Biography

For more information, contact:
Michael Frank, CEO
Earwig Music Company, Inc.
2054 W. Farwell Ave.
Chicago, IL 60645
mfrank@earwigmusic.com
office phone 773-262-0278
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born October 24, 1936 - died April 10, 2013

Chicago guitarist Jimmy Dawkins would just as soon leave his longtime nickname “Fast Fingers” behind. It was always something of a stylistic misnomer anyway; Dawkins’s West Side-styled guitar slashes and surges, but seldom burns with incendiary speed. Dawkins’s blues are generally of the brooding, introspective variety — he doesn’t engage in flashy pyrotechnics or outrageous showmanship.

It took a long time for Dawkins to progress from West Side fixture to nationally known recording artist. He rode a Greyhound bus out of Mississippi in 1955, dressed warm to ward off the Windy City’s infamous chill factor. Only trouble was, he arrived on a sweltering July day! Harpist Billy Boy Arnold offered the newcomer encouragement, and he eventually carved out a niche on the competitive West Side scene (his peers included Magic Sam and Luther Allison).

Sam introduced Dawkins to Delmark Records boss Bob Koester. Fast Fingers, Dawkins’s 1969 debut LP for Delmark–still his best album to date–was a taut, uncompromising piece of work that won the Grand Prix du Disque de Jazz from the Hot Club of France in 1971 as the year’s top album. Andrew “Big Voice” Odom shared the singing and Otis Rush the second guitar duties on Dawkins’s 1971 encore All for Business. But after his Delmark LP Blisterstring, Dawkins’s subsequent recordings lacked intensity until 1991′s oddly titled Kant Sheck Dees Bluze for Chicago’s Earwig Records. After that, Dawkins waxed discs for Ichiban and Fedora, and continued to tour extensively.

-Written by Bill Dahl

"Jimmy has recorded the best set of his career"
-Blues and Rhythm

"The emotional force of Dawkins' guitar is devastating... an essential album for lovers of blues guitar..."
-Alabama Blues Society Newsletter

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release date August 24, 2016

1.I Ain't Got It 4:14
2.Rockin D. Blues 5:51
3.Made The Hard Way 5:51
4.A Love Like That 4:08
5.Kant Sheck Dees Bluze 9:09
6.Gittar Rapp 4:55
7.Too Bad Baby 4:30
8.My Man Loves Me 4:13
9.Get On The Ball 5:10
10.Wes Cide Bluze 4:57
11.Bettin Nockin Ringin 7:08
12.Luv Sumbody 4:02
Gotta Hold On 6:10

Album Credits
Musicians

JIMMY DAWKINS: lead guitar and vocals
NORA JEAN WALLACE: vocals on 4 & 8
“PROFESSOR” EDDIE LUSK: piano and organ
JOHNNY B. GAYDEN: bass
BILLY FLYNN: rhythm guitar, lead solo on 6
RAY SCOTT: drums

Executive Producer: MICHAEL ROBERT FRANK
Produced by JIMMY DAWKINS Arranged by “PROFESSOR” EDDIE LUSK

Recorded, mixed and edited at ACME RECORDING STUDIO, Chicago,
by BLAISE BARTON with second engineer DAN WHITE

Front cover photography by JAMES FRAHER Inside liner photos by SCOTT OLSON
Design by AL BRANDTNER