2023-05-16 10:39:06
If Bill Howl-N-Madd Perry had established himself since the early 2000s as one of the figures of the Clarksdale and surrounding blues scene – he was a mentor for Christone Ingram, to whom he gave the nickname Kingfish – his career musical, started and finished in Mississippi, was not linear.
Bill Perry was born on August 20, 1947 in the small town of Tula, Mississippi. His parents are agricultural workers in the cotton fields, and Bill sometimes helps them to make some pocket money. But a good part of the family’s income comes from an additional paternal activity: the production of contraband whiskey! It is besides the nightlife of his father which gets him his first guitar, won at the cards by this one.
In the early 1960s, he followed his family to Chicago. If he discovered the blues clubs, where he notably heard Mighty Joe Young, Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf, it was on the gospel scene that he soon established himself as a guitarist and bassist. He notably accompanied Shirley Caesar and the Five Blind Boys and recorded with the Clefs of Calvary (with whom he notably appeared at the Apollo) and the Salem Travelers. When, at the end of a tour with the Clefs of Calvary, he finds himself without money in Memphis, chance allows him to come into contact with Little Milton, who includes him as a singer in his review and allows you to accompany stars like T-Bone Walker, Freddie King, the Moonglows or Clarence Carter.
Back in Chicago, he established himself as a regular in local studios – notably those of Chess, with Ralph Bass – and worked as much in blues and rock ‘n’ roll as in soul and gospel for various companies: Jewel-Paula, ABC, Chess… Songwriter, producer or accompanist, he collaborated until the mid-1970s with Fontella Bass, Chuck Berry, Albertina Walker, Mildred Clark, Southside Movement, Cash McCall, Lee Shot Williams, Jimmy Burns and a few others. He also publishes some singles in a soul funk register under his name or under that of Billy Eaton. Sitting on the banks of the riverreleased on Ronn, is a little deep soul classic.
When the Chess studios closed, he moved to California and joined Johnnie Taylor’s orchestra and then that of Little Richard. Tired of the music industry, he took a step back in the 1980s. Returned to Mississippi in 1987, he relaunched his career in stride, first with a group called The Relaxations which recorded a single in the studios of Muscle Shoals, then with a family ensemble, The Perrys, mounted with his son Billy Jr and his daughter Shy who published several self-produced CDs, “Voodoo Charm” in 1997 and “Got What It Takes” in 2000 and performed everywhere in the United States, but also abroad, as far as China and Indonesia. When his children decided to devote themselves to his studies, he published several CDs under his name including “Casino Dreams”, “Reason I Sing The Blues”, “Jook Joint Jump” and “The Clarksdale Sessions”, as well as a disc in duet with saxophonist Alphonso Sanders, “Twice as Nice: Down in Mississippi”. He also appears on two Bob Corritore albums, “Do The Hip-Shake Baby!” and “Spider In My Stew”.
Committed to transmitting blues culture, he works at the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale and officiates as a host on WROX radio. He also appears in 2009 in the film Way of War with Cuba Gooding Jr. and in various documentaries including the recent ReMastered: Devil at the Crossroads on Netflix. His last self-produced record, “Perry Music Heals the Soul”, was released in September 2022, and it is listenable, along with its 2019 predecessor “Thankful For The Blues”, on on the Bandcamp page.
Text : Frédéric Adrian
Opening picture © Brigitte Charvolin
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