Problem Solver

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Editorial Reviews
<"b0001db46a2999"> About the Artist
(Living Blues article from issue No. 96 March/April 1991. The Beat Behind The Blues) by Chris Nesmith and Ken Woodmansee

Bobby Little has followed a path unfamiliar to the majority of blues performers. Instead of leaving his rural roots behind for the big city, like so many artists, Little did just the opposite. He began his musical career in the Bay Area of California, singing doo wop, then migrated to Chicago's vibrant West Side where his musical direction took shape, and eventually settled in the cradle of the Delta- Clarksdale, Mississippi- where he has begun performing once again. In between his travels, Little developed his drumming craft under the guidance of Fred Below and Odie Payne and set the beat for bluesmen Earl Hooker, Jimmy Johnson, A.C. Reed, and a host of others. He also adopted a new name at the suggestion of Magic Sam.

Besides mastering the drums, Little also learned another facet of the music business during his years on the road. He began dabbling in radio broadcasting in the late '60s in Mississippi after his fellow bandmates decided to disband and head back North. When the F.C.C passed laws requiring radio stations to hire black employees, Little seized the chance to learn more about the industry. It wasn't long before he became a well-known pesonality on several stations throughout the South. More importantly, Little learned the art of promotion while in radio. Today, Bobby Little combines all these talents to carry on the musical tradition that he loves. Tell me how you got into music.

Shoot, that's a long, long, long, story. It started back before I was teenager. Just started with singin' in the streets in junior high, around the different projects we used to live in, out in the Bay Area of Oakland, and Berkeley,and the San Francisco area. And we used to have little doo-wop groups, we we used to call 'em back in the early '50s. Well, four or five guys would get together and have harmony. Guys like the Clovers was during that time; guys like the Penguins and the Moonglows. We used to try to copy all of them. And then we used to have little calypso groups wher I used to mess around with little bongos and conga drums.

I used to be gettin' licks on the side of my head all the time by my mother when I used to beat on the side of the dishpan with knives and forks and, you know, carrying a little rhythm, That's basically how I got off into it. And my family background, there's a lot of musicians , in gospel. My grandmother was asinger in church; great-great grandfather was a preacher and a singer in church. And even my mother, she was a singer in the choir.

After I come out of the service, we started messing around with more instruments. I used to try to play some instruments when I was in high school. They had me me on instruments I didn't care nothing about. I started out playin', when they had room for me, with that big upright bass. Or if they had room for me on what they called a cello. [Laughs.] Things like violin or accordion. It's been a lot of little instuments in my real young days that we used to have playin'. Coming through the service I used to tinker around the piano a little bit. And going through the service we had the same type of little gatherings like we had coming up, the little doo-wop groups in the N.C.O. clubs. Coming out of service, I got deeply involved, 'cause I got interested in drums.

When I got interested in drums, I got really involved. When I come out of the service I stopped around Chicago, wher my grandmother was, and started messing around with different musicians. I remember putting together my first set of drums.

How did you do that?

There's a place in Chicago, right at 18th and Halsted, used to be a big music store there, wher everybody used to go. I had what we would call a marching drum. One place I found a used tom-tom. Didn't have no head on it so I turned it upside down, used the bottom of it. A floor tom, didn't have no heads on it, so

<"b0001db46a4999"> Album Description
New from the legendary Bobby Little: Bobbys latest solo album of blues origionals and hits. The REAL Delta Blues as only Bobby can deliver it. Listen to his sound bites at geocities.com/bobbylittle2002 Buy this great Blues album. You'll be glad you did Thanks Highland Records

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