Show #182: Remembering Koko Taylor

(Koko Taylor passed away last month and this week's show is to commemorate her wonderful blues career. Since the last KT concert I posted, I've inveigled DJ Dave Watts who hosts the Blues Cruise on WORT here in Madison to pen the show notes. Many thanks to him for doing so and correcting the setlist.)



This set captures Koko Taylor at the top of her game. This particular version of The Blues Machine featured one of the many “Kings” of the guitar but one who never got quite the recognition of B.B. or Albert. Eddie King spent over 20 years as her bandleader and he has the band right in the pocket here. Her take on the Ted Nugent tune “Hey Baby” has always been a favorite of mine. I believe this is the group that was with Koko the last time she played at the Crystal Corner bar. She may be gone but she will never be forgotten as the music she left behind is quintessential Chicago Blues and she was pretty much the Queen of that scene for the last 40 years or so.

This is the first set of Koko Taylor and the Blues Machine's performance at a joint called Shades in Prairie View, IL. The date was 20 December 1991.

Setlist:

Jam
I've Made Nights By Myself
Let The Good Times Roll
Fishing Trip
Beer Bottle Boogie
I'm A Woman
Jump For Joy
I'd Rather Go Blind
Come To Mamma
Queen Bee
Hey Baby
Going Back to Iuka

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Koko Taylor

This is Koko doing "I Cried Like a Baby" in 1988.