Son Seals - Bottom Line 1978

So way back in 1978 this then youngin' was living in San Francisco. One evening shortly after the holidays my crazy next door neighbor showed up at my front door sporting a bleeding head wound. In the course of cleaning him up and bandaging said wound he explained that his somewhat volatile girlfriend had clocked him with a frying pan and ejected him from the apartment. Knowing him she likely had considerable provocation.

This event lead to a couple weeks on my couch while he contemplated his next move. One night while toking up some fine green bud he asked if I might like to fly to New York for a few days, seems he and the girlfriend had planned the trip prior to the event described above and he had the tickets and room already paid for (he had to sneak back into the apartment to acquire them). The following Friday night we boarded a jet at SFO and went for a long weekend in The Big Apple. I seem to recall we saw something Saturday that clearly didn't impress me much since I have no recollection of who it was, but on Sunday I found a listing for a Blues show at the Bottom Line for a guy who I'd recently discovered, Son Seals.

The club was in The Village on West 4th so it was in walking distance of our rather seedy hotel and we had some pizza slices on the way over and arrived a bit early and set to some serious preparatory drinking and toking. I was aware that Seals was still new to the bizz and played some fairly primitive equipment (like a Montgomery Wards guitar) and the setup on the stage seemed to reflect that...except for the shinny new Traynor top and bottom over on the right side of the stage. The band came out and started rockin' hard, fully justifying my excitement about seeing them, but that shinny Traynor set remained alone and vacant thru the first part of the show.

I wish I could recall when it was in the show that that equipment came into use, but I must plead ancient memory and significantly altered condition. What I do recall is at some point my eyes left the stage to accomplish a somewhat less than stealthy passing of a joint when a gasp from the crowd snapped my eyes back to the stage. A tall, thin white wraith had appeared in front of the unused equipment and in a nano second my brain exploded...there stood Johnny Winter!

The rest of the show was a blur of scorching guitar and soulful singing that I will never forget! Flash forward to a week ago and on the plixid site I find this cd! Almost wet my pants!

Son Seals - Midnight Son 1976

Wow! Have we really made it this far without a Son Seals post?? I LOVE this guy - live he was a similar experience to Luther Allison, he just wore your ass out! You did not walk away from a Son Seals' show un-satted!

"He was born in Osceola, Arkansas where his father, Jim "Son" Seals, owned a small juke joint. He began performing professionally by the age of 13, first as a drummer with Robert Nighthawk, and later as a guitarist. At age 16, he began to play at the T-99, a local upper echelon club, with Walter Jefferson, “Little Walter”, who was his brother in law. At the T-99, he played with many other musicians, such as Albert King, Rufus Thomas, Bobby Bland, Junior Parker, and Rosco Gordon. Their varying styles contributed to the development of Seals' own playing techniques. While playing at the T-99, he was also introduced to country-western music by Jimmy Grubbs, who would ask Seals to gig with his group every now and then on both drums and guitar. At 19 years old, he formed his own band to fill in at a local club in Osceola called the Rebel Club. Shortly thereafter, a man from Little Rock, Arkansas came to find “Little Walter” for a gig at his club, but when he turned it down the offer went to Seals. The band members were “Old man Horse” (Johnny Moore) on piano, Alvin Goodberry on either drums, guitar, bass, or piano, “Little Bob” (Robinson) on vocals, and Walter Lee “Skinny Dynamo” Harris on piano. The band’s name was “Son Seals and the Upsetters.”

In 1971, Seals moved to Chicago. His career took off after he was discovered by Bruce Iglauer of Alligator Records at the 'Flamingo Club' in Chicago's South Side. His debut album, The Son Seals Blues Band, was released in 1973. The album included "Your Love Is Like a Cancer" and "Hot Sauce". Seals followed up with 1976's Midnight Son and 1978's Live and Burning. He continued releasing albums throughout the next two decades, all but one on Alligator Records. These included Chicago Fire (1980), Bad Axe (1984), Living in the Danger Zone (1991), Nothing But the Truth and Live-Spontaneous Combustion (1996). He received the W.C. Handy Award in 1985, 1987, and 2001.

Author Andrew Vachss was a friend of Seals, and used his influence to promote Seals' music. Vachss gave Seals several cameo appearances in his novels and co-wrote songs with him for his 2000 album, Lettin' Go. Vachss dedicated the novel Mask Market to Seals' memory.

In 2002, Seals was featured on the Bo Diddley tribute album, Hey Bo Diddley - A Tribute!, performing the song "My Story" (aka "Story of Bo Diddley").

Seals had a number of problems in his life. He survived all but one of his fourteen siblings, and in 1997 he was shot in the jaw by his wife, sustaining injuries which required reconstructive surgery. Also, in 1999 part of his left leg was amputated, due to complications from diabetes. He lost belongings in a fire that destroyed his home while he was away performing live, and several of his prized guitars were stolen from his home. After his health problems Seals used a number of different accompanying bands, such as James Soleberg's, Jimmy Vivino's, and Big Jim Kohler's, while on the road.

The band Phish performed Seals' song "Funky Bitch", and brought him on stage on multiple occasions.

Seals died in 2004, at the age of 62, from complications of diabetes; he was survived by his sister and fourteen children."