George "Harmonica" Smith

Born in West Helena, Arkansas, United States, but brought up in Cairo, Illinois,[3] Smith's mother taught him how to play the harmonica from the age of 4.[1][4] In his teenage years he performed in a country band with Early Woods and Curtis Gould.[1][4] He also joined Mississippi gospel group, the Jackson Jubilee Singers.[1] From the late 1930s and into the 1940s, Smith travelled throughout the south and played harmonica on the streets.[4] In 1941, Smith moved to Rock Island, Illinois and joined a group with drummer Francis Clay.[1] Around this time he was working at the Dixie theatre and began to use an amplifier he'd salvaged from an old projector to amplify his harmonica playing on the streets.[1]

He moved to Chicago and began playing professionally in 1951.[3] He joined the Muddy Waters' band in 1954 and played intermittently with that group.[3] During this period he also worked with Otis Rush.[4] In the mid 1950s he recorded several singles for the RPM Modern label under the name Little George Smith.[1] In 1955, Smith went on tour with Little Willie John and Champion Jack Dupree, recording several songs with latter while in Cincinnati.[1] Smith relocated to Los Angeles, where the tour ended, later that year.[1][4] In the late 1950s, Smith recorded singles under various aliases, such as Harmonica King and Little Walter Junior, for labels J&M, Lapel, Melker, and Caddy.[1] In 1960 he recorded 10 singles under the alias George Allen for the Sotoplay and Carolyn labels.[1] In 1966, Smith worked with Muddy Waters while Waters was visiting the West Coast and recorded for the Spivey label. Smith played with Bacon Fat, a blues group, before working with Big Mama Thornton in the 1970s.[3] He played harmonica on her live album Jail in 1975.[3]

Smith spent most of his life living on the West Coast of the United States[3] where he influenced musicians such as William Clarke and Rod Piazza.[4] George "Harmonica" Smith died in 1983, in Los Angeles, California at the age of 59.[1]

• 1969: Blues with a Feeling: A Tribute to Little Walter (Beat Goes On)
• 1969: Of The Blues (Bluesway Records)[5]
• 1970: No Time For Jive (Blue Horizon)[6]
• 1971: Arkansas Trap (Deram)[7]
• 1976: Blowin The Blues (P-Vine Special)[8]
• 1978: Harmonica Blues King (Dobre Records)[9]
• 1982: Boogie'n With George (Murray Brothers Records)[10]
• 1993: Harmonica Ace (Ace Records)[3][11]
• 2011: Teardrops Are Falling (Electro-Fi Records)[12][13][14]

With Otis Spann

• The Blues Is Where It's At (BluesWay, 1966)

With the Super Black Blues Band: T-Bone Walker, Otis Spann and Joe Turner

• Super Black Blues (BluesTime, 1969)

• Biography at bluesharp.ca
• Masters of Blues Harp
• Illustrated George 'Harmonica' Smith discography