Musician Friends

BARRELHOUSE CHUCK - Chicago Piano Man

One of the earliest blues guys that we met was Barrelhouse Chuck (aka Charles Goering). I'd been listening to Ol' Harv playing his records for some time and one day Chuck was Harv's guest, live in the studio. He was spinning tales about his history in the blues....about hearing his first Muddy Waters record with Otis Spann on piano...and said it was the turning point in his life.

He said in 1979 he drove 24 hours, straight thru, from Florida to see Sunnyland Slim performing in Chicago. He spent the next 16 years studying with the master. Thru Sunnyland he met other piano greats, Blind John Davis, Big Moose Walker, Detroit Junior, Little Brother Montgomery, Erwin Helfer and many more. Chuck spent years listening, learning and becoming friends with his heros. Learn more about him in his bio.

We finally met Chuck at the Midway Tavern. I made him a recycled barrel-shaped pretzel jar into a tip jar. He was so surprised and appreciative! We talked about his love for the blues and our love for folk art. One day he came by the house and saw our collection...he became as hooked on folk art as we were hooked on the blues. We have become good friends thru the years. He always stops by the house when he's in town and stays overnight when his schedule allows. We usually stay up all night listening to his stories. Chuck knows EVERYONE...and EVERYONE knows him, just check out some of these quotes by his musician friends.

He was far-thinking enough to save mementos thru the years as he was working with all the blues legends. He's created probably the country's LARGEST COLLECTION of BLUES photos, autographs, posters and THOUSANDS of 78's, 45's, LP's, 8-track tapes and CD's. Two or three years ago part of his collection was featured at the Lake County Discovery Museum in Wauconda, Illinois. Read about it here

You may have seen the movie "Cadillac Records" the real story of Chicago's famous "Chess Records." The movie starred Beyonce as Etta James and the musical soundtrack featured our friends: Kim Wilson on harp, Billy Flynn - guitar, Larry "the Mole" Taylor - bass, Barrelhouse Chuck on piano, and others. A couple years ago Kim got the same group together for an extravagancy at the famous Apollo Theatre, "Howling for Hubert" as a tribute to the late Hubert Sumlin. They backed Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Vaughan, Lonnie Brooks, Shemekia Copeland and many others. Check here to see some of the folks Chuck's recorded with.

In 2010 Chuck produced an album called "Rocking My Blues in Chicago" for Lluis Coloma...who Chuck calls "the world's best boogie boogie piano player." Louis is from Barcelona, Spain. He came to Chicago to record the album under Chuck's direction.
Lluis respected Chuck as Chicago's #1 traditional piano man. We were lucky when Chuck brought him and Erwin Helfer to the Midway for an piano only extravaganza.
Lluis liked my art and wanted to use images on the new album. We were thrilled when he used 7 photos of my stuff on the album cover and booklet. Watch Lluis play Coloma's Boogie.

One of our favorite albums of Chuck's is called 8 Hands on 88 Keys. It was recorded in 2002 featuring Pinetop Perkins, Erwin Helfer, Detroit Junior and Chuck.

Chicago's #1 piano man is always in demand for concerts and recording sessions in America, South America and all over Europe. Thru the years he has picked up a truck load of awards from blues magazines and societies all over the world. His latest, was from the Blues Music Foundation, being nominated for "Traditional Blues Album of the Year" recorded with Kim Wilson. And he's been nominated as "Pinetop Perkins Piano Player of the Year" for the last two years.

Check out Chuck's Website Go to Chuck's Facebook Page

Sheila and I, are proud to call Chuck a friend