Our Blues Heaven
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Willie Dixon was born in Mississippi and migrated to Chicago in the 1930s. In between spending time in jail for everything from some youthful indiscretions down south to conscientious objecting up north (“I said I wasn’t a citizen, I was a subject”), Dixon was an Illinois Golden Gloves heavyweight champ and a veteran of several not unsuccessful vocal and blues groups. He joined Chess in 1948 and spent about two decades as its preeminent producer and songwriter, overseeing the creation of arguably the most significant group of recordings in American history, from “Back Door Man” by Howlin’ Wolf to “I Just Want to Make Love to You” by Waters, from “Wang Dang Doodle” by Koko Taylor to “Bring It on Home” by Sonny Boy Williamson. In his spare time he played bass for Chuck Berry and recorded gospel. Later in life, he moved to LA for health reasons and founded the Blues Heaven Foundation. He died in 1992.
Second is the foundation’s royalty recovery program: the group’s lawyers help older blues stars recover royalties their labels still owe them. The agreements between the seminal blues stars and the labels that recorded them were fast and loose at best, absent at worst. While several of the major holders of the blues catalog–Atlantic and MCA, which controls the Chess catalog–have in recent years rectified some of the more embarrassing situations (the books that sent Muddy Waters to his grave owing Chess money, for example), cynics will note that such conscientiousness came about only after reissues became a big business and that many smaller labels continue to keep money that is rightfully the performers’.
Schmitsville
