Classic 1982 Chicago studio session also featuring Buddy Guy - plus stunning live tracks and previously unreleased three track studio session.
"Jimmy Dawkins came of age in the late 50s and early 60s alongside Magic Sam and Otis Rush. he plays as if his guitar were on fire. David Whiteis
Born in Lettsworth, Louisiana, on April 28th, 1940 Phil Guy was the younger brother of Buddy Guy. He learned to play Buddy's acoustic guitar and was soon sneaking from home to hear a harmonica player John Tilley, better known as 'Big Poppa'.
"I moved up to Chicago probably in '69 because in Baton Rouge there was just no work. I was tired of my job at a law firm and I wanted to travel and get into the blues. I just wanted to move out of Louisiana because the blues scene was in Chicago."
On arrival in Chicago he joined Buddy's band who were booked for a U.S. State Department sponsored tour of Africa. By 1970, Phil was a member of brother Buddy and Junior Wells' band opening for the Rolling Stones on a European tour including three nights in Paris in September. Phil even managed to squeeze in session work in Paris on a Memphis Slim album.
He said of himself: "I'm a north side - south side player. I never play the west side - I'm going to try to play the west side because they really like the blues. They stick to guitars and drums, they don't use keyboards too, much like the south side players do."
Jimmy 'Fastfingers' Dawkins hailed from Tchula, Mississippi. "I got my first guitar in 1953, or late 1952. My mother bought it for me from a Chicago mail order house for a very expensive price, at that time, of $11. I was always around the bands of Smiley Lewis, Guitar Slim and Fats Domino. I would say I liked their styles better than the Chicago sound. Then I came to Chicago in '55 and I see harmonica, two guitars and a drummer. They still sounded full. But I couldn't understand it. This wasn't what I expected to find, but I liked it once I did discover it."