Byther Smith - Working Man's Blues: Electric Chicago Blues 1962-1990 (CD)

Release Date: 02/17/23

The definitive overview of one of the most intense and hard playing Chicago Blues guitarists of the past few decades.

'The band, crowded onto a small stage tucked into a corner of the bar, locks into a rollicking, Chicago blues groove. Then he steps back and discharges a series of clear, surprisingly fat-toned notes from his Stratocaster, turning the dancers into watchers, and the watchers into people standing, whistling, and applauding.' Niles Frantz on Byther Smith at Koko Taylor's Chicago Blues club in January 1996.

The first time I saw Byther Smith live during his 1990 debut U.K. I just had to spread the word about how good Byther really was. Influenced by Otis Rush, Magic Sam, B.B. King and his cousin J.B. Lenoir he played a set of tough, electric Chicago blues, promoting his new CD 'Addressing The Nation With The Blues' recorded in 1989 at Chicago's Soto Sound Studio.

On that tour he played diverse venues including Pendle, Aldershot, Norwich, Dublin and the final date was in Southampton, where Alan Balfour reporting for Blues & Rhythm said: 'Byther's set lasted for two hours, and the years spent scuffling around Chicago clubs were coming home to roost...where the bar room atmosphere and constant, yet friendly audience banter with Byther eked out of him a totally committed performance.'

Blues fans who got a chance to meet him on the tour remarked how a soft-spoken man, who didn't drink or smoke could create a such an electrifying blues show.

In 1989, determined to use the title of his 'lost album' he recorded 'Addressing The Nation With The Blues' at Soto Sound Studio for John Stedman at JSP. The album gained excellent reviews in the blues press media - it was the set he had been looking to record after previous disappointments.

So popular was the CD JSP re-manufactured it in 1994 and released it as a special limited edition 'surround sound' edition in 2004.