Featured Musician — Lazy Bill Lucas

by Judy Cedar

DID YOU KNOW? Piano player and vocalist, Lazy Bill Lucas, was born May 29, 1918, in Wynne, Arkansas, and came to Chicago in 1941 via Cape Girardeau, Missouri, where he met Big Joe Williams. John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson toured with Lazy Bill in the 40s. Lazy Bill also played with Snooky Pryor, Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter and others before moving to Minneapolis in 1962. Lazy Bill's music career in Minneapolis spans two decades. He was the first host of the Lazy Bill Lucas Show on KFAI. He was an active musician right up to his death on December 11, 1982. Lazy Bill died from natural causes at his home in South Minneapolis.

GTCBMS had a Kickoff Event, "Remembering Lazy Bill Lucas," early winter (2003). What do Tom Burns, Pat Hayes, Larry Hayes, Dan Schwalbe, Jeff Todd Titan, Craig Salminen, Glen Hanson, Rik Sferra, Bill Gausman, David Allgeyer, Curtis Obeda, Joel Johnson, George Buford and others have in common? They all jammed and played with Lazy Bill. We are working to have some of these "boys" at our event to tell their stories, to preserve their legacy, to honor time and to enrich the blues community.

Lazy Bill Lucas Mystery Picture

Can You Help With Information About This Picture?

We received this picture from Al Haug who writes, "German researcher Stefan Wirz is trying to get any information about this photo of Lazy Bill Lucas that appeared (uncredited) in a French Book entitled "Dictionnaire du Blues" (Jean-Claude Arnaudon, Filipacci, Paris 1977, p. 171)." If anyone out there recognizes the players with Lazy Bill or the approximate date and location of this photo, please contact us at . Thanks!

(12/21/11)

Update on Mystery Picture

Thanks to the help of Bob Bingham and Jeff Titon, the drummer in this picture has been identified as John Schrag. Speculation is that the venue is either the Silver Dollar Club or the Malibu Club on Lake St. The identity of the guitar player remains a mystery.

(01/11/12)

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