(Also see 'Barrelhouse Chuck' on last.fm here: http://www.last.fm/music/Barrelhouse+Chuck and Erwin Helfner can be seen here: http://www.last.fm/music/Erwin+Helfer?ac=erwin+h )

I. Barrelhouse Chuck - Born in Ohio (Columbus, OH - July 10, 1958) where he first learned to play the drums at the age of 6, Barrelhouse Chuck, whose real name is Charles Goering, later switched to the piano and was living Gainesville Fla when he heard his first Muddy Waters record with Otis Spann on piano. This was a major turning point in Chuck’s life.

After that Chuck started buying the records of every blues artist he could find. A quick study on the keyboards, it wasn’t long before Chuck had formed his own band and began opening for Willie Dixon, B.B. King, and Muddy Waters and Chuck was playing with the great Bo Diddley.

It was also during this time (the middle 70’s) that Chuck and some of his friends began following Muddy Waters around to get some first hand exposure to both Muddy and his then current piano player, Pinetop Perkins. ‘We used to follow Muddy all around down South. We would wait in parking lots for the Van with Illinois plates to roll up. Pinetop Perkins & Willie Smith would recognize me and get me into their concerts. Then invited me to be back stage with Muddy and the band. Afterward, I’d go out to breakfast with them. I was just in awe.’

Then realizing he needed to immerse himself in blues piano he deciding to go directly to the source. In 1979 he drove 24 hours straight from Florida with Right-hand Frank to Chicago and went directly to B.L.U.E.S on Halsted specifically to see Sunnyland Slim. ‘I took a gamble and came to Chicago, and the first thing I did when I arrived was to go to B.L.U.E.S on Halsted. I walked in the door and there was Sunnyland Slim. I went right up to him and said, ‘I’ve just driven 24 hours straight to see you.’‘

Chuck spent the next 16 years studying with the living legend, who Chuck called ‘the great-granddaddy of all the blues piano players.’ Through Sunnyland he met all the great blues musicians in Chicago, and often ended up playing with and hanging out with them. Piano greats Blind John Davis, Big Moose Walker, Detroit Junior and Erwin Helfer were also playing blues piano in Chicago. Chuck spent years listening, learning and became friends.

People like S.P. Leary, Smokey Smothers, Erwin Helfer and Little Brother Montgomery took Chuck under their wings, invited him into their homes and made him feel a part of their families.

Chuck formed a special bond with piano legend Little Brother Montgomery with whom he honed his piano styling during a long internship. Chuck often lived with Little Brother spending many hours with him and Sunnyland Slim playing piano and hanging out. Other great piano players like Tollie & Joe Montgomery, Jay McShann and Lafayette Leake would come by to visit L.B. and play piano. Chuck was instrumental in arranging honorariums, driving him to jobs (and to the hospital when his health began failing) and helping him out in every way he could. Little Brother returned this favor by taking Chuck under his wing and giving him a musical education no other man has ever received. When Brother passed away Chuck lost a mentor and a true friend, but Chuck keeps his music alive when ever he plays. “Little Brother was like a grandfather to me”.

The last 30 years Chuck developed his immense mastery of blues piano and went on to perform or record with most of the notable Chicago blues musicians-people like Jimmy Rogers, Eddie Taylor, Kim Wilson, Hubert Sumlin, Otis Rush, Louis Myers, Buddy Guy, Big Smokey Smothers among many others. His recording credits reads like a ‘who’s who’ of modern day Chicago blues.

Barrelhouse Chuck is a recording artist for The Sirens Records. He participates on the classic recording ‘8 Hands on 88 Keys - Chicago Blues Piano Masters Detroit Jr., Pinetop Perkins, and Erwin Helfer. He has also recorded a solo disc entitled ‘Prescription for the Blues’ and a highly acclaimed band disc ‘Got My Eyes On You’ with Kim Wilson, Calvin ‘Fuzz’ Jones, Willie ‘Big Eyes’ Smith, Eddie Taylor Jr. Joel Foy.

In Feb.2008 Barrelhouse Chuck was asked by Kim Wilson, lead singer and harmonica player for the Fabulous Thunderbirds, to participate with Kim and recorded the soundtrack for Sony BMG’s much anticipated new film ‘Cadillac Records.’ The movie tells the story of Chess Records and includes many of the gifted musicians who started there. Beyonce Knowles is executive producer. Beyonce will also portray famed blues singer Etta James. Adrian Brody plays historic Chess Records founder Leonard Chess; Jeff Wright is cast as blues great Muddy Waters; and Cedric the Entertainer plays legendary songwriter Willie Dixon. Other musicians in the session include Steve Jordan on drum, bassist Larry Taylor (Canned Heat), and guitarists Eddie Taylor, Jr., Billy Flynn and the legendary Hubert Sumlin.

Previous to recording for this amazing new film, Kim Wilson and Eddie Taylor appeared on Barrelhouse Chuck’s critically acclaimed recording ‘Got My Eyes On You’, released by The Sirens Records in 2006.

During the past Three decades Chuck has played all over the U.S., Canada, Mexico, South America and tours Europe regularly. He has also appeared more than a dozen times at the Chicago Blues Festival. There are only a few of those great piano players left notes Barrelhouse Chuck. Even though most of his teachers have passed on, Barrelhouse Chuck has become one of the bearers of the flame, and keeps both their spirit and music alive, passing it along where ever he plays.


II. Ewrin Helfner - Erwin Helfer, a Chicago boogie woogie innovator and master, has been forging his own piano music legacy. Erwin has been playing and performing for over forty years. The sounds and personalities of past boogie woogie and blues pianists have nurtured Erwin's musical growth. For many years, Erwin accompanied Mama Yancey, the wife of Chicago blues piano patriarch Jimmy "Papa" Yancey, and later recorded one album with her. He was also mentored and influenced by Cripple Clarence Lofton, Speckled Red, and Sunnyland Slim. During the 60's and 70's, Erwin released two piano duet albums with his performing and recording partner of ten years, Jimmy Walker. On their first album, Peter J. Welding, one of the preeminent blues historians and scholars of all time, wrote that Helfer had "mastered the rhythmic and melodic subtleties" of the blues piano style. Other Helfer recordings include "Heavy Timbre", a compilation of Chicago blues pianists, several Lps for his own record label Red Beans, and two CDs for Austrian Label CMA. Erwin has the chops, the feel, and the drive of the masters but he also pushes the "classic" blues piano music forward in a totally new direction. His music is graceful, spirited, and at times beautifully dissonant. Erwin's classical music training allows him to hear and interpret the simple, percussive blues and boogie piano style like no one else. Yet, his classical training is not overbearing on his own piano approach; that is, his playing is fluid and carefree, not stiff. Chicago has long recognized its musical treasure, Erwin Helfer. He performs regularly at Chicago clubs and annually at the Chicago Blues Festival garnering rave reviews from publications such as The Reader and Chicago Magazine. His local gigs and frequent European tours have created a strong and loyal following in Chicago and overseas. (From the liner note of the CD "I'm Not Hungry, but I like to eat - Blues"- The Sirens Records SR-5001)

His most recent European tours include Berlin Jazz Festival and Debrecen Jazz Festival, the oldest Jazz Festival in Hungary. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.