{"id":158617,"date":"2026-06-10T09:00:30","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T13:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=158617"},"modified":"2026-06-09T09:05:01","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T13:05:01","slug":"happy-birthday-howlin-wolf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=158617","title":{"rendered":"“I couldn’t do no yodelin’, so I turned to howlin’ and it’s done me just fine.”– Howlin’ Wolf"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nChester Burnett, who would eventually become the legendary Howlin’ Wolf, was born on this day in 1901. <\/p>\n

He is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the “early influences” category. He is in the Memphis Music Hall of Fame (He recorded at Sun Records in the early years – pre-Elvis, in other words). He is in the Mississippi Music Hall of Fame. He is in the Blues Hall of Fame. I could go on. <\/p>\n

Sam Phillips at Sun Records talked about him with the reverence usually reserved for spiritual experiences or out-of-body close encounters with extra-terrestrials. Everyone felt that way about him. The Rolling Stones sure did. He was one of their major influences. When the Stones appeared on Shindig<\/i>, they handed over the stage to Howlin’ Wolf, with a great blues band, including the great James Burton (who would eventually play for Elvis all through the 70s). It’s astonishing, and the young Rolling Stones sit on the stairs behind him, looking up at him, agog. Poor quality clip visually, but all you need are the vocals.<\/p>\n

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