Lowell Fulson was one of the most important figures in post-war West Coast blues, a guitarist, singer, and songwriter who was active from the late 1940s to the mid-'90s. While Fulson seemed willing to do a little bit of everything over the course of his career, his best and best-known work was informed by jump blues and the polished, impassioned big-city sound typified by his fellow California bluesman T-Bone Walker. However, Fulson also cut spare, rural blues-styled material, strong soul-styled sides in the mid- to late '60s (1967's Tramp, including the hit title track), a smattering of funky, rock-infused blues (1970's In a Heavy Bag), and barroom-style guitar workouts (1995's late-era Them Update Blues).