Cool Truth, by Little Howlin' Wolf

Cool Truth

by Little Howlin' Wolf

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Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Reissue of the 1985 self-released LP by Chicago street musician, bluesman, actor, storyteller and truth seeker known as Little Howlin' Wolf. Features replicated LP jackets, with Wolf’s original transcendent liner notes, and labels bearing the Solidarity Solidarnosc Records name; never before seen photos and new essay by ethnomusicologist / Canary Records head Ian Nagoski. 2015 pressing of 500 -- these are the final copies.

Includes unlimited streaming of Cool Truth via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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$16 USD or more
Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Plus PDFs of liner notes, artist bio and original LP artwork.

Purchasable with gift card

$7 USD or more

1.	Cool Truth 05:05	buy track
2.	Rendezvous 06:47	buy track
3.	Mighty Love 06:45	buy track
4.	Ten Steps to a Broken Heart 03:51	buy track
5.	Shuck Shuck Shodi 02:07	buy track
6.	Hunt Song 01:07	buy track
7.	Bounty Song 01:41	buy track
8.	Hokomo Juju Man 02:25	buy track
9.	Soul Magrib 05:28	buy track
10.	Tears Were Fallin' Down Her Face 05:46	buy track
11.	Creole Belle 06:10	buy track
12.	War Song 04:43	buy track

about

Reissue of the 1985 LP by Chicago street musician, bluesman, actor, storyteller and truth seeker known as Little Howlin' Wolf. Wolf is also a true outsider, whose wrenching soulfulness and fire-brained intensity have been captured in a breadcrumb trail of confounding and intentionally obscure self-released records.

In the late 1960s Wolf -- born James Pobiega in 1950 -- was already a saxophone wailing fixture at the legendary Chicago hangout, Maxwell Street Market. By the mid-1980s he released nearly three dozen 45s. Those singles are sprawling journeys into Wolf’s world vision, as told through his gravelly voice and an array of instruments in styles and influences not limited to: American Indian, Polish and gypsy folk musics, Voodoo, vocal chants, blues, calypso and avant jazz. Often, it’s all filtered through overdubbed abstraction.

Wolf issued two LPs collecting some of those singles -- The Guardian (1982) and Cool Truth (1985) -- both now reissued by Family Vineyard.

Cool Truth is a damaged, hallucinatory journey that radiates from a Chicago blues core. Performing most, if not all, the instruments himself -- sax, guitar, harmonica, marimba, etc. -- Wolf speaks in tongues, hollers and serenades. The 12 songs recorded between 1979 and 1983 alternate between Sun Ra-style orchestration and primitive forms to more traditional blues takes.

credits

released August 7, 2015

All Instruments, Written-By, Producer – Little Howlin' Wolf

Liner Notes – Ian Nagoski
Audio Restoration – Timothy Stollenwerk

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about

Little Howlin' Wolf Chicago, Illinois

James Pobiega, a 6'9" Polish-derived man from Chicago's South Side, performed heavily in bars and and to a greater extent on the street of his home turf during the late 70s through the mid 80s under the name Little Howlin Wolf. During that time, self-released 32 45s (that we know of) and two LPs (compiled from the 7"s) titled The Guardian and The Cool Truth. ... more

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