Blues on a Saturday: Jimmy McCracklin "The Walk"

Jimmy McCracklin, West Coast bluesman, died on December 20, 2012 after a career that spanned seven decades, having recorded over 30 albums with four gold records and written hundreds of songs including classics like "Tramp" "Think," and "Every Night, Every Day."

Tom Mazzolini of the San Francisco Blues Festival said of him, "He was probably the most important musician to come out of the Bay Area in the post-World War II years." But Kub Coda notes on allmusic.com "McCracklin has always been one of those artists whose currency always ran higher in the black blues community than it has in the subsequent years of white historical revision." On a NPR roundup of musicians who died in 2012, I didn't hear McCracklin's name,so its appropriate to feature this clip."

This is a 1991 recording of McCracklin's 1958 hit "The Walk" with Ry Cooder at the Village Music Anniversary Party. It features Wayne Bennett, long-time guitarist for Bobby "Blue" Bland.

Here are a few other McCracklin songs on Youtube "Georgia Slop," "Get Back," "Get Together."