Worried Life Blues

Jimmy Reed takes Big Maceo Merriweather's 1941 piano blues standard and pulls it into his own signature groove. While Maceo's original was built on heavy, rolling piano, Reed slows it down to his patented, hypnotic shuffle. With his wife Mary Lee often whispering the lyrics into his ear just before he sang them, Reed laid down his distinct high-end harmonica squawks over a relentlessly simple walking bassline. It's a perfect example of how the emerging electric Chicago blues scene recycled acoustic-era standards for the jukebox crowd.