Guitarist
John Brim was directly involved in the hard-boiled Chicago blues scene of the early 1950s, and worked in the same clubs and recording studios as
Muddy Waters,
Sunnyland Slim,
Floyd Jones,
Willie Dixon, and
Jimmy Reed. In 2004, 22 of his earliest recordings were reissued in the Classics Chronological Series, providing blues lovers worldwide with unprecedented access to a special stash of favorites and rarities.
Brim was a native of Kentucky who came to Chicago in the '40s by way of Indianapolis, and cut his first records in 1950 for the Fortune label up in Detroit with blues and boogie piano legend
Big Maceo Merriweather. Because
Merriweather had been partially paralyzed by a stroke, he and
James Watkins shared the same keyboard. The vocalist on "Strange Man" and "Mean Man Blues" was
Brim's wife
Grace, a fine singer who doubled on harmonica.
John Brim's next recordings were made for the Random label in St. Louis in 1951, with pianist
Roosevelt Sykes.
Grace, here billed as "Mrs. John Brim", sang "Going Down the Line" and "Leaving Daddy Blues."