Howlin’ Wolf

West Memphis

1910 – 1976

Howlin’ Wolf was born Chester Arthur Burnett in Mississippi, but the transformation from Delta musician to electric-blues giant took place in Arkansas. During years of traveling through the South, Arkansas became one of his principal performing territories. He learned harmonica from Sonny Boy Williamson and worked alongside musicians connected to the same Delta network that included Robert Johnson, Robert Lockwood Jr., and other foundational blues artists.

In 1948, Wolf moved to West Memphis, then a thriving center of clubs, gambling houses, radio, and amplified music just across the Mississippi River from Memphis. There he formed the House Rockers and committed himself fully to music. The sound developing in West Memphis was louder and harder than much of the acoustic Delta blues that came before it. Electric guitars, amplified harmonica, drums, and Wolf’s enormous, rough-edged voice created a sound built for crowded clubs and radio speakers.

Wolf began broadcasting on West Memphis station KWEM, producing his own program and selling the advertising that supported it. His radio presence attracted the attention of Memphis recording pioneer Sam Phillips, who recorded “Moanin’ at Midnight” and “How Many More Years.” Both became major R&B hits and opened the road to Chess Records and Chicago.

In Chicago, Wolf recorded a staggering body of blues standards, including “Smokestack Lightnin’,” “Spoonful,” “Back Door Man,” “Killing Floor,” and “The Red Rooster.” His recordings became essential source material for generations of rock musicians, and he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1991.

Chicago made Howlin’ Wolf internationally famous. But West Memphis was where his electric band came together, radio carried his voice beyond the clubs, and one of the most powerful sounds in modern blues found its form.