Big John Wrencher

The Maxwell Street open air market was a seven- to ten-block area in Chicago that from the 1920s to the mid-'60s played host to various blues musicians -- both professional and amateur -- who performed right on the street for tips from passerby. Most of them who started their careers there (like Little Walter, Earl Hooker, Hound Dog Taylor, and others) moved up to the more comfortable confines of club work. But one who stayed and became a most recognizable fixture of the area was a marvelous harmonica player and singer named One-Arm or Big John Wrencher. Wrencher was born in ...