 The harmonica is the most voicelike instrument, you can make it wail, feel happy, or cry," says Charlie Musselwhite. "It's like singing the blues without words. Today as a touring musician, my work takes me around the world. On my travels I have discovered music that is loaded with feeling. It resonates within me, the same way as the music of my childhood did. This compassionate music of other cultures has seeped into my own blues." Musselwhite is a vibrant link between the 1960's flowering of blues music, and the modern direction it has taken since. Numerous influences have worked into Charlie's sound since his 1966 Vanguard debut, Stand Back!. Charlie thinks that many forms of music from other cultures contain "feeling" and embody the same spirit as the blues. From the beginning it seemed that Charlie was destined to be a bluesman. Born in Mississippi in 1944 and later raised in Memphis, Charlie was immersed in the city's diverse musical culture. He went to school with Johnny Cash's brother, Tommy, lived down the road from rockabilly legends Johnny Burnette and Slim Rhodes and went to parties hosted by Elvis Presley. Charlie soaked up all the music of Memphis with the enthusiasm of a true devotee, but it was the blues that caught Charlie's soul. In his teens, he befriended several of Memphis' legendary traditional bluesmen, including guitarist Furry Lewis, Will Shade and the surviving members of the Memphis Jug Band. It wasn't long before the young harp player began sitting in with his more experienced friends, and establishing a name for himself. At 18, intending to find a decent job, Charlie packed up and moved to Chicago. Instead of the factory job Charlie went in search of, he found the urban blues. He began hanging out in the smoky blues clubs on the city's South and West sides and frequently sat in with legends like Little Walter, Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf. He also played with Big Joe Williams, J.B. Hutto, Big Walter Horton, Johnny Young, Robert Nighthawk and Floyd Jones. "Coming to Chicago was like walking into Fat City. These guys inspired me. They gave me an incentive to find my own sound."
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