BARKIN' BILL SMITH Gotcha!

Barkin' Bill Smith

Barkin' Bill Smith sings of the thrill of the chase and the bittersweet aftermath of conquest or surrender - songs of desire, flirtation, loss and regret. Whatever the lyrics pose, Bill is in command behind the microphone. Stylistically he owes much to the great Joe Williams, whose warm, reassuring vocals have, Bill says, always been 'like a friend'. He is indebted too to singers like Percy Mayfield, Jimmy Witherspoon, Big Joe Turner, Wynonie Harris, Brook Benton and other crooners and shouters of the 1940s and 1950s. And while he borrows liberally from others' songbooks, he is entirely an original who has been out there entertaining for nearly 50 years. Asked how he feels on the occasion of his birthday at Chicago's B.L.U.E.S. club,

Barkin' Bill grins his trademark, boyish grin from under the brim of his sharp hat. He has lived to be sixty-six years old, he answers, with equal parts satisfaction and amazement, and he is happy as can be. On the bandstand, Barkin' Bill cuts a fine figure, standing tall in his natty threads. In his caramel-smooth, Joe Williams-style baritone he launches into 'Kansas City' as if it were his personal anthem.

Barkin' Bill Smith was born in Cleveland, Mississippi on August 14, 1928, and early on he sought to escape the endless cycle of planting, chopping and picking cotton. Hard field work and hauling wood marked his childhood. He left Mississippi as a young man and went to East St. Louis, where his first gig was an appearance with Chuck Berry at the Cosmopolitan Club. That audiences rewarded requests with coins and bills amazed him.

He was hooked then and there on the life of the entertainer. After singing ballads in Detroit he came to Chicago, where he adapted to the sound of the small blues combo. While working with Homesick James at the Cotton Club in 1958 he was given the name 'Barkin' Bill'. He did everything back then: he was a singing bartender at the Cougar Club and even worked Maxwell Street with some old-timers. He also sang with Elmore James, Kansas City Red, Hound Dog Taylor, Little Walter, Lonnie Brooks, Eddie C. Campbell and countless other Chicago musicians.

Had he earned a dollar for each time he sat in, Bill says, he would be wealthy - but he often walked away broke. Lately his fortunes have looked brighter: for eight years he appeared at Shaw's Crab House and became a regular on the North Side club circuit. He has made several festival appearances and toured the western U.S., Canada and Alaska with Sam Lay and Madison Slim. 'Gotcha!' is the logical follow-up to his well-received 1991 Delmark release 'Bluebird Blues'. Bill's uptown vocals are complemented here by fine electric guitar work from Steve Freund and superbly crafted horn arrangements.

Steve Freund is a veteran of fifteen years behind Sunnyland Slim with the Big Four band, and his guitar work has graced a dozen releases for a variety of labels. He has produced five recordings and provided right-on-the-money back-up for Sunnyland Slim, Louis Myers, Snooky Pryor, Henry Gray, Magic Slim, Saffire and B.B. Odom, as well as a Koko Taylor recording that earned him a Grammy. His searing, spiritually charged solos burn with genuine intensity.

As usual, Barkin' Bill's repertoire on 'Gotcha!' consists almost entirely of songs about the state of male/female relationships. Whether on 'I Love To Love You', 'Someday After Awhile', 'Too Fine For Crying' or 'What Makes These Things Happen To Me', winning or losing the battle of the sexes, he communicates it all with a charm that begs - and receives - forgiveness. When you listen to Barkin' Bill's smooth, seductive vocals, you really cannot help it: he's gotcha!

- Justin O'Brien -

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