Little JC & His Blues Band - Before They Drive Me Crazy (1996)

As a child, Little Jc started messing around with harmonicas, trying to follow in his father's footsteps, who was a harmonica player himself. Only in his teenage did he sarted to play seriously, just after he had the shock of his life listening to a recording by the great Sonny Boy Williamson II. He would listen to it night and day, and say today, "it was a revelation, I'd never heard such music before!".
After that he really got involved in Blues music, hanging out with other musicians and jamming with them occasionally.
In 1985 he put together his first band, "Black Cat Bone", but switched to Little Jc & his blues band, after he learned that the original name was already used by another group.
In 1989, Jc met Louisiana Red and the legendary Bluesman gave him a try-out, after Little Jc asked if he could play with him. Jc remembers, after two or three songs at the sound check Louisiana Red came to me and said: "OK Little Boy! you're gonna play with me tonight,...I like the way you blow your harp!". Red took him under his wing, and from that day on, hired him for most of his concerts in Europe. "And he taught me well: beside his guitar, Red is also a great harp player who learned from the harmonica virtuosios of the Chicago Golden Years themselfs, people like Little Walter, Big Walter Horton, Carey Bell. He would show me a lot of their tricks!"
Meanwhile, Little Jc kept his band together, and they started playing more and more all over Europe, even as faraway as Russia. He's sat in with great street musicians in Chicago, and jammed with blues artists in the windy's blues clubs.
He also shared the stage with such people as Eddie C. Campbell, Johnny Johnson, Zora Young, Bill Thomas, Carey Bell, RL Burside. He played drums with Raoul Ficel Blues Trio with who he recorded two CDs, second guitar with Chicago harp player Matthew Skoller, bass guitar for Rock Bottom, toured with his band backing Chicago artist Tommy Mc Cracken and also toured France and Switzerland with Chicago Blues singer Big Time Sarah.
In year 2000, after some bad days of misfortune that left him with no band, he half retired from the business, only giving his ok to play with Louisiana Red and concerts in solo the way he sarted 20 years ago : the Doctor Ross one man band style. During this time he also managed to learn a new trade as lumberjack, get married and give his wife a child.
He says today: ". I am now back on my feet and stand stronger than ever... It won't hurt me anymore, I just feel sorry for those people ".
No matter if you'll find him playing by himself with his outstanding one man band formula, with a band or backing up great bluesmen like Louisiana Red: he'll give you his best!!!