From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Mon Jul 7, 2003  1:16 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Pinetop Perkins

PINETOP PERKINS (By Phil Davies)

Born Joe Willie Perkins, 7 July 1913, Belonzi, Mississippi

Born on a plantation and worked alongside his older pal (and later fellow
musician) Boyd Gilmore. Music provided solace from the drudgery and eventually
an escape route. Although nicknamed Pinetop in honour of his boogie woogie hero
Clarence "Pinetop" Smith, Joe Willie was originally a guitarist. In the 30s he
worked with Willy Love, he learnt to play the drums and piano, but an encounter
with an outraged chorus girl toting a knife at a Helena, Arkansas nightspot
left him with severed tendons in his left arm. That dashed his guitar
aspirations, but he came back strong from the injury, concentrating solely on
piano from that point on.before joining Robert Nighthawk's band playing with
the elegant slide guitarist on Nighthawk's KFFA radio program. 

When Nighthawk went north to Chicago Perkins joined rival Sonny Boy
Williamson's beloved King Biscuit Time radio show in Helena, where he remained
for an extended period. Sonny's band included one Joe Willie Wilkins so our
Joe Willie was named Pinetop as he usually played Pinetop's Boogie Woogie in
his spot. Later Perkins accompanied Nighthawk on a 1950 session for the Chess
brothers that produced Jackson Town Girl, but Chicago couldn't hold him at
the time. 

Nighthawk disciple Earl Hooker recruited Perkins during the early '50s. They
hit the road, pausing at Sam Phillips' studios in Memphis long enough for
Perkins to wax his first version of "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie" on July 15th
1953(not released at the time, appeared on a Charly LP and the Sun Blues Box).
He was a busy boy that day and played on Earl Hooker's session inc Move On Down
The Line, Hucklebuck and Blue Guitar (amongst others), also on childhood buddy
Boyd Gilmore's Believe I'll Settle Down. 

Don't know about Boyd but Pinetop settled in downstate Illinois for a spell,
then relocated to Chicago. He played on sessions for the likes of Little
Miltonand Albert King. Music gradually was relegated to the back burner until
Hooker coaxed him into working on an LP for Arhoolie in 1968. When the great
Otis Spann split from Muddy Waters, the stage was set for Pinetop Perkins's
re-emergence. 

After more than a decade with Muddy , Perkins and his bandmates left en masse
to form the Legendary Blues Band. Their early Rounder albums prominently
spotlighted Perkins's rippling 88s and rich vocals. He had previously waxed an
album for the French Black & Blue logo in 1976 and four fine cuts for
Alligator. Perkins was tired of touring and left the band.In 1988, he cut his
first domestic album for Blind Pig, After Hours.

Ever since then, Pinetop Perkins has made up for precious lost time in the
studio. Discs for Antone's, Omega (Portrait Of A Delta Bluesman, a solo outing
that includes interview segments), Deluge, Earwig, and several other firms
ensure that his boogie legacy won't be forgotten in the decades to come. He
still plays gigs too, an example to us all.

Thanks as always to AMG/Robert Santelli

Recommended Reading: 
Notes to Sun Blues Box on Charly by Neil Slaven and Roger Dopson

Recommended Listening:

July 15 1953 Sun side/session work on various Sun Blues cds or part of the epic
Sun Blues Box
Life Of Ease/ Red Hot N Blue - Legendary Blues Band albums for Rounder
King Bee - Muddy Waters - Blue Sky
Boogie Woogie King - Evidence
On Top - Deluge
Portariat Of A Delta Bluesman - Omega