New: CHICK WILLIS: THINGS I USED TO DO

CHICK WILLIS: THINGS I USED TO DO

Artist: Chick Willis
Title: Things I Used To Do
Label: Big Bear Records
Genre: Blues
Format: Digital Release (Available on all major streaming services)
Running Time: 65.15
Release Date: 21st July 2020

Big Bear Records are excited to present Things I Used To Do by Chick Willis, a previously unheard
collection of 13 red hot blues cuts he recorded during a rare trip to the U.K in 1997.
Chick Willis, the Kings (B.B., Freddie and Albert), Buddy Guy and countless other guitar-toting blues
players found themselves to be big stars on the college and club circuits across the US and Europe.

 Andfor many American blues artistes, the road to Europe was built by the Big Bear himself, Jim Simpson. In
all, Jim fixed four tours of the UK and Europe for Chick, but it wasn't till the last trip in 1997 that they got time to put Chick in a studio with a cooking band.

This album was recorded in two sweaty days in August 1997 at the Chipping Norton Studios run by
Richard and Mike Vernon. It's a swinging celebration of the sly, soulful blues that Chick put out there for almost 60 years. The band was fresh from gigs in Birmingham, enough to knock off a few corners and tighten things up without choking them. Everyone knew what they had to do.

And what a band. Tony Ashton, on Hammond organ and piano, needs no introduction to anyone who
knows their rock, blues and jazz. Roger Inniss on bass and drummer Sticky Wicket who, unlike so many
players, know how to hold things in check when the music needs it. Oh, and there's Chick Willis, of
course. Still twinkling at 62, stinging out guitar lines that must have inspired Robert Cray, greasing out
those wicked, poignant, joyous lyrics with that circuit-seasoned voice.

From the fast, infectious shuffle of "Lou's Place", we move to the plaintive blues of "Please Don't Go",
then back to the upbeat funk of "Every Day Is A Good Day". Alongside the Chick originals, there are two covers: Ed Jones' classic "The Things I Used To Do", and Lavelle White's "Voodoo Woman", which gives the band a chance to stretch out and push things as far as they'll go, without ever losing that essential groove. It's all there in Chick's exuberant "Yeah!" at the end.

Here you have thirteen tracks captured in one or two takes, as live as you could possibly get outside a
raucous club. And there's that hallmark Big Bear sound, which is the real sound of the band, unfiltered by studio processes, fresh and direct to your ears. Jim Simpson and Barry Bayliss are masters of the rare
studio art of getting out of the way. Chick Willis sang the blues with joy, teasing, laughing and occasionally shedding a sentimental tear. Always, he entertained. Just listen to this...

For more information please contact Jim Simpson

Big Bear Records,  England
Email: admin@bigbearmusic.com