Great Vintage Blues #4: Howlin' Wolf

Chester Arthur Burnett, a.k.a. Howlin' Wolf, was a true giant of the blues, a great harmonica player and a commanding, world-class vocalist. I could go on and on about his importance as an artist and his general awesomeness, but I'll just quote Sam Phillips in the liner notes of the indispensable compilation The Chess Box: "When I heard Howlin' Wolf, I said, 'This is for me. This is where the soul of man never dies.'" Talking about almost anyone else, that would be ludicrous hyperbole; for the Wolf, it pretty much covers it.
Here's a 1964 performance of what's maybe the quintessential Howlin' Wolf song, "Smokestack Lightnin'":
Any discussion of Howlin' Wolf should also give credit to his longtime guitarist, Hubert Sumlin (who's still touring today in his late 70s), and Willie Dixon, who wrote many of Wolf's best songs, including "I Ain't Superstitious" and the one in this video, "Evil." (I'm pretty sure that's Sumlin on guitar, but there isn't a clear view of his face):
From the 1966 Newport Folk Festival, here's "Meet Me In The Bottom," and you can go ahead and make your own jokes about that title: