This week on Blues Before Sunrise we ease back into one of those truly rare treasures: a long sit-down with the incomparable Robert Jr. Lockwood. Guitarist, bandleader, arranger, sideman, and bona fide blues institution. And yes—step-son of Robert Johnson himself. But the magic of Lockwood has always been that he never traded on that connection. He carried his own weight, carved out his own sound, and shaped the postwar blues world from the inside with that sly, elegant guitar and a résumé that reads like a Chicago blues hall of fame checklist.

This interview, captured in June 1982 at the public radio station in Chicago, is one of those sessions where the past walks right into the room and sits down with you. Sunnyland Slim was along for the ride—because of course he was—and the two of them sparked off each other like only old friends with long memories can. Lockwood talks about Johnson without mythologizing him, describes the early road years with that calm matter-of-factness only great musicians seem to manage, and gives up the goods on what it took to be a working guitarist in the golden era of Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson II, and the Chess/Trumpet orbit.

Hour #3 is the centerpiece—stories, recollections, and a generous helping of Lockwood records—but the whole five-hour spread circles the theme without sticking too tightly to the rails. We start with some bright swing and jump sides, roll into early R&B and gospel in Hour #2, spend an intimate hour with Lockwood in Hour #3, lean into some raw, low-down electric blues in Hour #4, and glide home on a soulful, late-night Hour #5.

A heavyweight of a musician. A warm, sharp, honest storyteller. A Chicago studio full of history. And a microphone running at just the right time.

Join us—Robert Jr. Lockwood. Only on Blues Before Sunrise.