#477: Howlin’ Wolf, ‘Moanin’ in the Moonlight’

Chess, 1959

This is all we have to say about this album. It even makes girls with chronic migraine dance at the place where hot tubs live, aka the gym.

Just like Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf was also signed to Chess Records. But Wolf was signed during one of Waters’ dips in popularity. He introduced a more gritty and powerful blues, something that hadn’t really been heard on the radio yet. Ultra masculine.

He also came from sharecropping roots and was actually named after the president of the United States- Chester Arthur. I know absolutely nothing about that President but it looks like the Wolf preferred not to go by that name.

His Spotify bio said that he lacked the dignity of Muddy Waters but made up for it in his performance skills and persona. I don’t know about that. I think he does carry a certain dignity. And maybe I don’t know the meaning of that word, “dignity.”

Dignity to me is all about standing tall and fully encompassing oneself despite the barriers and obvious hardships.

Howlin’ Wolf’s powerhouse voice and character are strong. He never apologizes and it feels like his brooding 6 feet 3 inches and all of his 300 pounds of him are perfectly aware of the space he takes up in a room and he is not going to apologize once for his presence.

This whole album is loud and goofy in how much raw testosterone is just being poured into my ears during each song. I think this will be a go to album for when I want to feel powerful.

Ps- did I just spew toxic masculinity rhetoric about strength and power and testosterone? Perhaps, but I definitely don’t have the imagination yet or the vocabulary YET to sort my feelings about how to talk about Howlin Wolf

without going there!

Top songs: all of them