Hot Wax: James Cotton, Junior Wells, Carey Bell & Billy Branch’s Harp Attack! (1990/2024)

The blues as a commercially viable style of music seemed to be in pretty good shape in 1990. The blues boom of the 1980s – stoked by the critical acclaim heaped upon, and the commercial success of guitarists like Stevie Ray Vaughan and Robert Cray – would lead to a crop of innovative young artists like Joe Bonamassa and Kenny Wayne Shepherd. Blues greats of the 1950s and ‘60s like B.B. King and Buddy Guy were still touring constantly to large crowds, and independent blues labels such as Rooster Blues and Black Top Records were thriving, releasing albums from lesser-known, but talented bluesmen and women.

Chicago’s Alligator Records label was still truckin’ along at the dawn of the 1990s, releasing albums during the decade from a diverse roster of blues talent that included Koko Taylor, Charlie Musselwhite, Lil’ Ed & the Blues Imperials, and Lonnie Brooks, among many others. Never the wallflower, label head Bruce Iglauer wasn’t opposed to musical experiments that may or may not pay off in the marketplace. For instance, Showdown – a 1985 collaboration between Albert Collins, Robert Cray, and Johnny Copeland – sold well and earned the label its second Grammy™ Award. So, when Iglauer brought four harp masters together in the studio in 1990, he had great expectations for the resulting album.

Cotton, Wells, Bell & Branch’s Harp Attack!

James Cotton

Originally released in 1990 and now reissued on vinyl, Harp Attack! was the result of four recording sessions that brought together some of the finest contemporary harmonica players in the blues in James Cotton, Junior Wells, Carey Bell, and Billy Branch. While Cotton and Wells were both bona fide legends by 1990, Bell was less well-known but no less respected by the blues cognoscenti. Branch was the “kid” of the group, who had grown up listening to, and learning from the music of the others. It was a challenge bringing the four talented instrumentalists into the studio for, as Iglauer said in an interview with this writer, “bringing harmonica players together isn’t really the same thing as bringing guitar players together, because the concept of chording or rhythm harmonica isn’t there, it’s primarily a solo instrument.”

Still, Iglauer managed to nudge, coax, and coerce great performances from all the artists involved, even getting some fine rhythm harp behind the individual lead solos. Harp Attack! opens with the swinging “Down Home Blues,” a perfect showcase for the assembled talents, and everybody gets their turn in the spotlight. Cotton sings the first verse, and delivers a languid, lazy, but steady-flowing harp solo before handing it over to youngster Billy Branch. While Branch’s vocals aren’t as assured as Cotton’s, his solo is razor-sharp and high flying. Wells is the best vocalist of the bunch, and knocks his verse out before launching into a short, shocking solo. Bell delivers strong vocals and a red-hot solo before Cotton, Wells, and Branch play the song out. Each harpist provides a unique tone and viewpoint to their solo, giving the song the feel of an extended blues jam as they riff on top of Lucky Peterson’s piano and Michael Coleman’s subtle six-string fills.

Tribute to Sonny Boy Williamson

Junior Wells

Even in 1990, you couldn’t record an album of blues harp without paying tribute to the great Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller). Junior Wells does the honors here, cranking out an inspired cover of Williamson’s “Keep Your Hands Out of My Pockets,” mangling the words with his typically soulful drawl, punctuating his vocals with fluid solos that perfectly capture the emotion and impact of the song. The trio of Cotton, Wells, and Branch take on the Delta blues gem “Little Car Blues,” Coleman injecting some tasty fretwork behind Cotton’s lively vocals. As Wells and Branch provide background fills, Cotton’s solo soars above the fray, breathless and bold. By contrast, Wells’ solo here flies low to the ground, hitting your senses like a passing locomotive.

Wells takes the spotlight again on his original “Somebody Changed the Lock,” the song’s jaunty, up-tempo arrangement a perfect foil for his understated vocals and fast-flying harp notes. Coleman and bassist Johnny Gayden lay down a funky rhythmic undercurrent, drummer Ray Allison adds a few well-timed beats, and Peterson’s fingers dash across the keys, but it’s Wells’ game, and his solos are effective and efficient. Bell takes the fore on his “Second Hand Man,” a better showcase for his hearty vocals and his blistering, Big Walter Horton-inspired harp style. Harp Attack! closes with Branch’s “New Kid On the Block,” the 39-year-old “rookie” of the group writing his own ticket with a raucous, biographical Chicago blues rave-up that evokes the best of Wells and Cotton, with a stylistic nod to Little Walter amidst Branch’s rowdy vocals and spirited harp play.

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

The harmonica has a lengthy and respected tradition in blues music, and its role as a lead instrument is second only to the guitar in blues history. From the earliest days of the Mississippi Delta blues, when traveling bluesmen would tuck a “mouth harp” in their pocket and grab a train, through the 1950s when giants like Little Walter and Sonny Boy Williamson brought new popularity for the instrument, to 1960s-era trailblazers like Junior Wells and Paul Butterfield, the harmonica has become ingrained in the music.

Harp Attack! features some of the most spirited and energetic performances you’ll hear on any blues album, and you’ll find few players better than the four artists showcased here. If you’re a fan of blues harp – and who isn’t – this mighty (and essential) record should own real estate in your collection. (Alligator Records, reissued September 13th, 2024)

Buy the record direct from Alligator: Cotton, Wells, Bell & Branch’s Harp Attack!