The golden years of Chicago blues were overrun with singers with full-bodied and world-weary voices, but few of them were as raw as Koko Taylor. Born in 1928 in Tennessee, she found success in the Windy City during the ’50s and early ’60s. After she signed to the legendary Chess label, her 1965 single “Wang Dang Doodle” changed the course of her career, crossing over to the pop charts and inspiring a long line of rerecordings. Her 1969 self-titled debut for the label was a perfect full-length primer to her artistry, compiling her previous singles alongside new cuts. Albums like 1975’s Grammy-nominated I Got What It Takes and 1978’s The Earthshaker solidified Taylor as a blues icon, with tracks like “I’m a Woman” and “Hey Bartender” becoming new standards in her genre. Throughout the rest of her career, up until her death in 2009, her recordings felt refreshingly unaffected by changing popular-music trends.