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Lay died of natural causes in a nursing
facility near his Chicago home on Saturday, said independent
blues label Alligator Records on its website on Monday.
"An era is over," Corky Spiegel, a longtime friend and bandmate
of Lay's, told Reuters in an interview. "He just made you fly,
he sucked you into the music. Sam wasn't about a groove or time,
he went wherever the music went."
Known for his stylish cape and walking stick, Lay was inducted
into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2015 as part of the Paul
Butterfield Blues Band. He played on dozens of tracks for Chess
Records.
After Lay was honored for his music in 2002, Alligator Records
said Dylan sent him a telegram reading: "It's so well-deserved.
Walter, Wolf and Muddy, they must have known it, too — that
you're second to none — your flawless musicianship and
unsurpassed timing, a maestro with the sticks and brushes."
The Birmingham, Alabama, native first played professionally in
Cleveland in the mid-1950s before backing harmonica player
Little Walter in Chicago, according to Alligator Records.
Chicago blues developed in the Illinois city into an urban style
from earlier idioms such as Delta blues.
Lay was known for his "trademark, hard-to-copy 'double-shuffle'"
drumming, based on double-time hand-clapping in his childhood
church, Alligator Records said.
He drummed for Howlin' Wolf on songs that included "Killing
Floor," "The Red Rooster" and "300 Pounds of Joy." In 1969, he
played drums on "Fathers & Sons," Waters' best-selling record on
Chess Records.
Lay backed up Dylan on drums at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival
when the singer-songwriter played an electric guitar and shifted
to a rock sound - a pivotal event in folk rock.
Lay is survived by his daughter Debbie, four grandchildren and
three great-grandchildren.
(Reporting by Eric Cox; Editing by Richard Chang)
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