Carl Weathersby, a guitarist who came up in the Chicago blues scene and was a protege of guitar great Albert King, died Friday. He was 71.
Mr. Weathersby was born in Jackson, Miss., on Feb. 24, 1953, but he moved to East Chicago, Indiana, when he was 8. He started playing guitar a few years later, helped along by some of his father’s musician friends who would stop by the house.
One of those friends was King, who heard Mr. Weathersby playing King’s rendition of “Crosscut Saw” one night while he was visiting. King picked up the guitar and showed Mr. Weathersby how he played it and offered some encouragement.
Mr. Weathersby went on to serve in the military in Vietnam, later becoming a steelworker and prison guard. In 1979, he began playing rhythm guitar for King. Three years later, he joined Billy Branch’s Sons of Blues band, where he spent 15 years. After he left the band, Mr. Weathersby occasionally returned as a guest star.
King, who along with B.B. King and Freddie King were known as the “three kings of the blues,” died in 1992. Branch, one of the great blues harmonica players, has been a fixture on the Chicago blues scene since the 1970s.
“Over the years I watched as Carl’s guitar and singing skills continued to develop and mature, ultimately making him one of the most skilled and dynamic bluesmen of our times,” Branch wrote in a Facebook post. “His vocals were heartfelt and passionate. His guitar skills were unmatched. He had come into his own.”
Mr. Weathersby eventually started releasing music under his own name, putting out nine albums between 1996 and 2019. He was inducted into the Chicago Blues Hall of Fame in October 2017.
In total, Mr. Weathersby, who was regularly in the lineup of the Chicago Blues Festival, played on more than 33 albums, a mixture of live and studio recordings between his solo career and with groups such as the Sons of Blues and the Chicago-based blues band Mississippi Heat.
His final release, 2019’s “Live at Rosa’s Lounge,” was recorded at the Logan Square venue, where he returned for another performance in 2021. A few years prior, he had a recurring stint at Kingston Mines in Lincoln Park.
In his later years, Mr. Weathersby struggled with the effects of diabetes, and a GoFundMe for his medical costs raised more than $16,000 in 2019.