'Earring' George Mayweather - Whup It! Whup It! (1992) [CD Rip]

Personnel:
'Earring' George Mayweather: Harmonica, Vocals
Chris 'Stovall' Brown: Guitar
'Sax' Gordon: Saxophone
Tuffy Kimble: Drums
Buster Wylie: Bass
Ron Levy: Organ, Piano

Mayweather began playing harmonica as a child in Montgomery, Alabama. In his early 20s he moved to Detroit, then moved to Chicago, where he took a day job in a steelmill and played with his neighbour J.B. Hutto and drummer Porkchop; the trio recorded under Hutto's name for chance in 1954. Mayweather later worked with Eddie Taylor and depped in Little Walter's and Howlin' Wolf's band when the leaders were on tour. His nickname was conferred by DJ Big Bill Hill:'He'd call me 'Earring George, the boy from Africa''. Latterly he played in the blues clubs around Boston, and Richard Rosenblatt, executive producer of his solo album, described him as 'the Boston scene's main link to the original Chicago blues scene'.
You can tell from the composer credits of these dozen songs that this was a voyage of reminiscence for Mayweather, back to Chicago in the '50s and '60s, and , genially blown along by his band, he doesn't make too heavy weather of it. At times his voice is rather rough and his harmonica playing sounds as if it needs a little more breath than he's capable of coming up with, but the slow, prowling tempo of 'In The Evening', Muddy Waters's 'Gypsy Woman' and Little Walter's 'Bad Acting Woman' has an authentic period ring.
This is an admirable shot at recreating the '50s Chicago harp sound.