Twelve Bars and Beyond Blues Innovator and All-Around Maniac Eddie C. Campbell
Campbell, who’ll celebrate his 60th birthday at Buddy Guy’s Legends on Friday, came to Chicago from Mississippi with his family in 1945. As a young guitarist he paid the usual dues, playing around the west side with other aspirants like fellow guitarists Luther Allison and the late Willie James Lyons, later earning the chops and the reputation to work with such luminaries as Little Walter and Howlin’ Wolf. For a time Campbell worked as director of Jimmy Reed’s band. Then in the 70s he landed a job with Koko Taylor, who recommended him to her mentor, Willie Dixon, who put him in his Chicago Blues All-Stars. Campbell recorded for a few obscure labels, but unlike many of his contemporaries’ recording careers, his didn’t take off until rather late in the game. Campbell’s independent spirit may have been partly to blame. “I play a variety of music,” he says. “I always have, and a lot of people can’t play a variety of music, because as far as they go is 12 bars–that’s as far as they want to think. I got thrown out of the studio when I was trying to record.
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In England, the Netherlands, and Germany, Campbell played nightclubs and festivals as his reputation slowly spread (“I didn’t have a hard time, but finding a booking agent was a little rough”). He even toured in a German stage adaptation of William Faulkner’s Requiem for a Nun. He cut an album for the Black Magic label in the Netherlands (Let’s Pick It!, reissued on Evidence in 1993), and back home Rooster Blues reissued King of the Jungle. By the time he returned to Chicago in the early 90s, Campbell was an international celebrity.
Only recently has Campbell felt strong enough to consider returning to the stage. It’s obvious he was shaken by the attack and that he regards his birthday party as a double celebration. “I’d never put my guitar down,” he says. “But when it threatens my life…that sorta scares me a little bit.”
