He began playing guitar at the age of eight and had built quite a reputation by the time he was 16. He played with such artists as John Lee Hooker, Buddy Miles, Otis Rush, Willie Dixon, Steve Miller, Muddy Waters, Jimi Hendrix and many more.

After the death of his close friend Mike Bloomfield in 1981, JLW forsook the world of blues to enrol at university. However, he returned to his blues roots after graduating, and in 1988 and 1991 won Contemporary Blues Male Artist of the Year Awards. Steve Cropper produced three of his albums during the late 1990s, including Grammy-winning Deep in the Blues. His 2015 album, Everybody Wants a Piece, was also nominated for a Grammy.

JLW was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2013. 

Mike Read