by Renée Rosen
He finally peered around the stage curtain. Every seat in the house was filled and almost every face was white, except for Red’s. You couldn’t miss him and that Afro of his. He was sitting right in the front row with Leah. She had a ’fro, too—modest, though, kept short and close to her head. It was because of the two of them that he was there at all and he knew that.
Muddy was in the middle of “I’m Your Hoochie Coochie Man” and he was groovin’. The man was the definition of cool, leaning against a stool in his tailored suit, his slide guitar squealing and twisting. And that voice. No one sounded like the Mud. The crowd was going nuts, singing along, swaying back and forth. When Muddy played that last note, the applause seemed to go on forever. It sounded like thunder and that kicked his nerves up another notch because any second now he’d be out there, in front of them all.
Muddy grabbed hold of the microphone and thanked the audience while their applause died down. “. . . And now I wanna introduce y’all to a fine young musician . . .”
This is it. Here we go.
“. . . Let’s bring him on out here. Ladies and gentlemen, get ready for Ja-a-mes Du-pr-e-e-e!”
James’s legs were shaking as he took his place center stage. Muddy shook his hand, whispered in his ear, “Go get ’em,” and made his exit. James was on his own now with Muddy’s band backing him. He couldn’t make out any faces in the audience; the stage lights were blinding. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He clutched his guitar, his father’s secondhand Stella, and played the opening chords of “Windy City Blues.” He opened his eyes, opened his mouth, and the song began to happen, coming out of him like it’d been sitting there, waiting on him all this time, all his life. He was on his way, the next generation, there to carry on the tradition of the blues.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
• • •
The subject of the blues is vast and impossible to cover fully in one book, let alone a novel. The Chess Records story is at the heart of the blues and therefore at the heart of this book. Chess and its iconic artists not only created a new sound for Chicago and the country, but they took their Chicago sound around the world. By recording electrified blues this music laid the foundation for rock ’n’ roll and helped to blur the racial color line for a new generation.
My intention was to let the Chess Records story stand as the cornerstone of this novel while weaving in the fictional lives of characters Leeba Groski, Red Dupree, Aileen Booker, J.J. Johnson, Mimi Cooke, Smitty and the Groski family.
As much as I’ve tried to tell the story of how the blues got started in Chicago, I have taken some literary license with certain events, details and embellishments that grew out of my imagination. For instance, Chuck Berry indeed had his run-ins with the law. In fact, he had two trials and ultimately went to jail for violating the Mann Act. For the purpose of this book, I combined those two incidents and moved up his jail time.
Similarly, Aristocrat Records was founded in 1947 by Evelyn and Charles Aron along with their partners, Mildred and Fred Brount and Art Spiegel. For the purpose of this novel I chose to focus on the partnership between Evelyn and Leonard (who soon joined Aristocrat to help with distribution). Together, Evelyn and Leonard were equally instrumental in launching Muddy Waters’s career.
The original second guitarist in Muddy Waters’s first electric band was Jimmy Rogers, but for the purpose of this book, I’ve substituted the fictional Red Dupree. I mean no disrespect to the talented Jimmy Rogers, who is later identified as Muddy’s second guitarist in these pages.
The Five Blazes changed their name to the Four Blazes in 1949 when a member dropped out of the group in 1948.
Please note that I have also compressed the following timelines in order to help the flow of the narrative: Tom Archia’s “Fishin’ Pole” was recorded in July 1947 rather than April 1947. Al Morgan’s “Jealous Heart” was released in 1947 rather than 1949. Sunnyland Slim’s “Johnson Machine Gun” was recorded in September 1947 rather than February 1948. The Rendezvous in Memphis opened in 1948 and here Leonard pays his first visit to the restaurant in 1947. Theresa’s Lounge opened in December of 1949 rather than November 1949 as I have suggested here. The Macomba Lounge fire occurred in the fall of 1950 rather than January of 1950. Bo Diddley appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show on November 20, 1955, rather than in September 1955.
Over the years Chess Records created several subsidiary labels, including Checker, Argo and Cadet. For simplicity’s sake I put all the artists and their records under the Chess label.
Also please note that while “Bilbo Is Dead” met with controversy at white radio stations in the South, it did not generate a boycott or create the kind of backlash depicted here. That was the fiction writer in me, embellishing the premise for the sake of the story.
I did a great deal of research for this book and was fortunate enough to talk with several members of the Chess family, including Pam, Terry and Roberta Chess. I also had several meetings with Keith Dixon, Willie Dixon’s grandson, and spoke with blues musicians Sly Johnson and Chuck Crane. Many of the details from the Children’s March in Birmingham were relayed to me by Shelley Stewart during our interview as well as through his book Mattie C.’s Boy.
I would also like to acknowledge the work of authors and filmmakers who provided me with excellent source material. I’ve listed them all here and highly recommend them for further exploration of the blues, Chess Records and the civil rights movement.
BOOKS
The Record Men: The Chess Brothers and the Birth of Rock and Roll by Rich Cohen (New York: W. W. Norton, 2005)
Spinning Blues into Gold: The Chess Brothers and the Legendary Chess Records by Nadine Cohodas (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000)
Deep Blues by Robert Palmer (New York: Viking, 1981)
When I Left Home: My Story by Buddy Guy (Boston: Da Capo Press, 2012)
Can’t Be Satisfied: The Life and Times of Muddy Waters by Robert Gordon (Boston: Little, Brown, 2002)
Chicago Blues: The City and the Music by Mike Rowe (New York: Da Capo Press, 1981)
A Natural Woman: A Memoir by Carole King (New York: Grand Central, 2012)
Chuck Berry: The Autobiography by Chuck Berry (New York: Harmony Books, 1989)
Mattie C.’s Boy: The Shelley Stewart Story by Don Keith (Montgomery, AL: NewSouth Books, 2013)
Race Mixing: Black-White Marriage in Postwar America by Renee Christine Romano (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003)
The Jews of Chicago: From Shtetl to Suburb by Irving Cutler (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1996)
Chicago’s Jewish West Side by Irving Cutler (Chicago: Arcadia, 2009)
Chicago’s Maxwell Street by Lori Grove and Laura Kamedulski (Chicago: Arcadia, 2002)
DOCUMENTARIES AND FILMS
The Howlin’ Wolf Story: The Secret History of Rock and Roll directed by Don McGlynn
Deep Blues: A Musical Pilgrimage to the Crossroads directed by Robert Mugge
Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues: Godfathers and Sons directed by Marc Levin
Maxwell Street Blues directed by Linda Williams and Raul Zaritsky
Record Row: Cradle of Rhythm and Blues written by Geoffrey Baer and Michael McAlpin
Cheat You Fair: The Story of Maxwell Street directed by Phil Ranstrom
Cadillac Records directed by Darnell Martin
Who Do You Love directed by Jerry Zaks
Freedom Riders directed by Stanley Nelson
King (miniseries) directed by Abby Mann
Born in Chicago directed by John Anderson
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
• • •
1. Windy City Blues is set in the 1940s, 50s and 60s and deals with themes of racism and segregation. Given today’s rise in racial tensions, do you think as a nation we’ve made progress in terms of racial discrimination or do you see us going backward?
; 2. Leonard Chess was a complex man. What did you think about his motivations for wanting to be successful? How did you think he treated his artists? And Leeba? In the end, did you think he was a savvy businessman or someone who exploited his musicians? Or perhaps something in between?
3. As Windy City Blues points out, there were many similarities between Jewish immigrants coming from Eastern Europe and black migrants come up from the South. Did this parallel surprise you? What did you think about the way the two groups helped each other? Do you think that same alliance still exists today?
4. It was a fact that Leonard and Phil Chess did not possess any musical abilities of their own and yet they were two of the most celebrated record producers of all time and were inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. What was it about them that you think made them so successful? What do you consider to be their biggest contributions to the blues and rock ’n’ roll?
5. The payola scandal truly shook up the radio and record industries, and yet in the end the “pay to play” practice was not found to be illegal. The only crime involved was not reporting and paying taxes on the money the deejays and stations received. Do you still think it was wrong for record companies to pay in exchange for airplay? Do you think they misled and manipulated the listening public? And if so, how is that different from today’s manufacturers—of everything from soda pop to shampoo—paying retailers for display space and product placement in movies and videos?
6. As an interracial couple, Leeba and Red faced many obstacles. What stood out to you as their most difficult struggles? In 2017 do you think an interracial couple would experience any of the same challenges? Or do you think it’s a nonissue in today’s environment?
7. When Red and Leeba become involved in the civil rights movement they basically put their lives on the line for their cause, as did the real-life Freedom Riders and civil rights activists. Is there a cause in your life now that you feel just as passionately about? What social movements under way now are just as important as the civil rights movement?
8. Leeba’s mother strongly disapproved of her friendship with Aileen and her marriage to Red. How did you feel about Mrs. Groski? Did you think she was a hypocrite? Why do you think Leeba never shared her mother’s racist views?
9. Despite coming from such different backgrounds, Leeba and Aileen share a very tight and special friendship. Obviously Aileen has some demons and emotional problems, but still Leeba stood by her side. Did you think Leeba’s devotion to Aileen was admirable or unhealthy?
10. Many music critics and music historians have stated that if Chuck Berry had been white, he would have surpassed Elvis in popularity. Do you think that’s true? What did you think about Berry’s run-in with the law?
11. It’s often been stated that popular music, especially rock ’n’ roll, can be traced back to the days of gospel, jazz and the blues. The Rolling Stones are mentioned in Windy City Blues, but can you think of other examples of artists and bands that were heavily influenced by the blues?
Photo by Charles Osgood Photography
Renée Rosen is the bestselling author of White Collar Girl, What the Lady Wants, Dollface and the young adult novel Every Crooked Pot. She lives in Chicago. Visit her online at reneerosen.com, facebook.com/ReneeRosenAuthor and twitter.com/ReneeRosen1.
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