Grammy Award winning, world-renowned blues harp icon's first new release in six years. A huge event in the blues world
and a treat for harmonica fans everywhere. Cotton has nearly 160,000 career scans, despite the majority of his releases
pre-dating Sound-scan. Giant marks his return to Alligator, home of two mid-'80s Cotton classics and the harp
super-session Harp Attack!. Rolling Stone calls Cotton, "among the greats of all time. He blazes on harp with brilliant
virtuosity." He was recently feted at a 75th birthday tribute at the Lincoln Center in New York.
Review
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"...among the greats of all time. He blazes on harp with brilliant virtuosity." --Rolling Stone
About the Artist
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Grammy Award-winning blues harmonica master James "Mr. Superharp" Cotton is a blues giant in every respect.
Cotton has recorded almost 30 solo albums, including two highly-regarded releases for Alligator in the 1980s and the
famed Harp Attack! with Junior Wells, Carey Bell and Billy Branch in 1990.
Born in Tunica, Mississippi on July 1, 1935, the youngest of eight brothers and sisters, he received a harmonica for
Christmas as a very small boy and mastered it almost immediately. He began listening to Sonny Boy Williamson's King
Biscuit Time broadcasting from Helena, Arkansas and learned to imitate the older bluesman. In 1944, his uncle took the
nine-year-old boy to meet his hero. The child's talent amazed Sonny Boy, who took the boy under his wing. Too young to
enter the clubs, the youngster often played for tips outside, sometimes drawing crowds to rival Sonny Boy's.
When Williamson left for Milwaukee in 1950, Cotton, now 15, took over Sonny Boy's band. He then joined Howlin' Wolf's
band, touring with him all over the South. Cotton learned all about the road from Wolf. By 1952 he had moved to West
Memphis, gigging often in local juke joints and clubs and, along with drummer Willie Nix, hosting a local radio show.
In 1953, the teenage Cotton received word that Sun Records owner Sam Phillips wanted to record him. He cut a total of
four sides for Sun in 1953-54. In 1954, Muddy Waters came through Memphis and was well aware of Cotton's rising
reputation and asked the young harpslinger to join his band. Cotton headed to Chicago with Waters, staying by his side
for over a decade, becoming Muddy's trusted confidante and the leader of his backing band.
In 1958, Cotton joined Waters in the studio, on many of Muddy's later classics sides, including "She's 19
Years Old" and "Close To You." Cotton convinced Waters to perform and record "Got My Mojo Working," and can be heard
playing on the definitive version of the song on Waters' 1960 Chess LP, Live At Newport.
Cotton made his first solo albums in the late 1960s, with bands featuring outstanding musicians, including famed
guitarist Luther Tucker and drummers Sam Lay and Francis Clay. With his gale-force sound and fearless boogie band (later
featuring Matt "Guitar" Murphy), it wasn't long before he was adopted by the burgeoning hippie audience as one of their
own. Cotton shared stages with Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin, B.B. King, Santana, Steve Miller, Freddie
King and many others. In 1969 he appeared on Hugh Hefner's groundbreaking Playboy After Dark syndicated television
program.
Cotton was known as one of the hardest-touring and most popular blues artists of the 1970s. His acrobatic showmanship
and full-throttle blues kept him in demand all over the country. He played New York and San Francisco and every major
rock and blues venue in between. During the decade, he cut an album for Capitol and three for Buddah. He rejoined his
old boss Muddy Waters for the series of Muddy albums produced by Johnny Winter. Cotton also guested on s by
Koko Taylor and many others. He was joined on his own albums by stars like Todd Rundgren, Steve Miller and Johnny
Winter.
Cotton joined Alligator Records in 1984, releasing High Compression and Live From Chicago: Mr. Superharp Himself!!!
(which earned him the first of his four Grammy nominations). In 1990 he joined fellow Chicago harp masters for the
all-star release Harp Attack!. He won a Grammy in 1996 for his Verve album, Deep In The Blues, was inducted into the
Blues Hall Of Fame in 2006, and the Smithsonian Institution has honored Cotton by adding one of his harmonicas to their
permanent collection.
Today, while turning over the singing duties to his road band, Cotton can still blow the reeds right out of a harp.
