by European blues fans and his career reignited. Rogers led his own bands and recorded original and classic material until his death in 1997 at age 73. At the time he was cutting an album with some of the rock stars he’d influenced, including Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, and Robert Plant. It was released two years later as Blues BluesBlues.

Today Rogers’ son Jimmy D. Lane — a high intensity player — continues the family tradition, slinging guitar and singing on his own solo albums and contributing to a wealth of blues recording sessions.