Francis Clay

Francis Clay was the definite blues drummer who played drums in the Muddy Waters band during its heyday in the late 1950s, then rejoined Waters in 1965 for a stint of almost two years, thus solidifying his enduring contribution to the Blues.

Clay was born in Rock Island, a riverside town on the Mississippi in northwest Illinois. His father, a waiter, was also a keen amateur musician. Attracted to the drums by seeing an uncle's set, he began to teach himself on a homemade kit, and by the age of 15 was playing professionally with a jazz band.

After further apprenticeship in orchestras and a brief stint as a booking agent, he moved in 1947 to Chicago, where he worked with trumpeter King Kolax and saxophonist Gene Ammons. For a few months he fronted a band of his own, an experience that, he said, deterred him from bandleading for the rest of his life.

In 1957, his friend Marcus Johnson, who played saxophone with Waters, tipped him off that his leader needed a drummer for an engagement in Cleveland, Ohio. With no time to rehearse, Clay found the band's routines baffling. Within a couple of nights, however, he was at home with the music, and he remained the band's drummer for four years. The spell included an appearance at the 1960 Newport Jazz Festival, which proved a momentous occasion for the future of the blues, since the resulting album, “Muddy Waters at Newport,” containing songs such as “Got My Mojo Working” and “I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man,” became a primary resource for the nascent British rhythm & blues movement, and a huge influence on a whole generation of musicians which followed.

Clay and Waters parted company around 1961, but the drummer was re-hired in 1965 to serve another two years. During that period the band accompanied several other leading blues figures, and Clay's crisp playing is heard on John Lee Hooker's “Live At Café Au-Go-Go,” and Otis Spann's “The Blues Is Where It's At.” He then put in a year or two with harmonica-player James Cotton.

The Cotton band was enjoying success on the west coast, and Clay, who was beginning to experience health problems, decided to settle in San Francisco. There he was well placed to fulfil recording engagements for the local Arhoolie label, with artists such as Lightnin' Hopkins and Clifton Chenier.

Clay worked less in the 1970s, and by the mid-80s arthritis in his knees had forced him to give up playing entirely. It would be pleasant to be able to report that in his latter days he was acknowledged for his past work, but the career of a blues drummer can lead to anonymity.

A brief news item in a blues magazine in 1995 reported that he had fallen on hard times; donations were solicited, and a benefit concert was planned at Yoshi's, an Oakland jazz club. Nevertheless, he was a regular and cheerful presence at Randy Chortkoff's annual Little Walter Festival in Los Angeles, and on the Bay Area blues scene he enjoyed the role of an elder statesman. His last recording was a guest appearance with guitarist Roy Rogers on his album “Slideways” (2001). Show less