‘I’m late to the party, but I’m coming”

HARTFORD — Unbeknownst to some blues fans, the great Rockin’ Johnny Burgin has been quietly threading a path around the Northeast for a few weeks now, including several appearances already this summer in Connecticut and just over the borders.

If you dig the blues, you really need to see Rockin’ Johnny.

So if you missed him earlier this month at the Tipping Chair Tavern in the Milldale section of Southington, the Stomping Ground in Putnam, or Corner Music or the Deacon Timothy Pratt Bed and Breakfast in Old Saybrook, mark Saturday on your calendar.

That’s the night the Rockin’ Johnny Band will play at Black-Eyed Sally’s. Showtime is 9 p.m. Cover is $10 — not including the barbecue you’re highly likely to eat. Sally’s is located at 350 Asylum St. in Hartford.

(If you miss him AGAIN, your last chance

anywhere near these parts will be Sept. 15 at Daddy’s Jack’s (181 Bank St., New London). That show starts at 8:30 p.m.)

Wait — maybe you don’t even know who Rockin’ Johnny is.

OK, let’s fix that: If you haven’t spent a lot of time around Chicago in recent years, Rockin’ Johnny may be among the best blues guitarists you’ve never heard of.

If you were in Chicago in the ’90s and again in the 2010s, you couldn’t help but know him — Burgin and his Rockin’ Johnny Band were a bunch of younger guys who played as much in the spirit of the classic, post-war ’40s and ’50s Chicago blues as anyone who was there at that time.

And they were EVERYWHERE.

He released several albums on Chicago’s venerable Delmark Records label and became a Monday night fixture with The Rockin’ Johnny Band (with guest vocalist

Burgin grew up in Starkville, Mississippi, and Greenville, South Carolina. He went to the University of Chicago with the intention of becoming a writer, but ended up diving deep into the Chicago blues scene.

Jimmy Burns) at the Smoke Daddy barbecue joint and bar on Division Street in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood.

But aside from an occasional trip to perform in Europe, he didn’t get out much.

Now, on the tails of a move to the Bay Area a couple of years ago — and with a goal to get out and be a national touring bluesman rather than just one of Chicago’s great secrets — he’s been working overtime to change that.

So he was out here to make new friends last September, and now he’s back again.

“I’m late to the party, but I’m coming,” Burgin, 49, who now lives in Petaluma, California, said last time out — and it still applies.

Burgin grew up in Starkville, Mississippi, and Greenville, South Carolina. He went to the University of Chicago with the intention of becoming a writer, but ended up diving deep into the Chicago blues scene.

While he no longer lives in Chicago, “I’m a homeboy in Chicago,” Burgin said last year.

Chicago is where Burgin, originally from Mississippi, had lived on and off since 1988, performing at littleknown joints on the West Side and making his name by backing Chicago’s quirky, full-of-personality James “Taildragger” Jones, one of the great original bluesmen still on the scene.

In 2015, he recorded an independently released album, “Greetings From Greaseland,” in San Jose that was

well-received. “This record made me cool all over again,” he said. He now has seven CDs to his credit.

He also featured on a great, just-released CD on West Tone Records called “Chicago: The Blues Legends Today!” which has the Rockin’ Johnny Band backing underexposed Chicago blues artists Mary Lane, Milwaukee Slim and Little Jerry Jones, along with the CD’s producer, fine Pennsylvania blues harp player Mike Mettalia.

While he mostly stayed around Chicago until recently, Burgin has been featured over the years in major media outlets such as The Chicago Tribune, WGN’s After Hours with Rick Kogan, The Illinois Times, and KPFA’s Blues by the Bay.

He has recorded with many blues greats, including Billy Boy Arnold, Taildragger, Paul DeLay, Jimmy Burns, Andre Williams, Eddie Taylor Jr., Jimmy Lee Robinson and toured with such artists as Muddy Waters’ late, longtime piano man Pinetop Perkins and Howlin’ Wolf drummer Sam Lay.

Courtesy of Bárbara Sánchez Palomero Rockin’ Johnny Bergin, who made his name as a blues guitarist in Chicago, will perform at Black-Eyed Sally’s in Hartford.