Studebaker John's Maxwell Street Kings - Jumpin' from Limb to Limb
Release date: March 13, 2026
Bluestone King Records
By Marty Gunther
Here’s an album for all you folks who love the real-deal, deep-in-the-pocket Chicago blues. Studebaker John and his Maxwell Street Kings are an all-star ensemble with deep Windy City roots, and they band together from the needle drop to deliver a set that’s propelled by old-school, lump-de-lump rhythm patterns that pull out of the station in unison and drive steadily throughout.
The band’s fronted by Studebaker John Grimaldi, who came of age growing up in an Italian-American neighborhood only a few blocks from the legendary Maxwell Street market. He picked up his first harmonica at age seven after being mesmerized by world-class talent that held court there on weekends. And he added guitar to his repertoire after witnessing Hound Dog Taylor & the Houserockers in action.
An artist who’s been performing at the best clubs in the city since the mid-1970s, John took the nickname because he was driving a Studebaker Hawk, a car he still owns today. He made his recording debut with Straight No Chaser on the Retread label, and he’s recorded about 20 more on Belgium’s Double Trouble, Blind Pig, Delmark and several other imprints. As a songwriter, his tunes have appeared in major motion pictures and on TV for ads for Ford Motors and NASCAR.
This offering, which is released on the venerable Dutch label, Continental Blue Heaven, and now available in the U.S was captured in a three-day session at Harlem Avenue Lounge, a must-visit venue that kept the blues alive in suburban Berwyn for more than 30 years prior to the passing of its owner, Kenny Zimmerman, a few years ago. And the impressive lineup includes: guitarist/slide player Rich Kreher -- a member of Muddy Waters’ last band and now playing with his son Mud Morganfield --, drummer Earl Howell, who worked with Howlin’ Wolf and Magic Slim, and Mike Azzi, a veteran bassist who’s worked with Tail Dragger and Johnny Burgin.
A repetitive guitar hook kicks off the rapid-fire shuffle “Shake That Thing” before the rhythm section joins in. It’s a compelling shuffle that invokes Cadillac Baby and a few long-forgotten bluesmen for a meet-up and planned cruise to the Checkerboard Lounge and Theresa’s, where “everything’s going to be all right!” The journey takes Studebaker John to a Maxwell Street liquor store before he works out on guitar for a solo that begins mid-tune and runs until the end, and he celebrates the groove with a repetition of the song’s title throughout.
The pace slows dramatically but the tension of the beat remains intense for “Sho-enuff Did.” It’s a harmonica-fueled complaint in which John insists to his woman that she wasn’t supposed to let the devil be her man and do him like she did. The expression of his agony comes through repetitive lyrics and accented fills on harp that drive the message home. “Do It Like You Should,” a rapid fire shuffle, sweetens the mood a little as the singer awaits the lady’s repentance. And as it does throughout, the supporting contributions of Kreher, Howell and Azzi simply cook.
John’s lilting harp prowess comes to the fore for the instrumental title song, “Jumpin’ From Limb to Limb,” which would have made Little Walter and other reed masters smile. His delivery is Windy City styling at its best. It flows into the seven-minute pleaser, “That’s What (the Blues Is),” which opens with a simple drumbeat and a harp solo before John describes the blues in many forms, including being unsuccessful in achieving your goals no matter how hard you try. His circular runs on the harp are hypnotic.
The tautness remains unrelenting in the languorous and bittersweet “Well Allright,” which finds the lady on the way out the door, saying she didn’t want him anymore and the singer begging for one more chance while Kreher stings on slide. The guitars are also featured in “Wig Headed Woman,” a droning complaint about a problem lady who’s okay when she wears her hair long but something entirely different when short…like her fuse.
“Freightrain” provides a full-speed-ahead change-of-pace. It’s loaded with traditional railroad imagery and riffs before the pace slows for “She’s Nice,” a pleasant love song. The uptempo “This Lonesome Road” and traditional shuffle “Stone Blind” bring the 57-minute disc to a close.
If you never experienced a night out on the West Side of Chicago when blues ruled the night and want to know what it felt like, give Studebaker John a spin. It’s Windy City blues at its best – and strongly recommended.
Artist Website: https://studebakerjohn.com/
About the Author: The blues came calling for Marty Gunther in the 1960s, when he witnessed Muddy Waters, Mississippi John Hurt, B.B. King and Howlin' Wolf perform at the Newport festivals in his native Rhode Island. A longtime Chicagoan who's now based out of Ohio, he's a professional journalist and harp player who studied under Sugar Blue before co-founding the Nucklebusters, a band that's filled clubs in south Florida since the '80s.
