Jimmy Rogers

Guitarist Jimmy Rogers was the last living connection to the groundbreaking first Chicago band of <a href="spotify:artist:4y6J8jwRAwO4dssiSmN91R">Muddy Waters</a> (informally dubbed "the Headhunters" for their penchant of dropping by other musicians' gigs and "cutting their heads" with a superior on-stage performance). Instead of basking in world-wide veneration, he was merely a well-respected Chicago elder boasting a seminal '50s <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Chess+Records%22">Chess Records</a> catalog, both behind <a href="spotify:artist:4y6J8jwRAwO4dssiSmN91R">Waters</a> and on his own.

Born James A. Lane (Rogers was his stepdad's surname), the guitarist grew up all over: Mississippi, Atlanta, West Memphis, Memphis, and St. Louis. Actually, Rogers started out on harp as a teenager. <a href="spotify:artist:6HwigzRpuWoCZDqMOQc5eu">Big Bill Broonzy</a>, Joe Willie Wilkins, and <a href="spotify:artist:5hId7yMy0kbGP6IiKWVDql">Robert Jr. Lockwood</a> all influenced him, the latter two when he passed through Helena. Rogers settled in Chicago during the early '40s and began playing professionally around 1946, gigging with <a href="spotify:artist:69VgCcXFV59QuQWEXSTxfK">Sonny Boy Williamson</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5IrMTnoQ7OgoLpFfsisXX2">Sunnyland Slim</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:6HwigzRpuWoCZDqMOQc5eu">Broonzy</a>.

Rogers was playing harp with guitarist Blue Smitty when <a href="spotify:artist:4y6J8jwRAwO4dssiSmN91R">Muddy Waters</a> joined them. When <a href="spotify:artist:6xvCAutMGoKknAWPv0tnxR">Smitty</a> split, <a href="spotify:artist:22JuR9OeENcP54XN5TlNWS">Little Walter</a> was welcomed into the configuration, Rogers switched over to second guitar, and the entire post-war Chicago blues genre felt the stylistic earthquake that directly followed. Rogers made his recorded debut as a leader in 1947 for the tiny Ora-Nelle logo, then saw his efforts for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Regal%22">Regal</a> and <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Apollo%22">Apollo</a> go unissued.

Those labels' monumental errors in judgment were the gain of Leonard Chess, who recognized the comparatively smooth-voiced Rogers' potential as a blues star in his own right. (He first played with <a href="spotify:artist:4y6J8jwRAwO4dssiSmN91R">Muddy Waters</a> on an <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Aristocrat%22">Aristocrat</a> 78 in 1949 and remained his indispensable rhythm guitarist on wax into 1955.) With <a href="spotify:artist:22JuR9OeENcP54XN5TlNWS">Walter</a> and bassist Big Crawford laying down support, Rogers' debut <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Chess%22">Chess</a> single in 1950, "That's All Right," has earned standard status after countless covers, but his version still reigns supreme.

Rogers' artistic quality was remarkably high while at <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Chess%22">Chess</a>. "The World Is in a Tangle," "Money, Marbles and Chalk," "Back Door Friend," "Left Me with a Broken Heart," "Act Like You Love Me," and the 1954 rockers "Sloppy Drunk" and "Chicago Bound" are essential early-'50s Chicago blues.

In 1955, Rogers left <a href="spotify:artist:4y6J8jwRAwO4dssiSmN91R">Muddy Waters</a> to venture out as a bandleader, cutting another gem, "You're the One," for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Chess%22">Chess</a>. He made his only appearance on Billboard's R&B charts in early 1957 with the driving "Walking by Myself," which boasted a stunning harp solo from <a href="spotify:artist:7ApWhtmpJkPyd5WjwDdDfX">Big Walter Horton</a> (a last-second stand-in for no-show <a href="spotify:artist:0RVvc29Nt39V4pjvMab6Y8">Good Rockin' Charles</a>). The tune itself was an adaptation of a <a href="spotify:artist:6nPKmEbQmR8jGZEm7ArOFX">T-Bone Walker</a> tune, "Why Not," that Rogers had played rhythm guitar on when <a href="spotify:artist:6nPKmEbQmR8jGZEm7ArOFX">Walker</a> cut it for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Atlantic%22">Atlantic</a>.

By 1957, blues was losing favor at <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Chess%22">Chess</a>, the label reaping the rewards of rock via <a href="spotify:artist:293zczrfYafIItmnmM3coR">Chuck Berry</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:2bmixwMZXlkl2sbIbOfviq">Bo Diddley</a>. Rogers' platters slowed to a trickle, though his 1959 <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Chess%22">Chess</a> farewell, "Rock This House," ranked with his most exciting outings (Reggie Boyd's light-fingered guitar wasn't the least of its charms).

Rogers virtually retired from music for a time during the '60s, operating a Westside clothing shop that burned down in the aftermath of <a href="spotify:artist:4lWl4G5wgAH9i3GwumUDkB">Dr. Martin Luther King</a>'s tragic assassination. He returned to the studio in 1972 for <a href="spotify:artist:6r1Xmz7YUD4z0VRUoGm8XN">Leon Russell</a>'s <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Shelter%22">Shelter</a> logo, cutting his first LP, Gold-Tailed Bird (with help from the Aces and <a href="spotify:artist:5dCuFngSPyOOnTAvrC7v2s">Freddie King</a>). There were a few more fine albums -- notably Ludella, a 1990 set for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Antone%27s%22">Antone's</a> -- but Rogers never fattened his discography nearly as much as some of his contemporaries have. Jimmy's son, <a href="spotify:artist:2ccILyp74XrXw9p3dlmUc9">Jimmy D. Lane</a>, played rhythm guitar in his dad's band and fronts a combo of his own on the side. Rogers died December 19, 1997. At the time of his death, he was working on an all-star project featuring contributions from <a href="spotify:artist:6PAt558ZEZl0DmdXlnjMgD">Eric Clapton</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1aTDTChWWyiJH3SEnYrdVp">Taj Mahal</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1OwarW4LEHnoep20ixRA0y">Robert Plant</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:55bGuHb50r5c0PeqqMeNBV">Jimmy Page</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:3d2pb1dHTm8b61zAGVUVvO">Mick Jagger</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:08avsqaGIlK2x3i2Cu7rKH">Keith Richards</a>; upon its completion, the disc was issued posthumously in early 1999 under the title Blues, Blues, Blues. ~ Bill Dahl, Rovi