Cool Truth by Little Howlin' Wolf

Reissue of the 1985 LP by Chicago street musician, bluesman, actor, storyteller and truth seeker known as Little Howlin' Wolf. Wolf is also a true outsider, whose wrenching soulfulness and fire-brained intensity have been captured in a breadcrumb trail of confounding and intentionally obscure self-released records.

In the late 1960s Wolf -- born James Pobiega in 1950 -- was already a saxophone wailing fixture at the legendary Chicago hangout, Maxwell Street Market. By the mid-1980s he released nearly three dozen 45s. Those singles are sprawling journeys into Wolf’s world vision, as told through his gravelly voice and an array of instruments in styles and influences not limited to: American Indian, Polish and gypsy folk musics, Voodoo, vocal chants, blues, calypso and avant jazz. Often, it’s all filtered through overdubbed abstraction.

Wolf issued two LPs collecting some of those singles -- The Guardian (1982) and Cool Truth (1985) -- both now reissued by Family Vineyard.

Cool Truth is a damaged, hallucinatory journey that radiates from a Chicago blues core. Performing most, if not all, the instruments himself -- sax, guitar, harmonica, marimba, etc. -- Wolf speaks in tongues, hollers and serenades. The 12 songs recorded between 1979 and 1983 alternate between Sun Ra-style orchestration and primitive forms to more traditional blues takes.

James Pobiega, a 6'9" Polish-derived man from Chicago's South Side, performed heavily in bars and and to a greater extent on the street of his home turf during the late 70s through the mid 80s under the name Little Howlin Wolf. During that time, self-released 32 45s (that we know of) and two LPs (compiled from the 7"s) titled The Guardian and The Cool Truth.