Hohner Marine Band, B-flat Major Harmonica Formerly Owned by Howlin' Wolf

This Hohner Marine Band harmonica was owned by Blues musician Chester Burnett, the Howlin’ Wolf.  Blues legend Rice Miller, known as Sonny Boy Williamson II, taught Burnett how to play the harmonica at a young age. Using a rack to hold the harmonica to his mouth, Wolf started playing guitar and harmonica together in 1928. 

Wolf (1910-1976) was a towering pioneer of Electric Blues. He acquired his first guitar from his father at the age of 18. He learned from the best: Charlie Patton taught him guitar and Son House showed him how to use a slide. While working on his father’s farm throughout the late 1920s and 1930s, Wolf built his reputation as a powerful performer by accompanying himself on guitar and harmonica for weekend gigs. 

Following four years of Army service while stationed in Seattle, he moved to West Memphis, Arkansas, in 1948 and formed his own band. The addition of guitarist Willie Johnson highlighted the ferociousness of Wolf’s music, as heard on “Moanin’ at Midnight” and “How Many More Years” from his first recording session in 1951. By 1953, Wolf had settled in Chicago and the next year found a new guitarist named Hubert Sumlin. Sumlin’s wicked guitar lines were a mainstay of Wolf’s sound for the rest of the bluesman’s career.    

Wolf’s songs, including “Spoonful,” “Smokestack Lightning,” “Back Door Man,” and “Killing Floor,” were a primal influence on artists such as the Rolling Stones, the Doors, Eric Clapton, and Jimi Hendrix. He was a large, imposing presence and drew raucous crowds wherever he performed, with his powerful unique voice, tight band, and wild stage act featuring suggestive hip thrusting, crawling on the floor, and dancing on tables and bars.