Imagine flying to Europe to share stages with Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf, then clocking in at dawn at a Chicago folding box factory. That was the life of Byther Smith, born in Monticello, Mississippi in April 1932, orphaned young and raised by his aunt and uncle on gospel music. As a teenager he moved to Arizona to work cattle ranches and construction, learned double bass from country and western farmhands, and nearly became a boxer before his aunt bought him an electric bass to keep him out of the ring.

This deep dive follows Smith's mid-1950s move to Chicago with his wife Etta Mae, where his cousin J.B. Lenoir taught him guitar and he learned from Robert Lockwood Jr. and Hubert Sumlin. He became rhythm guitarist for Otis Rush, played behind Muddy Waters and Jimmy Reed, spent five grueling years in the house band at Theresa's Tavern bac ...