Willie Buck Way is the name of an honorary street named after Willie Buck in his hometown, Chicago and it’s also the name of his new album on Delmark Records. Buck delivers twelve new original songs along with five fresh covers of Muddy Waters. Leroy Carr and more. He’s accompanied by Billy Flynn (guitar), Thaddeus Krolicki (electric and acoustic guitar); Scott Dirks, Big Spider Beck and Mervyn “Harmonica” Hinds (harmonica); Johnny “Fingers” Iguana (piano); Bob Stroger (bass); and Jimmi Mayes (drums). Willie Buck Way also features notes and original artwork by Plastic Crimewave (Steve Krakow) from the Secret History of Chicago Music series.
Buck has been leading his own bands in Chicago for 50 years. Ask anyone who has spent any time in the trenches of the Chicago blues scene about Willie Buck, and you’ll hear the same things; he’s one of the last of the old-school blues singers, one of the few guys who has a real handle on the classic Chicago blues from the 50s, a hard worker who, over the years, carved out a niche for himself in the south and west side blues joints.
Buck’s previous Delmark album, Cell Phone Man, debuted on Living Blues Radio Chart in the #1 position in the December 2012 issue along with an 8-page feature story and a glowing album review. “His vocals are sinewy and expressive (he demonstrates a powerful upper range that even a lot of his longtime fans will find surprising) … postwar Chicago blues have long been, and remain, a contemporary music to him, and he delivers them with both urgency and elan.” – David Whitels
