Sam Maghett from Grenada, Mississippi moved to Chicago as a teenager and developed a guitar style that blended the Delta tradition he'd grown up with and the urban electricity of the South Side. His debut album for Delmark Records, West Side Soul, was recorded in 1967 and sounded like nothing else -- funky, soulful, with Sam's voice and guitar locked in a conversation that felt like it had been going on for years.

He was preparing to tour Europe, preparing to break through to the audience his talent deserved, when a heart attack took him at 32. The blues lost a giant who was still in the process of becoming one. West Side Soul is the evidence -- everything he could have been, captured, preserved, waiting for the world to catch up.