Arthur "Big Boy" Spires

The exploits of the bluesmen named Arthur who share the nickname "Big Boy" would lead one to believe that "big trouble" is what its all about. The better known Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup spent much of his life battling to get royalties for one of his songs that Elvis Presley recorded, while Arthur "Big Boy" Spires had to cut his own blues career short due to arthritis. After all, while most blues guitarists like to wince whenever they bend a note, this facial expression is normally a result of dramatics, not physical pain. Despite the truncated career and the commonly shared opinion that Spires was something of a lesser bluesman in the scheme of things, he did manage to positively influence many younger players such as harmonica king Junior Wells and was a part of several important blues groups in their early formation, even if at least one of them drummed him out for not keeping time well enough. Like many bluesmen from the Chicago scene he hailed from Mississippi but unlike many of peers he didn't start playing blues as a child. Spires was a latecomer to music, beginning the guitar at the age of 18, heavily influenced by Son House first and Muddy Waters later.Spires finally arrived in Chicago in 1943 and began playing at house-rent parties during the decade, considered a notch below regular club gigs in status on the blues scene. It was not until the early 50's that he stepped up to nightclubs, which was where talent scouts for Checker noticed him, leading to his first recording session in 1952. Prior to this happening he could still say he was at the thick of things when the distinctive sounds of the Chicago blues bands were born. In the late 40's, still playing the house parties, Spires recruited two newcomers named David and Louis Myers as part of his rhythm...