Howlin' Wolf - Smokestack Lightnin' ... The Best Of [2CD] (2016)

The years following World War II were formative ones for America, black America in particular and the music they played and listened to. Black Americans moved to where the jobs were and when they weren't working they needed to be entertained. So it was that a circuit of venues grew up offering live music aimed at the working man and woman. Chester Burnett, aka Howlin' Wolf, was one notable figure attracted by this musical magnet. The songs on this set, dating from 1951 to 1958, sum up the first half of Wolf's recording career with Chess, a period when he sung mostly self-penned compositions.