My Blues & My Guitar [CD]

From band leader to soloist, from songwriter to accompanist, Bob does it all -- blues, R&B, rockabilly, and rock -- and does it better than most. Bob's stint as sideman to Muddy Waters from 1973 to1980 would be a gold calling card for most bluesmen, but for Bob it has been a springboard to a complete and fulfilling musical career.

A knowledgeable blues fan jokingly commented that the 1994 Chicago Blues Festival should have been called the Bob Margolin Chicago Blues Festival. The humorist was pointedly noting that Steady Rollin' seemed to be on almost every stage, at virtually the same time, throughout the entire festival -- and then out at the clubs each evening. A casual check of the schedule would show the truth to the observation that Steady Rollin' Bob was in great demand as a sideman to some of blues' greatest living bluesmen: Jimmy Rogers, Snooky Pryor, Jerry Portnoy, Pinetop Perkins, Carey Bell, Dave Myers, John Brim, Billy Boy Arnold and Earl King, to name but a few. In the world of the blues, I don't think that there is a higher compliment that can be paid to a musician than to be held in such high regard as to be continually asked to "sit in" with your musical peers.

Whether as a traditional blues band leader or as sideman to blues' living legends, live or on recording, Steady Rollin' Bob Margolin continues to dish up the hottest and most innovative blues, and blues-based music. Contemporary, yes -- but always rooted, with great love and respect, in the tradition of Muddy Waters, his mentor.  Bob Margolin is "one of a kind" just as Muddy was "one of a kind." Bob thinks that he is better for having played with and known Muddy, but I for one know that, musically, we the listeners are the ones that reap the real rewards -- the ability to see and listen to the second generation of living blues, Steady Rollin' Bob Margolin.

-- Bob Vorel, Publisher -- Blues Revue

P.S. You can also catch Steady Rollin' Bob Margolin's written musings in his regular column in Blues Revue.