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States and toured and made a live album, “Live in Atlanta”, which included Bob Margolin.
So, originally in the following year, the idea was to get Bob Margolin out and do some tour
dates to promote that album and to sort of build on my success from the year before.
And it was like we set all the dates in place. And then we got a call from Bob's agent, saying
that there was a scheduling problem and that Bob Margolin was no longer available, to
which they casually said, “Would you consider Hubert Sumlin instead”? Oh, oh my
goodness! Yes! Yes, you know, so I, yeah, then reject my idea with Bob and put together
a band with Hubert in mind and really I couldn't believe it!
FD: I did not realize that was the first tour ever for the Fortune Tellers, and your first
time ever with Mark Grunden on drums and percussion?
FB: It's amazing! I've played with Mark in jamming situations and with the Mojos (my
very first band) , but on this Live recording actually it is, you know the first Fortune Tellers
and Mark Grundon. Twenty one years later he is still my drummer.
So it marks quite a lot of milestones actually for me.
So we had Mark Grunden on drums, Dean Addison on double bass because I had this
notion that I wanted to have a dedicated double bass player that would channel Willie
Dixon. Because, you know, I've always loved my blues to be very much based on the
traditions of things. And I thought, well, I'm going to go for early Chicago sound, you know,
with the band, so Dean Addison on double bass.
And then I, well, now that I'm, you know, I had played with Bob Margolin and had a sense
of what he did. But now, to be playing with
Hubert Sumlin, I thought, well, I have to
Chris Wilson
include some Howling Wolf material. And
I, to be honest, my journey playing
Chicago blues as a style was at the
beginning for me. You know I had a long
tradition of playing with the Mojos, which
was a band that played more swing and
New Orleans-y sort of stuff. And I thought,
well, if I'm going to have Hubert, I need to
have a harmonica player with someone
who can bring some of that Howling Wolf
energy to the stage. And who better to ask
than vocalist harmonica playing musician,
Chris Wilson?
I suppose discovering this tape, apart
from the memories of Hubert Sumlin, as well as the memories of Chris Wilson, who we
lost in 2019, bittersweet memories of playing with him numerous times.
FD: I saw you several times, and always a powerhouse performance not only from yourself
and band but Chris, Like I said, a bittersweet time.
FB: : Well I think in some ways that was part of the reason why I felt it was important to
see if I could release this album because given that you know we'd lost Hubert and Chris.

