Barrelhouse Chuck (born Harvey Charles Goering; July 10, 1958 – December 12, 2016) was an American

Chicago blues Chicago blues is a form of blues music developed in Chicago, Illinois. It is based on earlier blues idioms, such as Delta blues, but performed in an urban style. It developed alongside the Great Migration of the first half of the twentieth cent ...

and

electric blues Electric blues refers to any type of blues music distinguished by the use of electric amplification for musical instruments. The guitar was the first instrument to be popularly amplified and used by early pioneers T-Bone Walker in the late 1930 ...

pianist, keyboardist, singer, and songwriter. He claimed to be the only Chicago blues pianist to have studied under

Sunnyland Slim Albert Luandrew (September 5, 1906March 17, 1995), "Blues pianist and singer Sunnyland Slim was born Albert Luandrew in Vance, Mississippi, September 5, 1906 (most sources say 1907, but the Social Security Death Index and 1920 census data give t ...

Pinetop Perkins Joe Willie "Pinetop" Perkins (July 7, 1913 – March 21, 2011) was an American blues pianist. He played with some of the most influential blues and rock-and-roll performers of his time and received numerous honors, including a Grammy Life ...

Blind John Davis Blind John Davis (December 7, 1913 – October 12, 1985) was an American blues and boogie-woogie pianist and singer. He is best remembered for his recordings, including "A Little Every Day" and "Everybody's Boogie". Biography Davis was born in ...

, Detroit Junior, and

Little Brother Montgomery Eurreal Wilford "Little Brother" Montgomery (April 18, 1906 – September 6, 1985) was an American jazz, boogie-woogie Boogie-woogie is a genre of blues music that became popular during the late 1920s, developed in African-American communi ...

. His work appeared on sixteen

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

Life and career

Goering was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, and learned to play the drums by the age of six. He later graduated to the piano. He relocated with his family to Gainesville, Florida, before he first heard a

Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 April 30, 1983), known professionally as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer and musician who was an important figure in the post-war blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago ...

record. It was by listening to blues records that Barrelhouse Chuck learned the techniques of blues piano playing. He formed his own bands in his teenage years, including the Red Rooster Band, Red House, and Barrelhouse Chuck & the Blue Lights, and followed Muddy Waters around the South, trying to pick up playing tips from Waters's pianist, Pinetop Perkins. In 1979, he drove from Florida to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

to introduce himself to Sunnyland Slim. Barrelhouse Chuck spent the next decade and a half studying his playing, along with that of other Chicago blues musicians, including Blind John Davis, Little Brother Montgomery, and Erwin Helfer. In the company of Montgomery for a long time, Barrelhouse Chuck later remarked, "Little Brother was like a grandfather to me". Barrelhouse Chuck played or recorded with

Jimmy Rogers Jimmy Rogers (June 3, 1924December 19, 1997) was an American Chicago blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player, best known for his work as a member of Muddy Waters's band in the early 1950s. He also had a solo career and recorded several pop ...

Eddie Taylor Eddie Taylor (January 29, 1923 – December 25, 1985) was an American electric blues guitarist and singer. Biography Born Edward Taylor in Benoit, Mississippi, as a boy Taylor taught himself to play the guitar. He spent his early years playing ...

Hubert Sumlin Hubert Charles Sumlin (November 16, 1931 – December 4, 2011) was a Chicago blues guitarist and singer, best known for his "wrenched, shattering bursts of notes, sudden cliff-hanger silences and daring rhythmic suspensions" as a member of Howlin ...

, Otis Rush,

Buddy Guy George "Buddy" Guy (born July 30, 1936) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He is an exponent of Chicago blues who has influenced generations of guitarists including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Stevie Ray Vaugh ...

, and

Otis "Big Smokey" Smothers Otis "Big Smokey" Smothers (March 21, 1929 – July 23, 1993) was a Chicago blues guitarist and singer. He was a member of Howlin' Wolf's backing band and worked with Muddy Waters, Jimmy Rogers, Bo Diddley, Ike Turner, J. T. Brown, Freddie ...

. For a time in the late 1990s he played with

Mississippi Heat Mississippi Heat is an American blues band based in Chicago, led by harmonica player Pierre Lacocque. Formed in 1991, the band has toured in the United States, Canada, and Europe, with occasional performances in South America and North Africa. M ...

, and he undertook a tour with Nick Moss and the Flip Tops. His debut

, ''Salute to Sunnyland Slim'', released by Blue Loon Records in 1999, contained supporting work from S.P. Leary,

Calvin "Fuzz" Jones Calvin "Fuzz" Jones (June 9, 1926 – August 9, 2010) was an American electric blues bassist and singer. He worked with many blues musicians, including Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, the Legendary Blues Band, Mississippi Heat, James Cotton, Luther ...

and

Willie "Big Eyes" Smith Willie Lee "Big Eyes" Smith (January 19, 1936 – September 16, 2011) was an American electric blues vocalist, harmonica player, and drummer. He was best known for several stints with the Muddy Waters band beginning in the early 1960s. Biograp ...

. It was reissued in 2005. The follow-up was ''Prescription for the Blues'' (2002), with Erwin Helfer playing on three tracks. Barrelhouse Chuck released the album ''Got My Eyes on You'' in 2006, with

Kim Wilson Kim Wilson (born January 6, 1951) is an American blues singer and harmonica player. He is best known as the lead vocalist and frontman for the Fabulous Thunderbirds on two hit songs of the 1980s, " Tuff Enuff" (which was the group's only Top 40 ...

playing the harmonica. In February 2008, Wilson asked Barrelhouse Chuck to assist in recording the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack ...

for the film ''

Cadillac Records ''Cadillac Records'' is a 2008 American biographical drama film written and directed by Darnell Martin. The film explores the musical era from the early 1940s to the late 1960s, chronicling the life of the influential Chicago-based record-compan ...

''. His other credits include numerous appearances at the Chicago Blues Festival. As at 2012, Barrelhouse Chuck maintained a full performance schedule in Chicago, around the United States, and occasionally abroad, including a regular solo appearance on Wednesday nights at the Barrelhouse Flat, a bar in Lincoln Park. On February 24, 2012, Barrelhouse Chuck played at the "Howlin' for Hubert" concert at the Apollo Theater. In 2013 and 2014, Barrelhouse Chuck was nominated for a Blues Music Award in the category Pinetop Perkins Piano Player. In 2014 ''Drifting from Town to Town'' was nominated for a Blues Music Award in the category Traditional Blues Album of the Year. On December 12, 2016, Barrelhouse Chuck died after a long battle with prostate cancer, at the age of 58.

Discography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barrelhouse Chuck 1958 births 2016 deaths American blues pianists American male pianists American blues singers American male singers Chicago blues musicians Electric blues musicians Boogie-woogie pianists Songwriters from Ohio Singers from Ohio Musicians from Columbus, Ohio Songwriters from Illinois Deaths from prostate cancer Deaths from cancer in Illinois American male songwriters