James Cotton, one of the blues world’s greatest treasures, won a 2002 Handy Award for Best Traditional Album of the Year for his last album 35th Anniversary Jam. With a storied career that dates back to the 1940s and includes stints with legends in both blues and rock, Cotton has himself assumed legendary status. And after a lifetime of playing and living the blues, Cotton couldn’t be more deserving. On his latest recording for Telarc, Baby, Don’t You Tear My Clothes, James Cotton is joined by a list of who’s who in the blues world.

Born in Tunica, Mississippi, in 1935, Cotton fell under the spell of the legendary Sonny Boy Williamson at the tender age of nine after hearing King Biscuit Time, the harpist’s daily radio broadcast on KFFA in Helena, Arkansas. His uncle took him to meet Williamson, who was so impressed by the youth that he immediately took him under his wing. “How me and Sonny really got started is my uncle walked up and kind of took the conversation over,” recalls Cotton. “This theme song he used to play when they came on the radio station, I walked up and played it for him. And I played it note for note. And he looked at that. He had to pay attention.” Over the course of six years, Cotton lived, worked and traveled with Williamson, eventually assimilating many of his signature licks.

At age 15, Cotton inherited the nomadic Williamson’s band. “Sonny Boy gave it to me,” says James. “Him and his wife, I don’t know what that was all about. She moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and we was in West Memphis, Arkansas. So I guess after that she was there six or seven months, Sonny Boy couldn’t take it no more. He just walked in one night and gave me the band, and cut out the next morning.”

Although James was unable to keep the combo together for very long, the young harpist found plenty of other opportunities on the Memphis Blues circuit. Cotton played and recorded with Howlin’ Wolf and Willie Nix, and made his recording debut in 1953 as a drummer on “Straighten Up Baby,” released by Sam Phillip’s Sun Records.

In 1954, when Muddy Waters passed through town looking for a harpist, Cotton landed the gig and his life would never be the same. “They’d been on a tour through Florida, Georgia, Mississippi,” he says. “I was in West Memphis, Arkansas. Junior Wells was with the band. And I don’t know what happened to him, but Junior left ‘em out there on the road. I had been doing records with Sun Records in Memphis, and they knew that I lived in Memphis so they came looking for me.” Cotton worked with Muddy for the next 12 years—on the road and in the studio, including appearances on many of Muddy’s seminal Chess sesions.

Cotton had a difficult time filling the shoes of his illustrious predecessor, Little Walter. Muddy expected his new recruit to play Walter’s solos verbatim. “Really frustrating, because you’re being somebody that you ain’t,” Cotton says. “It went like that for about six, seven years. Then I finally had to tell him, ‘Hey man, I will never be Little Walter. You’ve just got to give me a chance to be myself.’” That chance came after Cotton’s explosive solo on Muddy’s version of “Got My Mojo Working,” captured live at the 1960 Newport Jazz Festival. James had established himself as his own man from then on.

In 1966, he struck out on his own and formed The James Cotton Blues Band. “I loved Muddy very much, and I respected him very much,” explains Cotton. “I did all I could do there. It was time to move on and do something else.” He signed with Verve and released four critically acclaimed albums and was able to cross over into the burgeoning blues-rock market, performing at rock festivals and blues venues such as the Fillmores in San Francisco and New York. Cotton opened for acts like the Grateful Dead, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band and Janis Joplin.

In the ‘70s and ‘80s, Cotton continued to lead his own band, as well as work with Johnny Winter and Muddy Waters again. He signed with Alligator Records in 1984 and released High Compression, an album that featured a traditional blues band and included pianist Pinetop Perkins and guitarist Magic Slim. Cotton received a Grammy nomination for his 1986 recording, Live from Chicago—Mr. Superharp Himself. Another Grammy nomination followed for James Cotton Live, recorded at the popular Austin club Antones. He finally captured the award for his 1996 Verve release, Deep in the Blues.

In 2000, Cotton made his debut on the Telarc label with Fire Down Under the Hill. His latest effort on Telarc is a unique collaboration with some of today’s top blues artists. The musicians arrived from all corners of the music world to help James with his vision of American roots music. Bobby Rush brought his signature Chitlin’ Circuit groove to “Baby, Don’t You Tear My Clothes.” Odetta and James pair up on the blues classic, “Key to the Highway.” Doc Watson and James team up on a nostalgic country guitar/harmonica party on Leroy Carr’s seminal “How Long Blues.” And, other roots music luminaries C.J. Chenier, Rory Block, Dave Alvin, Jim Lauderdale, Peter Rowan, and Marcia Ball, all answered the call of Cotton’s harmonica.

Cotton and his harmonica are still blazing a trail through the music world and his legacy continues to grow with each passing year. He might be wailing away on blues rocker Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s record or showing up on late night talk shows with David Letterman or Conan O’Brien, but nowhere is he more in his element than fronting his own band and continuing to serve as a beacon to each new generation of blues fans.