Page 52 - Blues Festival Guide Magazine 2018

Publicity poster for Otis’ first Texas
tour in 1957.
Photo by Jim O’Neal, courtesy
BluEsoterica Archive

In 1986 and again
in 1989, with Dick’s
assistance, Otis did
go into the studio for
Rooster Blues, but the
planned album was
never finished. Otis later
recorded some of the
same songs, including
the title track, for a
This Way Up/Mercury
CD produced by John
Porter that earned a Grammy nomination in 1994: Ain’t
Enough Comin’ In.
My stint as manager ended in 1986 after I moved to
Mississippi, and Otis continued to perform under the management
of Rick Bates, who still looks after Otis’ interests today. His last full
studio album, Any Place I’m Going on the House of Blues label in
1998, finally won Otis his first Grammy. Over the years, many
tapes of Otis’ live performances have been released on LP and
CD. Studio recordings from Europe have also been reissued in
the U.S. But bigger opportunities were spurned or missed for one
reason or another. Dick notes, “I wish things like recording and
touring with the Rolling Stones, being the second Blue Sky artist
after Muddy Waters, and recording with Carlos Santana had
worked out. But what he managed to achieve, and has left for
posterity, remains staggering.”
In a Living Blues interview published in 1976, we
asked Otis what he did in his spare time. “I don’t do
nothin’ but worry,” he said. “Plannin’ and not gettin’ no
money…Yeah, that’s about what I do, worry about my
damn hard times and bills.” The years of worry, tension
and frustration took their toll. In 2004, Otis suffered a
stroke in Chicago and has been unable to perform again.
There have, however, been moments to celebrate. In
2007 he, Masaki and their daughter Sophie traveled
to Philadelphia, MS, for the dedication of a Mississippi
Blues Trail marker in his honor. In 2016, Dick organized
a memorable tribute by a stellar cast of performers to Otis
at the Chicago Blues Festival. A smiling Otis was able to
summon his familiar shout-out to the audience one more
time: “Let me hear you say yeah!”

Jim O’Neal is a cofounding editor of Living Blues magazine,
research director with the Mississippi Blues Trail and co-
editor of the book The Voice of the Blues. He operates a mail
order business (Stackhouse & BluEsoterica, 3516 Holmes
St., Kansas City MO 64109, www.bluesoterica.com) buying
and selling records, magazines and memorabilia.

50 Blues Festival Guide 2018