Willie “Big Eyes” Smith was born in Helena, Arkansas, in 1936. In 1942, at the age of six, he saw Pinetop Perkins play in Helena. He was immediately hooked on the blues. At 17, he ventured to Chicago, where he heard Muddy Waters for the first time. The attraction to the music persuaded him to make the Windy City his home.
He started with the harmonica, forming a trio with guitarist Bobby Lee Burns and drummer Clifton James in 1954. The trio built a following in Chicago and gigged around the area for a few years. During this same time, Willie played harp with several other artists, including Bo Diddley, Arthur “Big Boy” Spires and Johnny Shines. In 1957, Willie joined Little Hudson’s Red Devil Trio and switched to playing drums. After gigs or between sets, Willie started sitting in on drums with Muddy Waters’ band. Muddy liked what he heard, and invited Willie to play drums on a 1959 recording session. Willie began to fill in for Muddy’s drummer Francis Clay, and continued to play recording sessions with Muddy. In 1961, Willie replaced Clay and played with Muddy until mid-1964. During this period, as he solidified his Chicago sound, Willie recorded with James Cotton, Jo Jo Williams and Muddy Waters on a tribute to blues vocalist Big Bill Broonzy.
With the advent of the Beatles and the subsequent flood of rock and pop music into the mainstream, the ‘60s were lean times for blues musicians. For a few years, from 1964 to 1968, Willie packed away his drum kit and made a living doing odd jobs like restaurant work and driving a cab in Chicago. One night in 1968, Willie stopped in a local club to catch one of Muddy’s sets. Muddy let Willie sit in, and invited him the next day to rejoin the band. Willie played in Muddy’s band until 1980, and he appears on all of Muddy’s GRAMMY®-winning albums.
After finishing his second tour of duty with Muddy Waters, Willie co-founded the Legendary Blues Band with pianist Pinetop Perkins, guitarist Louis Myers, bassist Calvin Jones, and harpist Jerry Portnoy. The group recorded four critically acclaimed albums on the Ichiban label and scored several GRAMMY® Award nominations in the process. They also performed and/or recorded with a range of blues, folk and rock artists, including Buddy Guy, Howlin’ Wolf and Junior Wells, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton. They backed Muddy on his performance in the Scorsese concert film, The Last Waltz, and appeared in the 1980 John Landis cult film, The Blues Brothers, where they played street musicians backing John Lee Hooker.
In recent years, Willie has moved back and forth between the drums and his first instrument, the harp. He is a longtime collaborator with fellow Muddy Waters Band alum, pianist Pinetop Perkins, and he played drums on Pinetop’s star-studded 2008 Telarc recording, Pinetop Perkins and Friends (along with such luminaries as Eric Clapton, B.B. King and Jimmy Vaughan).
His latest project with Pinetop is Joined at the Hip, released on Telarc in June 2010. The album features Willie not only on harp but on the majority of vocals as well, leaving the drummer’s chair open for his son, Kenny Smith. Joined at the Hip includes a mix of material written by Willie, along with a few chestnuts from the annals of Delta and Chicago blues.
