TAIL DRAGGER

My Head Is Bald: Live At Vern's Friendly Lounge

Delmark CD 782

By Eric Steiner

When my friends here in the upper left hand corner of the country (Seattle)  ask me about my favorite old school Chicago-area players still working the clubs, I turn up Tail Dragger’s latest Delmark CD, My Head Is Bald: Live At Vern's Friendly Lounge.  As soon as Tail Dragger finishes with some banter from the stage, and sings “Sitting Here Singing My Blues” and “Tend to Your Business,” my guests are pleased that the blues are very much alive at rooms like Vern’s Friendly Lounge in the Lawndale neighborhood in the 1200 block of Pulaski.

I know that Lawndale and the area known as K-Town have been through some pretty rough economic times over the years, but the City of Chicago is trying to restore the neighborhood with an innovative effort called the Historic Chicago Greystone Initiative.  I don’t know how many of Vern’s neighbors will benefit from this restoration work, but I do know that if Tail Dragger’s sitting in at this legendary West Side room, it’ll be well worth the drive to experience this Chicago blues legend live.  I’ve heard that Howlin’ Wolf himself bestowed the “Tail Dragger” moniker on James Yancy Jones for his habitual tardiness at gigs back in the day, and that Tail Dragger was a guest of an Illinois’ prison after shooting Boston Blackie reportedly in self-defense over Chicago Blues Festival pay in the 90’s.  I think that Tail Dragger’s life story is certainly a recipe for a life in the blues.  The set from Vern’s captured on CD (and DVD) a celebration of traditional Chicago blues with some of the area’s finest, and most respected, blues elders.

Tail Dragger’s got a world-class Chicago blues band behind him on this CD: Billy Branch sits in on harmonica, Kevin Shanahan and “West Side Guitar Hero” Jimmy Dawkins share guitar work, and the rhythm section boasts Kenny “Beady Eyes’ Smith on drums and Bob Stroger on bass. I can’t think of a better introduction to Chicago blues than My Head Is Bald: Live At Vern's Friendly Lounge, but then again, there’s always Michael Coleman and the Delmark All Stars’ Blues Brunch at the Mart, too.  When Tail Dragger sang “Be Careful” on this compilation CD, I was fortunate enough to be standing just off stage right in the cramped Jazz Record Mart upstairs; it was an exceptional performance from an exceptional bluesman...  Just like that night at Vern’s Friendly Lounge in Lawndale.

Eric Steiner is President of the Washington Blues Society (www.wablues.org) and a Blues Supporter member of The Blues Foundation (www.blues.org).