Chief Schabuttie Gillame - Snakes Crawl At Night (2004)

Born in Eqypt in 1925, the Chief was the first son of a tribal Chief and was raised in the tribal traditions. He moved to America in 1969 and began singing in a place called Momma Leones in New York. After that he moved to Arkansas and ended up getting a job singing with Charlie Rich. He loved singing country music but it was in Dark Hollow, Arkansas where he heard the “Blues” and his destiny was clear. He got a job working as a roadie for Arkansas Larry Davis and Albert King. One night he filled in singing for Albert King , who had laryngitis, and his Blues career was born.

He moved to Tucson in 1981, where he met harmonica player (and producer) Bob Corritore and developed a friendship that has eventually resulted in the recording and release of ‘Snakes Crawls At Night’. The music comes from four sessions of varying musicians in Clarke Rigsby’s Tempe studio in 2001 and 2002.

In 1989 he moved to Phoenix and quickly made friends with local legends, Bob Tate and Dennie Hartnet., who helped him learn about the music business. The Chief has performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival, The Celebrity Theatre and many other venues around the Valley.

He has been a mainstay of the Phoenix blues scene for the past 23 years. A stout, jolly man who calls Voodoo his religion, Chief is a lover of women and he claims to have 7 wives and 17 children.” Ain’t that a man?

The Chief performs ten of his original blues backed by four distinguished electric band ensembles, giving the listener a double treat: not only in the excellent blues of Chief Schabuttie Gilliame and the bands backing him, but also in providing a most interesting exercise in blues redux—what would the great Howlin’ Wolf have sounded like backed by differing blues bands that played other styles than his classic West Side Chicago band sound of guitar, sax and piano?

For this set, Corritore has assembled some of the best musicians on the current blues scene, including heavyweight guitarists like Kid Ramos, Junior Watson, Rusty Zinn, Kirk Eli Fletcher, Louisiana Red, Teddy Morgan, Johnny Rapp and Buddy Reed; the drummers include Richard Innes, Paul Fasulo and Chico Chism; Tom Mahon and Matt Bishop provide piano, whilst Corritore is featured with his own superb harp.

With a line-up like that it would be difficult to fail, but Gilliame more than holds his own in such illustrious company, being the possessor of a gravelly voice, permeated with humour, that was always intended to sing the blues. Gilliame possesses one of those great, deep blues voices that cuts right to the bone. The Chief is known for his wild stage antics and his gargle-with-gasoline-and-rinse-with-asphalt voice.

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.