Gary Primich
harmonica, vocals
born: April 20, 1958 in Chicago, Illinois
died: September 23, 2007 in Austin, Texas
Gary Primich - I'm A Nervous Fellow with Nick Curran on guitar
(Live at Jo's Coffee House in Austin Texas, March 1 2007)
Yeah, they say you have to suffer if you want to sing the blues. And yes, blues singer, harmonica master and songwriter Gary Primich wasn't raised in a shotgun shack in the Mississippi Delta or a tenement on the South Side of Chicago. Nor does he try to sound like he was. Yet his blues music still brims with the stamp of authenticity, albeit an authenticity to what constitutes blues music here in the 21st Century. And as CD Review once pointed out, "If you're a newcomer to Primich's work and are expecting another boring white guy doing either blues Nazi rehashes of Little Walter's "Juke" or some Blues Traveler ooodles of noodles fest, forget it."
Rather, with Gary Primich what you get is "one foot in the old school and the other in modern blues," says Jazz Times, along with "songwriting [that] has some fresh melodic twists and modulations that take that tradition to some other places." And then there's his harp playing, filled with fat, rich and sassy tones, marked by tricky melodic twists, and as powerful as a locomotive barreling along at full steam. As well, notes Down Beat, "Primich is that rare harmonica player who actually knows how to sing." And do so damned well to boot.
Primich's talent and feel for the blues has won him praise from the likes of blues harmonica legend Charlie Musselwhite, who notes, "He's not just playing the same old stuff we've all heard way too much of." Instead, Primich stretches and enhances the blues with the touch of a modern master. Jazziz says he is "easily the most syncretic [harmonica] player on the scene today," while Spotlight magazine hails Primich as "one of the best harp players alive." Chicago's New City declared his album Mr. Freeze as one of the 20 best blues albums of the 1990s.
Gary Primich was in fact born in the capital city of the blues, Chicago, and raised in an industrial suburb of Gary, IN. Yes, his family was middle class, but the milieu he grew up in could certainly give anyone the blues. "My high school was in the business of cranking out people to go work at U.S. Steel, Bethlehem Steel and Inland Steel. Nobody went to college, for God's sake," he says. His first exposure to blues music was when he heard the Dave Edmunds version of "I Hear You Knocking" on the radio. At the same time, Chuck Berry's last big hit "My Ding A Ling" led Primich into the rock'n'roll pioneer's catalog and the legacy of Chess Records.
And even though he wasn't weaned on the masters, once Primich picked up the harmonica in his teens, he went straight to the sources to master his craft. He studied and absorbed the styles of Sonny Boy Williamson I and II as well as Little Walter and Big Walter. He started hitting the clubs on the West and South Sides of Chicago, and was soon playing in bands along Maxwell Street, the main drag of urban blues, while getting his college degree from the University of Indiana.
It took one visit to Austin for him to decide to move there after finishing college. "I went to Antone's nightclub and heard the house band backing Otis Rush, who I'd heard a lot of times in Chicago, but he never sounded as good as he did that night." In the late 1980s, he started The Mannish Boys with former Mothers of Invention drummer Jimmy Carl Black. After two albums with the band for Amazing Records, Primich struck out on his own. Over two albums on his own for Amazing, another two for Flying Fish Records, and then two more for Black Top Records, he has consistently racked up critical kudos for his mastery of the tricky and elusive mix of tradition and innovation. As Blues Revue notes, "A new disc by Gary Primich has always been something to look forward to."
Like Paul Butterfield, another white harmonica player who honed his chops on the Chicago scene and left his indelible imprint on the music's progression, Primich filters his blues roots through his own consciousness to create something that's true to himself and his own vision. "I really see myself more like playing music like the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, which was hearing what they loved and doing their own version of it as opposed to trying to reproduce the wheel."
Even if Primich isn't about to parlay himself as a down and dirty bluesman who's seen hard times and troubles all his days, make no mistake about his devotion to the music and the fact that he plays it from deep inside his soul. "It's important that people understand that I started playing this music when I started playing music because I love this music. It wasn't because I heard Stevie Ray Vaughan or saw something groovy on TV. I play this music because I fell in love with it. And I play blues harmonica because I fell in love with the sound of it. I started playing blues when it was the most uncool thing to do, and itÍs never been the 'cool' thing to do, but that doesnÍt matter to me."
And in the great blues tradition, Primich is a working musician who plays upwards of 200 dates a year across North America and throughout Europe. "When I was 18 years old, if you told me that when I was 43 years old that I would have my white Ford van, and my own band, and I would be going out and playing gigs all over the country, I would have said, dream come true. I am doing what IÍve always wanted to do, which is to go on the road and play my own music the way I like to play it wherever it is that it takes me. And I love doing that."
In the process, Primich has established himself as one of the modern masters of the blues. And for proof of that, just slip Dog House Music into the CD player, and see if you don't heartily agree.
Albums:
- Gary Primich [Amazing 1024, 1991] with Michael Kindred
- My Pleasure [Amazing 1031, September 1992]
with Denny
Freeman, James Harman, John "Juke" Logan
- Travelin' Mood [Flying Fish 70635, July 1994]
with Jerry "Boogie" McCain
- Mr. Freeze [Flying Fish 70649, October 1995]
with Sister Sarah Brown, Steve James, Gene Taylor
- Company Man [Black Top 1136, September 1997]
with Steve James, Gene Taylor
- Botheration [Black Top 1153, March 1999] with
Steve James
- Dog House Music [Antone's 57, April 2002]
with Mark "Kaz" Kazanoff, Johnny
Moeller, Gene Taylor
- Ridin' the Dark Horse [Electro-Fi 3396, July
2006] with Charlie Musselwhite, Gene Taylor, Young Dro
He appears on the following albums:
Mannish Boys - Satellite Rock [Amazing 1016, 1989]
Tish Hinojosa - Homeland [A&M 5263, December 1989]
Tish Hinojosa - Culture Swing [A&M 5328, August 1990]
Various Artists - Threadgill's Supper Session [Watermelon 1013,
September 1991]
Pat McLaughlin - Unglued [DOS 7005, February 1994]
Steve James - American Primitive [Antone's 30, June 1994]
Omar
& The Howlers - Muddy Springs Road [Watermelon 1036, April
1995]
Various Artists - Austin Country Nights: Rising Stars from the
Heart of Texas [Watermelon 1039, October 1995]
Omar & The Howlers - World Wide Open [Watermelon 1053, January
1996]
Various Artists - Threadgill's Supper Session: Second Helping
[Watermelon 1052, May 1996]
Steve James - Art & Grit [Discovery 74706, September
1996]
Various Artists - Jump & Swing with Black Top [Black Top
7007, April 1997]
Libbi Bosworth - Outskirts of You [Freedom 1010, June 1997]
Various Artists - Lone Star Blues [Easydisc 7057, October 1997]
Various Artists - Blues Masters, Vol. 16: More Harmonica Classics
[Rhino 75346, July 1998]
Peter Caulton - Hard Road Tough Country [Bear Family 16301,
September 1998]
Omar & The Howlers - Swing Land [Black Top 1152, February 1999]
Jimmy LaFave - Trail [Bohemia Beat 9, February 1999]
Steve James - Not for Highway Use: Austin Sessions 1988-1995
[Settlement 1, January 2000]
Steve James - Boom Chang [Burnside 38, June 2000]
Starline Rhythm Boys - Better Luck Is A Barroom Away [Tin Town 215,
November 2000]
Marcia
Ball - Presumed Innocent [Alligator 4879, April
2001]
Various Artists - More Songs of Route 66: Roadside Attractions
[Lazy Sob 8, June 2001]
Libbi Bosworth - Libbiville [Stark Raving 7007, August 2001]
Mike
Morgan - Texas Man [Severn 14, February 2002]
The
Mellotones - Wild Live Action [2002]
John Greenberg - Buffalo Nickels [Home Grown Music 3749, April
2002]
Champ Hood - Bon Haven [South Congress 1003, April 2002]
Ruthie Foster - Runaway Soul [Blue Corn 202, July 2002]
Doyle Bramhall - Fitchburg Street [Yep Roc 2045, February
2003]
Nick Curran & The Nitelifes - Doctor Velvet [Blind Pig 5081, February 2003]
Long
John Hunter / Tom "Blues Man" Hunter - One Foot in Texas [Doc Blues 6805, March
2003]
Wentus Blues Band - Family Album [Bluelight, 2004]
Gary P. Nunn - Something for the Trail [Smith Music Group
7021, May 2004]
Candye
Kane - White Trash Girl [Ruf 1084, June 2005]
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