Idol to the Idols
By Dante Dominick
 The
first night of SXSW held in store something of an indulgent treat
for me: Hubert Sumlin.
Howlin' Wolf was the first non-mainstream music I ever heard.
My impressionable early teen years came a few years after John
Bonham's tragic death, but Led Zeppelin was far and beyond my
favorite band. When the first box set came out I read the booklet
voraciously and became intrigued by this Howlin' Wolf character
the four unanimously cited as their biggest influence. The Wolf
and his guitarist, Hubert Sumlin, that is.
I bought a used Howlin' Wolf tape and my life, for all intents
and purposes, changed. Ever since, music has not been a backdrop,
but a focal point, with the focus being afield of mainstream,
uh, schlep. My practice of studying liner notes to trace influences
has become a sort of obsession.
Jimmy Page was no aberration: Hendrix, Clapton and Stevie
Ray all have noted similar respects to Sumlin as a primary reason
they play the way they do. There is no blues musician alive who
doesn't know the entire Howlin' Wolf catalogue. And if someone
knows only two blues tunes, at least one is the Wolf.
I had never seen Sumlin so I was eager for his set, appropriately
situated at Antone's, Austin's traditional home to the blues.
At about the halfway point, I look to my immediate left and discover
I'm standing beside Robert Plant. No one in this packed
venue seemed to notice as all attention was riveted on stage.
Myself, I say one word to Mr. Plant, "hey," and then
regain my focus to the show. More music heavy weights would surface
in time.
Sumlin is 73 years old and recently recovered from lung cancer,
but Old Man Time has yet to neutralize the man's energy. His
fingers have slowed a bit but his solos still cut the air in
pieces. With each song Sumlin's intensity increased, the solos
grew, not only in length, but in creativity as well. Sumlin dug
into the low notes at odd times and came out like a butcher making
a perfect cut in one pass, offering not just a meaty solo, but
a juicy USDA Prime center-cut tenderloin.
 (Photo Left:
Hubert Sumlin and Sean Costello) The set included a good
number of Howlin' Wolf tunes: "Sittin' On Top of the World,"
"Little Red Rooster," "Howling for my Baby,"
"300 Pounds of Joy," and a few more. Sumlin took the
vocals on about half the numbers; Sean Costello handled
the rest.
Costello and his band played the show immediately preceding
Sumlin then stayed on stage to be his backing band. Costello
is 25, looks even younger, and has the slicked hair of a rockabilly
king. And he just happens to belie that notion that white boys
can't play the blues. An incredible guitarist and singer, his
power comes from a deep, bluesy soul; his frame alone certainly
isn't able to take credit for such a big voice. Costello has
admitted in interviews that the day he picked up a Howlin' Wolf
record changed his life. "His guitar player, Hubert Sumlin,
was a revelation."
That 12 year-old boy never looked back. Now here he was sharing
the stage with his idol and the 12 year-old boy re-surfaced.
A highlight of this set was watching Costello go from giddy,
to giddier to 'holy crap I think he peed his pants.' He honed
his chops memorizing Sumlin's solos and fillers and as he played
two feet from him he couldn't hide his excitement. When Sumlin
took leads, Costello would jump up and down, his smile testing
the limits of skin's elasticity. It was like watching a 5 year-old
on Christmas morning and damn if it wasn't infectious.
Don't let my account give a false impression; Costello still
played like the badass bluesman that he is. His vocal deliveries
mimicked The Wolf's unique cadence and range, sliding from deep,
menacing growls to falsetto-like echoes. Sumlin took back vocal
duty for "Sittin' On Top of the World." Sumlin clearly
felt that's exactly where he was, displaying extraordinary exuberance,
even pumping his arms in the air after singing the famous refrain.
Though Sumlin is elder statesman to nearly everyone, another
Mississippi native blues giant joined the stage who could very
well call him a young pup. Ninety-one year old Pinetop Perkins
sat astride the piano for a few tunes and filled the room with
some monstrous boogie.
 (Photo Right:
Elvis Costello and Hubert Sumlin)The next cameo appearance
was Elvis Costello (no relation to Sean). Dressed in black
blazer and hat, Costello delivered a wonderful blues number,
that I didn't recognize and neither did a self-described Costello
fanatic I met at the bar later. Elvis Costello later closed out
the first night at the larger La Zona Rosa venue; this, however,
would prove to be his best song of the night.
Robert Plant was scheduled to give the keynote address the
following morning, dubbed the official kickoff of SXSW, but this
set was one heck of an authoritative stamp that SXSW 2005 was
clearly underway and set to be something special-- this kind
of energy just doesn't happen normally. And Plant's gaze toward
the stage seemed to confirm his agreement.
Contact Dante Dominick at dominick-at-rockzilla.net
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