Hip Linkchain

{{short description|American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter (1936–1989)}}

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Hip Linkchain

| image = Hip Linkchain.jpg

| caption =Linkchain on stage in France.

| image_size =

| birth_name = Willie Richard

| alias =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1936|11|10|mf=y}}

| birth_place = Jackson, Mississippi, United States

| death_date = {{death date and age|1989|2|13|1936|11|10|mf=y}}

| death_place = Chicago, Illinois, United States

| instrument = Guitar, vocals

| genre = Chicago blues, electric blues

| occupation = Guitarist, singer, songwriter

| years_active = Mid-1950s–1989

| label = Evidence, Teardrop, Storyville, others

| associated_acts =

| website =

}}

Willie Richard (November 10, 1936 – February 13, 1989), who performed as Hip Linkchain, was an American Chicago blues guitarist, singer and songwriter.{{cite web |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/hip-linkchain-mn0000678908/biography|title=Hip Linkchain |author=Dahl, Bill |publisher=AllMusic.com |access-date=November 14, 2011}}

His best-known numbers were "Change My Blues" and "That Will Never Do".{{cite web|author=Doc Rock |url=http://thedeadrockstarsclub.com/1980.html |title=The 1980s |publisher=The Dead Rock Stars Club |access-date=2015-10-03}} AllMusic described him as a "solid, no-frills bluesman".{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/airbusters-mw0000103057 |author= Koda, Cub|title=Hip Linkchain: Airbusters |publisher=AllMusic |date=1984-07-23 |access-date=2015-10-03}} Another music journalist noted, "his composer's talents put him much above the average bluesmen".{{cite book

| first= Gérard

| last= Herzhaft

| year= 1997

| title= Encyclopedia of the Blues

| edition= 2nd

| publisher= University of Arkansas Press

| location= Fayetteville

| isbn= 1-55728-452-0

| page= [https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofbl00herz/page/126 126]

| url-access= registration

| url= https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofbl00herz/page/126

}} Linkchain worked with Lester Davenport, Pinetop Perkins, Tyrone Davis, and Little Walter.{{cite book

| first= David Honeyboy

| last= Edwards

| year= 1997

| title= The World Don't Owe Me Nothing: The Life and Times of Delta Bluesman Honeyboy Edwards

| edition= 1st

| publisher= Chicago Review Press

| location= Chicago

| isbn= 1-55652-368-8

}}

Life and career

He was born in Jackson, Mississippi. His stage name was in deference to his father's nickname, Linkchain, which was due to his habit of sporting logging chains around his neck, and the boy's childhood nickname, Hipstick.{{cite book

| first= Adrian

| last= Room

| year= 1997

| title= Dictionary of Pseudonyms: 13,000 Assumed Names and Their Origins

| url= https://archive.org/details/dictionarypseudo00room

| url-access= limited

| edition= 5th

| publisher= McFarland & Company

| location= Jefferson, North Carolina

| isbn= 978-0-7864-4373-4

| page= [https://archive.org/details/dictionarypseudo00room/page/n295 289]}} He was inspired by the blues playing of Sonny Boy Williamson II, Elmore James and Little Milton, all of whom Linkchain heard in the Mississippi Delta, before he relocated to Chicago, Illinois, in 1954. He was raised in Louise, Mississippi, and picked cotton before his move north.{{cite web |url=http://www.teardroprecords.com/linkchain.htm |title=Change My Blues |publisher=Teardroprecords.com |access-date=November 14, 2011}} Linkchain found regular employment playing blues guitar in the clubs of Chicago throughout the 1950s and 1960s, working at various times with the harmonica players Lester Davenport, Dusty Brown, and Little Willy Foster.

By 1959, Linkchain had formed his own band, the Chicago Twisters, with Tyrone Davis as frontman. Linkchain recorded sporadically, mainly for small independent record labels based in Chicago, and a handful of his singles were released in the 1960s. His debut album, Change My Blues, with Pinetop Perkins (piano), Rich Kirch (guitar), Right Hand Frank Bandy (bass) and Fred Grady (drums), was released by the small Teardrop Records in 1983.

Linkchain died of mesothelioma cancer, on February 13, 1989, in Chicago.{{cite web |url=http://squeezemylemon.blogspot.com/2008/07/bluesman-you-probably-dont-know-hip.html |title=A Bluesman You Probably Don't Know: Hip Linkchain |date=July 7, 2008 |publisher=Squeezemylemon.blogspot.com |access-date=November 14, 2011}}

His best-known album, Airbusters, was originally released by the Netherlands-based label Black Magic in 1988, not long before he died. It was later reissued by Evidence Records.

Discography

=Albums=

Year \|\| Title \|\| Record label
class="wikitable sortable"
1983	Change My Blues	style="text-align:center;"\|Teardrop Records
1993	Airbusters	style="text-align:center;"\|Evidence Records
1996	I Am on My Way	style="text-align:center;"\|Storyville Records
1999	Jimmy and Hip Live! †	style="text-align:center;"\|Rumble Records
2007	Westside Chicago Blues Guitar	style="text-align:center;"\|P-Vine Records

{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/hip-linkchain-mn0000678908/discography |title=Hip Linkchain: Discography |publisher=AllMusic.com |access-date=2015-10-03}}

† Jimmy and Hip Live! was a live album, recorded with Jimmy Dawkins in Champaign, Illinois, in 1982.{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/jimmy-and-hip-live-mw0001297496 |title=Jimmy Dawkins: ''Jimmy and Hip Live |publisher=AllMusic.com |date=1999-12-25 |access-date=2015-10-03}}