Beginnings / Chicago  (1968-'69)

Phil Maggini and Ron Berry signed on to play bass and guitar in a backup band for a mutual friend. Arriving at the gig they discovered it was to be a double bill. The bass player in that other group was Greg Stinson. About a year later Phil offered to help out a friend who was setting up equipment for a band he'd never heard called 'Fat Water'. When he got to the gig he was surprised to find Greg Stinson in the band, but this time playing guitar. Greg and singer Freddy Fox were standouts, and a connection was made. Soon after, Phil was hired by bluesman Cash McCall to play bass on a string of sessions at blues Mecca 'Chess Records', working with Willy Dixon and Howlin' Wolf among others. It was around this time that he was approached by Stinson and Fox to start a blues band of their own. Phil's friend and session mate Ron Berry was enlisted along with drummer Tommy Glubber.They called it 'The Yazoo Shuffle Band'.