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death) as part of the Folk-Blues Tour, and I have no doubt he would have become a major
attraction here had he been able to return.

In the USA Blue Horizon had acquired partners, in the forms of Seymour Stein and Richard
Gottehrer, who ran Sire and Phoenix Records from their Manhattan office. These two were
invaluable to Blue Horizon, not only in promoting their releases in the US, via the Sire label, but
also in securing licensing deals for US artistes. Indeed, the Sire office soon became Blue Horizon
House!

Whilst in Chicago in June 1968, with the help of Willie Dixon (the go-to man for everything blues
that happened in the city!) Mike Vernon recorded Johnny Shines and Sunnyland Slim, at the
famed Chess Ter Mar studios, which produced two strong albums in “Last Nights Dream” (Young)
and “Midnight Jump” (Slim). Sunnyland Slim (Albert Luandrew) had been working and playing
in Memphis since the 1920s, prior to moving to Chicago around 1942. He achieved his nickname
as a teenager, due to his “sunny” outlook and slim appearance! Although highly regarded amongst
his peers, he had to support his music
income by factory work and truck
driving.

Johnny Shines was somewhat unusual
as a blues man, by playing the
mandolin, which was introduced to the
US by the many Italian immigrants
from the last decades of the 19th
century. Black musicians, who were
eager to make music on every
conceivable instrument, soon picked
up on it, and it appeared on some of the
earliest Edison cylinder recordings.
However, Young often played guitar for
live performance, and even put the
mandolin down altogether for some
years. Like Slim, Young was forced to
supplement his music earnings by portering, shovelling coal, washing dishes, cutting logs and
mopping floors - such was the life of a blues performer. He had recorded on and off since the
early post-war years, but Otis Spann recommended him to Mike Vernon.

At the same sessions Vernon cut 2 tracks with Otis Spann, backed by Walter Horton (harmonica),
Johnny Shines (guitar), Willie Dixon (bass) and Clifton James (drums) that were issued as a Blue
Horizon single ‘Can’t Do Me No Good’ b/w ‘Bloody Murder’. Vernon was to link up with Spann
again the following year for his own album, and the double LP “Blues Jam At Chess”.

Having completed those recordings, Vernon was back in the UK to record a follow-up Chicken
Shack album, debuts from new signings Duster Bennett and Gordon Smith, and an LP from
another piano player, Curtis Jones.

The Chicken Shack LP, “Ok Ken”, was the last to feature keyboard player Christine Perfect, and
was a fine album in spite of the cringeworthy between track comments by Stan Webb, which
seemed amusing on first hearing, but soon became anything but!

Tony “Duster” Bennett looked most unlike a bluesman, with his very short “mod” haircut, and
“sensible” attire. However, looks deceived, because he was a very fine player, singer and
songwriter, who was introduced to the Vernon brothers by Peter Green. Having gone to see him