West Side Blues legend Larry Hill (Bluesman) Taylor, fondly recalls the times (the 1960s, 1970s and 80s) when the blues artists in his family and other legends were part of the Friday and Saturday evening fish frys held at his family’s Lawndale home.
More than just social occasions, these gatherings were central to African-American traditions, served as community anchors where children played, elders passed down superstitions and traded gossip, and the blues musicians honed their gift for turning life’s challenges into song.
Hill is the eldest son of master guitarist and VeeJay Records recording artist Eddie “Playboy” Taylor and his wife, singer, songwriter, and pianist Vera Taylor. Many of the fish fry gatherings were hosted by his parents and grandparents.
“My mother fried the fish and cooked the food,” he said. “Sometimes the fish frys took place in the backyard of our [former] home that still stands at 1131 S. Mozart, or just on the block in the community and my parents and others performed.”
In most Black households, the fish (whether catfish, perch or whiting) is seasoned to perfection, coated in cornmeal and then carefully placed into a cast iron skillet of sizzling oil and fried to a deep golden brown.
It was the aroma that wafted through the neighborhood urging anyone nearby to stop in, “fix” a plate, and stay awhile.
Alongside fish, potato salad, greens and other staples were part of the meal, Bluesman added.
Blues legends like Howlin’ Wolf (Chester Burnett) were a regular part of the weekend gatherings where laughter blended with honest talk about life’s struggles and included words of support.
For Wolf, it was Vera’s greens that he favored most and it didn’t matter if they were collards, mustard or turnip.
“My mother would cook a pot of greens separate for him and add corn meal dumplings to the greens,” Taylor said. “She would add them to the pot when the greens were almost done and let them steam and simmer. That’s what you called real Southern soul food. My parents had a great connection with Howlin’ Wolf. My dad, he actually played with Wolf and recorded stuff with him back in the day.
Southern cuisine along with Southern blues traditions moved north during the Great Migration (core period 1916–1970). Artists such as Muddy Waters, Wolf, and members of the Taylor family (including Koko Taylor and Johnnie Taylor) helped forge what became known as Chicago blues, an electrified sound with a raw, gritty, and emotionally direct vocal style.
His father and mother were among those who migrated from Mississippi to Chicago for better opportunities.
What exactly is the blues?
Taylor describes the blues as a science and an artform that is passed down as songs about lived experiences like the Great Migration.
“That’s what all the legendary blues masters told me,” he said. “The blues started on the slave plantations. … My grandmother told me that when she was picking or chopping cotton from sunup to sundown out in the field, they would sing the blues. Blues is the originator of all the other great American music. It’s in jazz, soul, gospel, R&B, hip hop, rock, pop and country.”
For every blues artist who plays an instrument, there’s an inspiring story about how they first learned to play it. David “Honeyboy” Edwards, for example, once told this reporter that he taught himself to play guitar in Mississippi using a single piece of string nailed to the wall of his home.
Born in 1955, Taylor’s path toward a drumming career began at age five, when he picked up a pair of sticks and made his first drum set out of cardboard.
He eventually learned to assemble and play the real drum kit that Wolf’s drummers regularly left behind at the Taylor home after rehearsals with his parents. That early exposure set him firmly on the road to becoming a blues drummer with a career kicking off in 1977.
“My parents caught me, and Wolf told them not to chastise me because I would probably become a great Blues artist and it would pay off for me someday and it did.”
In the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, the West Side artist performed and recorded with his father as well as with Chicago blues and soul legends such as John Lee Hooker, Buddy Guy, Honeyboy Edwards, Junior Wells, A.C. Reed, Eddie Shaw, Albert King, Tyrone Davis, Johnnie Taylor, Otis Clay. Many of these legends are now deceased.
Chosen in 1977 by Jim O’Neal of Living Blues Magazine and Chess producer Willie Dixion, along with other young blues artists, Billy Branch, Johnny B. Moore and Lurrie Bell, for the New Legends of Chicago Blues tour of Germany are counted among his accolades.
As time went on, the artist evolved from drummer to singer songwriter, developing a vocal range that spans traditional Delta country as well as the urban soul/blues style associated with performers like Tyrone Davis and James Brown, according to information provided on his website, larrytaylorchicagoblues.com.
In 2004, he recruited musicians from the West and South Side to form his own band and recorded his own CD titled, “They Were in This House” on his own AV Records label, commemorating all the famous musicians who spent time in the Mozart Avenue home. The CD was re-released by Wolf Records in 2011 and includes original songs plus blues and soul favorites.
Chicago based writer Bonnie McKeown, known as Barrelhouse Bonni, a blues musician, blues preservationist who is active in community arts, and storytelling across Chicago’s West Side and Appalachia, assisted in the production of “They Were in This House” that took place in the Delmark Riverside Studio here in Chicago.
“I met Larry at Buddy Guy in 2003 but before that, I’ve always been a folk musician,” said McKeown. “I play piano and I’m from West Virginia. It’s a tragedy when a group of people who have an amazing culture, start to lose it in favor of American pop culture.”
Taylor stresses that not enough is being done to preserve the blues legacy which is why he and McKeown started a nonprofit called FOUR (Further Up the Road) Blues Inc., with a vision to promote the blues to the community and to pass the tradition on to younger people who want to be a part of it.
“All of my kids and grandkids love the blues.” Taylor said of his eight offspring and their children. “I’m hoping some of them will pick it up after I’m gone.”
In 2020, he received recognition when the City of Chicago’s Department of Culture and Special Events named him one of 13 Esteemed Artists.
Named the West Side Blues Ambassador for the entire West Side, Taylor said it was because he is the last remaining ‘traditional’ male blues artist on the West Side who is still trying to keep it alive.
Real blues is not being played these days, he said, calling it a watered-down version of the real thing.
The other issue, he and McKeown said, is that artists like himself are not being paid a fair rate for their performances but that white musicians who call themselves blues artists are better promoted and supported.
He would like to see more support from the Black community saying the blues genre is seemingly more appreciated in Europe.
His wish list includes a musical cultural center on the West Side that includes a blues museum.
The old Central Park Movie Theatre at Central Park and Lawndale, he said, would be a great location for it. The trick is getting the politicians on board.
He’s scheduled to perform at the Soul City Blues Festival on July 18. The event will take place at Chicago and Austin Avenues.