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In the meantime Muddy had been recording for the fledgling Leonard Chess owned
Aristocrat label, accompanied by just Big Crawford, and Chess was reluctant to change

what he saw as a winning combination by bringing in other musicians. Rogers had a couple
of songs he had written, that he wanted to record, and didn’t feel able to approach Chess,
so roped in Little Walter and Big Crawford to record ‘Luedella’ for the tiny Regal label.

Rogers was still working live with Muddy, but was of the opinion that the sound needed
beefing up (my words, not his!), particularly on record, so suggested bringing in Little
Walter as a band member. Soon, the 3 were working regularly together, under the name

The Headcutters, often with Sunnyland Slim on piano, and building up a solid reputation.
The band name came from their
habit of showing up a place
where another band was
playing, asking to do a few
songs, and proceed to “cut” the
other band!Leonard Chess took

note, and eventually allowed
them to record together, with
the result that both Muddy and
Jimmy had 2-sided debut hits -
Muddy with ‘I Can’t Be Satis-

fied’/ ’Feel Like Going Home’
and Jimmy with ‘That’s All
Right’/ ’Luedella”.

In spite of his personal success,
Rogers had no thoughts of
Muddy Waters' band, circa 1954. Waters is at far left, Jimmy
leaving the band, as Muddy had
no problem when Jimmy was Rogers at far right
asked to perform his songs, as was later the case with Little Walter, after he started
achieving hits of his own. In any case, Muddy’s band was the top of the tree in Chicago,
and guaranteed plenty of gigs. Interestingly, the songs Muddy and Jimmy recorded for
Chess were quite different in character - the former dark, brooding and introspective,
whilst the latter more urbane and polished. In a way this is quite strange, because usually
their respective songs were recorded at the same session, and using the same backing

musicians. Often Muddy would do his stuff, followed by Jimmy, and then Walter - quite a
schedule often squeezed into a pretty short stint - “Yeah, we’d do it all in the same day.
We’d go into the studio, I’d say for 4 hours, and everybody would cut, because what we
were going to record we had already rehearsed it and timed it. And so we’d just go ahead.
Only time it would be a re-run would be something Chess would want to change, and that

would be the end of a good record”!

Eventually, in 1955, Rogers did leave Muddy’s band, and recorded just one more session
as part of his band, in 1960. He formed a band including Willie Dixon, ‘Big’ Walter Horton
on harmonica, and S. P. Leary on drums.

Throughout the 1950s Rogers recorded some 51 sides for the Chess label, of which all but
2 were self penned. In the first half of the decade his backing musicians on the recordings