In the summer of 1999, the jam band Phish invited exactly one outside artist to play their massive Camp Oswego festival in upstate New York: a battle-tested Chicago bluesman named Frank "Son" Seals. To reach that stage he had survived losing 13 of his 14 siblings, a point-blank gunshot to the jaw, the amputation of part of his leg, and the loss of his home to fire. In this deep dive we trace how a lifetime of compounding hardship and wildly diverse musical apprenticeships produced one of the most unmistakable sounds in electric blues. Born August 14, 1942 in Osceola, Arkansas, Seals grew up inside his father's juke joint, the Dipsy Doodle Club, and was drumming professionally behind slide guitarist Robert Nighthawk by age 13.

We follow his education at the T-99 Club, where he backed Albert King, Rufus Thomas, Bobby Bland, Junior Parker and  ...