Willie "Big Eyes" Smith is most often recalled as the longtime drummer in the Muddy Waters Band (he occupied the drum chair in the group from 1961 through 1980), but he was a harmonica player well before he was a drummer (his hard-charging harmonica can be heard on
Bo Diddley's "Diddy Wah Diddy" from 1955) and he has led his own blues ensembles from time to time.
Way Back, a pleasant set recorded in 2005 and produced by
Bob Corritore, puts
Smith front and center, and while no one would accuse him of being the equal of
Muddy Waters as a bandleader, the 73-year-old
Smith projects an intangible joy through the 11 songs here, half of which he wrote. Backed by what amounts to a superstar blues band, with the great, unsung
Bob Margolin on guitar, a seemingly ageless 93-year-old
Pinetop Perkins on piano, and guest shots by
James Cotton and others,
Smith delivers several variations on the good, old and undeniably durable Chicago blues shuffle, including the opener, a cover of
Jimmy Reed's "Don't Say That No More" and a gleeful version of
Waters' "Read Way Back," both of which feature
Smith's steady and somehow endearingly fragile vocals, and his strong, unhurried harmonica lines.
Smith does play drums on a pair of tracks, "Lowdown Blues" and "I Want You to Love Me (Trust Me)," as well, but most of the drumming is from Kenny "Beady Eyes" Smith,
Willie's son. The clear highlight is a wonderfully simple, atmospheric, and haunting
Willie Smith original, "Blues and Trouble," which builds powerfully on just
Smith's vocal and harmonica and
Margolin's brilliant electric slide guitar playing. Nothing here is going to reshape the contemporary blues world, and truthfully, these kinds of Chicago blues shuffles have been done a thousand times by a thousand blues bands. But maybe that's the point, actually.
Smith is one of the musicians who helped create and shape those rhythms, and this album is evidence that he still knows what to do with them. ~ Steve Leggett