Bob Margolin - Blues Guitar

New Album In North Carolina Available Now

I am a Blues guitar player and singer, carrying on the “old school” Chicago Blues style and creating original music today. From 1973-1980, I played guitar in the band of Chicago Blues legend Muddy Waters, touring worldwide and recording, and learning to play Muddy’s powerful music directly from him. In 1980, I started my own band and I’m still on the road and recording. For more detail, see my Autobiography page.

Touring: I work with flexible groups of fine Blues musicians, including:

• Bob Margolin Blues Band
• Bob Margolin All-Star Blues Jam

• Legends of Chicago Blues
• Muddy Waters Reunion Band

Booking:
Blue Mountain Artists
(704) 525-1559
bluemountainartists.com

Hugh Southard
bluemountain77@earthlink.net

This is how to book Bob and/or the musicians he works with to play for you. Please e-mail Bob if you want to converse, but he will refer you to Blue Mountain Artists for any booking business.

2008 Awards Nominations and Honors:

I am honored to have won the 2008 Blues Music Award for Best Instrumentalist - Guitar.

I love the Blues and the guitar and it's gratifying to be complimented, but I'm well aware there are many fine pickers who should be appropriately recognized. The morning after the award show, I saw the heartbreakingly-talented Kid Ramos and he congratulated me. I responded that I felt the irony because I love his playing so much. He smiled and said, "It ain't a track meet, we all share it..." He is so right. My next two gigs were with Hubert Sumlin, who won the award the previous two years, and Hubert's inspirational creativity had my jaw dropping, my ears open, and my eyes on his fingers when we played together. I am honored... and humbled.

• Played guitar as a guest on two 2008 Grammy® Award nominated albums in the Traditional Blues category: Koko Taylor's Old School and Kenny Wayne Shepherd's Ten Days Out. These both won Blues Music Awards for 2008. The Vizztone Label group (see below) also released a CD nominated in the same category: Pinetop Perkin's On the 88's Live in Chicago, part of the DVD/CD package Born in the Honey.

•Nominated for two 2008 Blues Music Awards: Traditional Blues Male Artist of the Year as well as Best Instrumentalist - Guitar.

• Winner of the Blues Music Award for Best Historical Recording: Breakin' It Up, Breakin' It Down (Sony/BMG/Legacy) - Muddy Waters, Johnny Winter, and James Cotton. I co-produced the CD, wrote the liner notes, and played guitar on the original 1977 live shows.

• More Blues Music Awards Nominations and Wins:

• Nominated in the DVD category: Vizztone Label Group/Sagebrush Productions' Pinetop Perkins - Born in the Honey DVD/CD and A Journey Through The Blues - The Son Seals Story DVD.

•Gina Sicilia, whose Vizztone/Swingtime debut CD Allow Me To Confess earned her a Best New Artist Debut nomination.

•Candye Kane's Guitar'd & Feathered (Ruf Records) CD, produced by me and featuring my guitar and one of my songs, helped earn her a nomination for Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year.

• I appeared as a guest guitar player on six songs on Koko Taylor's Old School (Alligator Records) and the CD helped earn Koko wins for Album of the Year and Traditional Female Artist of theYear as well as a win for Song of the Year for "Gonna Buy Me A Mule."

• I appeared as a guest guitar player and wrote one song on Diunna Greenleaf's Cotton Fields to Coffee House CD which helped earn her a win for 2008 Best New Artist Debut.

My CDs:

• In North Carolina (Steady Rollin’ Records) 2007 - my newest features me playing my Blues at home rather than in a studio or onstage, both solo and on all the instruments
• The Bob Margolin All-Star Blues Jam (Telarc Records) 2003
• Hold Me To It (Blind Pig Record) 1999
• Up & In (Alligator Records) 1997
• My Blues and My Guitar (Alligator Records) 1995
• Down In The Alley (Alligator Records) 1993
• Chicago Blues (Powerhouse Records) 1991 (out of print)
• The Old School (Powerhouse Records) 1989 (out of print)

Producing:

Produced or co-produced my own albums above, and recently:

• Breakin’ It Up and Breakin’ It Down - Muddy Waters, Johnny Winter, and James Cotton (Sony/BMG/Legacy) 2007 co-produced new CD from 1977 live concerts. The CD won the Blues Music Award for Best Historical Recording.
• Guitar’d & Feathered - Candye Kane (Ruf Records) 2007 co-produced with Candye
• King Bee – Muddy Waters (Sony/BMG/Legacy) 2004 reissue
• I’m Ready – Muddy Waters (Sony/BMG/Legacy) 2004 reissue
• Hard Again – Muddy Waters (Sony/BMG/Legacy) 2004 reissue
• Muddy “Mississippi” Waters Live Legacy Edition (Sony/BMG/Legacy) 2003 reissue, with bonus CD of previously-unreleased performances
• Rising Son – Big Bill Morganfield (Blind Pig) 1999 debut album for Muddy’s son

Guitar on Recordings dozens since the 1970’s

On all of the above produced or co-produced recordings, plus recently:

• Old School – Koko Taylor 2007 (Alligator Records)
• Hard Luck – Matt Walsh 2007 (Raw Tone Records)
• Skat – George Whitesell & His All-Stars featuring Jill Watkins 2007 (Circle 504 Records)

Awards:

• 2005 & 2008 Winner – W.C. Handy Award for Best Instrumentalist, Guitar
• 2004 Winner – Handy Award for Best Reissue album, Muddy “Mississippi” Waters Live Legacy Edition. I co-produced the reissue and played on the original from 1977.
• Nominee for Guitar Handy Award in 1996, 2004, 2005, 2006
• Nominee for Best Blues Band and Best Traditional Album Handy Awards in 2004 for Bob Margolin All-Star Jam
• Nominee for a Grammy® Award in the Traditional Blues Category in 1995 for You Gonna Miss Me by The Muddy Waters Tribute Band
• Four of the ‘70s albums I played on with Muddy won Grammy® Awards in the Ethnic & Folk Music category

Video:

• The Last Waltz 1978 - playing “Mannish Boy” with Muddy, The Band, Paul Butterfield, and Pinetop Perkins
• Muddy Waters Classic Concerts DVD (Reelin’ In The Years Productions) - I played guitar on Muddy’s 1977 shows.
• Born In The Honey DVD – Pinetop Perkins 2007 (Sagebrush Productions/Vizztone) - biography/documentary
• From The Top of the Fret – Bob Margolin & Stephen Housden 2007 (Vision4Music) - talking about and playing Blues guitar
• Can’t Be Satisfied DVD – Muddy Waters 2002 (Wellspring Video) - biography/documentary

Instructional Video & Workshops in 2007:

• Muddy Waters Signature Licks with Bob Margolin 1998 (Starlicks/Hal Leonard)
• Jorma Kaukonen’s Fur Peace Ranch Guitar & Music Camp
• National Guitar Workshop with Hubert Sumlin
• Blues Week at Augusta, Elkins, WV
• Fender Masterclass Workshops in Hondarribia and Cazorla, Spain, with Blues Festival appearances

Blues Writing:

• Blues Revue columnist since 1993
• BluesWax columnist since 2003
• Last Waltz article published in 2008 in Making Notes, Music of the Carolinas, edited by Ann Wicker

Liner Notes:

• all of my own albums listed above
• all of the Muddy Waters CDs on Legacy listed above
• Muddy Waters Classic Concerts DVD 2005 (Reelin’ In The Years Productions)
• Muddy Waters – The Lost Tapes 2000 (Blind Pig Records)
• CDs by Big Joe Maher, Blues-A-Matic, Cindy Cain, Dean Cohen, Forrest McDonald, Jimmy D. Lane, John Nemeth, Mojo Buford, Bill Morganfield, and Sweet Betty

VizzTone label group

click on the logo to check out the VizzTone website

I and my partners in my Steady Rollin’ Records label - Chip Eagle (publisher of Blues Revue, BluesWax, and Dirty Linen) and Richard Rosenblatt (founder and president of the legendary Tone-Cool Records) - are taking it further...

Vision...Tone...Partnership. The VizzTone Label Group is a new kind of company for today's music business - working in close partnership with a number of artists and small independent labels to promote, publicize, distribute and market honest, soulful music worldwide through traditional formats as well as new technologies.

In 2007 we released:
• In North Carolina – Bob Margolin (Steady Rollin’ Records)
• Born In The Honey – Pinetop Perkins (Sagebrush Productions)
• Take The Gamble – Dave Gross (Swingnation Records)
• Allow Me To Confess – Gina Sicilia (Swingnation Records)
• A Journey Through the Blues, The Son Seals Story DVD (Sagebrush Productions)
• Just Like It Is – Monster Mike Welch (BGB Records)

More about Bob Margolin on myspace.com/bobmargolin

E-mail Bob: To prevent phishing, please type Bob's e-mail address in your e-mail account's "to" field, using @ for "at"
bob "at" bobmargolin.com