Fast Fingers

about this album

Fast Fingers is Jimmy Dawkins first solo album. He´d played on some other Delmark releases, but now he headed his own group. This is a good album, but it kind of feels like its´s a Sixties folk blues album, e.g. the market for the album is not the black community but the students at Chicago University. But there are moments of pure enjoyment here! It´s Dawkins first solo album, it´s a solid blues album and it might be the most West Side Jimmy ever recorded. It serves me right to suffer (4.10) First time I heard this song it knocked me out! I had heard Hot Wire 81 and heard Dawkins play second guitar on a Luther Allison album and Dawkins didn't exactly make an impression as a fiery guitar player. I must say I don´t think Dawkins backup jobs at Delmark shows the best sides of his ability. Anyway, on this track Dawkins singing is very cool and the whole track is laid-back. Jimmy is at his best when he has a solid West Side rhythm to play and the guitar pattern here is very delicate. Very West Side and very cool. I wonder why (3.07) If the first track was laid-back this one is a hard driving shuffle. Jimmy Dawkins shows why he got the nickname Fast Fingers. I´m good for nothing (5.14) Whoa! That guitar intro! Jimmy Dawkins had full control of his instrument already in 1969. Stinging notes, those special "choking" notes and fat chords. Again that West side feeling. The backup band with Mighty Joe Young and Eddie Shaw riffs in the back. Solid blues. It´s b

why this is interesting

# Why "Fast Fingers" Deserves Attention This 1969 debut reveals a guitarist caught between worlds—a blues traditionalist recording for folk-conscious audiences rather than the Black community that shaped him. That tension itself becomes interesting: Dawkins navigates West Side Chicago blues through an unexpectedly reflective lens, creating something neither purely commercial nor entirely personal. The album's significance lies in this awkward honesty. Rather than slick studio polish or aggressive modernization, we hear a craftsman exploring his own idiom with genuine curiosity. Moments of pure enjoyment emerge throughout—raw vocal performances and guitar work that suggest Dawkins was willing to be vulnerable on record. For anyone interested in how blues

tracks

more from Jimmy Dawkins

Hot Wire 81 (feat. Richard Kirch, Sylvester Boines, Jimmy Schutte) [Blues Power]

Me, My Gitar and The Blues

Feel The Blues

Feel the Blues 2014 Remix

Kant Sheck Dees Bluze

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