By Michael Swanger michael@dmcityview.com

When asked how he would like to be remembered, 70-year-old "Superharp" James Cotton says, "As one of the best blues harmonica players that ever lived." Then he pauses and says quietly in that raspy voice of his, "I've got a long ways to go to get there, but I'm still trying."

If anyone has cause to boast about his standing in the blues, but won't out of respect for the music, it is Cotton. His storied career dates back to the 1940s and includes stints with Sonny Boy Williamson, Howlin' Wolf, Sun Records and, most notably, Muddy Waters. His name and trademark sound - there are nights when he blows the harp so loud the keys fall out - are on the lips of generations of harmonica players. And the list of awards he has amassed, including a Grammy, three Handys and induction into the Smithsonian Institute, merely scratch the surface of his contributions to the blues.

Born and raised in Tunica, Miss., he worked beside his parents in the cotton fields and taught himself to play harmonica. At the tender age of 9, after Cotton's parents died, Williamson took the young harmonica player under his wing. Over the course of six years, Cotton lived, worked and traveled with Williamson, assimilating many of his signature licks.

At the age of 15, Cotton inherited Williamson's band, but he couldn't keep the combo together. Still, he found other opportunities in the Memphis blues circuit, playing and recording for Wolf ("Moanin' At Midnight," "How Many More Years") and Willie Nix at Sun Records. In 1952, at the age of 17, he had a 15-minute daily radio show that spanned the Delta. A year later, it helped land him a recording session at Sun Records as a solo artist.

Cotton's career took a major step forward in 1954 when Waters asked him to sit in with his band in Memphis after Junior Wells abruptly left the group. The gig lasted for 12 years, and the rest is blues history.

"I didn't believe it at first," Cotton says. "I had been listening to Muddy's records and knew all of his songs."

In 1967, Cotton left Waters to form The James Cotton Blues Band, recording seminal sides for Verve and Vanguard Records. "I wanted to play me," Cotton says. "I talked to Muddy and got him another harmonica player, which was George Smith, and I went out for myself."

Cotton's energetic shows and rockin' blues sound allowed him to cross over into the burgeoning blues-rock market. During the late '60s and '70s he was playing rock festivals and the Fillmores in San Francisco and New York, opening for the Grateful Dead and Janis Joplin.

"Rock 'n' roll was coming out and I could do a little of that," Cotton says. "But I didn't want to do that in Muddy's band because I respected him too much... But I wanted to keep up with the times."

In the '70s and '80s, Cotton continued to lead his own band, as well as work with Waters on the singer's comeback Blue Sky recordings "Hard Again" and "Muddy 'Mississippi' Waters Live." By the early '90s, he had recorded a number of award-winning albums for several record labels and was being discovered by a new generation of fans.

But in 1994, Cotton's career took another turn when he had surgery to remove cancer from his throat. The procedure put an end to his singing career, allowing him to focus on his harmonica playing.

"I had to stop singing, but it's made me a better harp player because what I can't say with my mouth I say with the harp," Cotton says.

These days, Mojo Buford and Darrell Nulisch, accomplished singers and harmonica players in their own right, alternate vocal duties in Cotton's band. When Cotton plays Des Moines next week, Nulisch will be at the microphone.

"I try to keep a good band because I want to be good," Cotton says. "It makes me on the ball and I wants to be on the ball."

It's that kind of work ethic, Cotton says, that allows him to continue to blaze a trail through the blues world.

"When I walk onto the bandstand I give the audience all of me," he says. "In return, they gives me them. I'm not a star. I'm here to play for you."

New rock shows at Val Air

The Val Air Ballroom last week announced a bevy of new shows. Tickets are available through the ballroom's box office (223-6152) and Ticketmaster. Here's a look:
Rock bands Shinedown and Trapt bring their "Equinox Tour" to the Val Air July 11 at 7 p.m. with guests Evans Blue and Halestorm. General admission tickets go on sale Friday and are $25 in advance, $30 at the door.

Des Moines metal band Facecage returns to the ballroom July 15 to unveil their new album, "Facecage III," where they headline a showcase of up-and-coming metal acts from across the Midwest. Slipknot and Stone Sour frontman Corey Taylor, who produced Facecage's new record, will host the event. The concert starts at 6 p.m. and includes performances by local rockers Mindrite, as well as Black Flood Diesel, Narcotic Self, Broken Image and Sidewise. Tickets are $12 in advance, $15 day of show.

Alt-rockers Ween bring their razor-sharp satire to the Val Air for a show July 31 at 8 p.m. General admission tickets, $27 in advance and $30 day of show, go on sale June 16.

Veteran blues-rockers George Thorogood & The Destroyers play the Val Air Aug. 2 at 8 p.m. General admission tickets are $27.50 and also go on sale June 16.

Finally, Sugarland plays the ballroom Sept. 29. Ticket information TBA.

Dixie Chicks play Wells Fargo

The Dixie Chicks, the biggest-selling female group in history, will bring their 2006 "The Accidents & Accusations Tour" to Wells Fargo Arena for a performance on Aug. 24. Tickets are on sale now through the Wells Fargo Arena Box Office, at Des Moines area Dahl's Foods stores, by calling 1-866-55-DAHLS or online at www.dahlstickets.com.

Scene notes

Mickey's Irish Pub in Waukee is under new ownership, and the new owner, Fred Scherle, is booking bands to beef up the club's live music calendar. On Saturday, Cedar Rapids-based blues-rock guitarist Craig Erickson performs at 9 p.m. Call 987-9604... Nashville country singers Jason Brown and Trent Wilmon play Keysters on Saturday at 9 p.m. Tickets are $10 in advance... The free CJC jam session to be held Sunday at Java Joes from 2 to 4 p.m. will also double as a CD release party for jazz keyboardist Sam Salamone... To help raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, The Nadas will perform a benefit concert June 9 at 7 p.m. at Seven Flags Center in Clive. The Jesters open the show. Admission is a minimum $50 tax-deductible donation. Call 270-6169... The Des Moines Metro Opera presents Cabaret Night Live at the Temple for Performing Arts on June 9. The swanky affair includes musical theater numbers sung by members of the DMMO's apprentice artist program and will be hosted by Bill and Wicker Van Orsdel. Tickets are $75 and include cocktails and hors d'oeuvres. Call 961-6221... Also on June 9, Hold For Swank, The Hooligans, Slaughterhouse 6, When We Fall and Chicken Poodle Soup play an all-ages show at the Moose Lodge in Altoona. Showtime is 6 p.m. Admission is $5. Hold For Swank will debut its new album, "This is Why We Can't Have Nice Things," on June 17... Jazz saxophonist Rusty Johnson will perform June 10 at 6:30 p.m. at Simpson College's Great Hall following the Elevate Desire to Inspire Conference, a program of Children and Families of Iowa. Call 288-1981 Ext. 303 or visit www.elevate2inspire.com...Veteran rocker Joan Jett will play a show in Des Moines on Aug. 20 at a location TBA. Fans might recall she played Java Joes in 2004 while stumping for Howard Dean... After closing his South Side record shop a few months ago, Twisted Metal Records, Mark Dominique has returned to the music retail game by opening Twisted Metal Threads in the East Village. The store is located at 426 E. Locust St., next to Zzz Records, and carries posters, T-shirts and stickers. Call 729-0873. CV

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