almost as soon as he had moved to chicago, king started sneaking into south side nightclubs, where he heard blues performed by muddy waters, howlin' wolf, t-bone walker, elmore james, and sonny boy williamson. king formed his first band, the every hour blues boys, with the guitarist jimmie lee robinson and the drummer frank "sonny" scott. in 1952, while employed at a steel mill, the eighteen-year-old king occasionally worked as a sideman with such bands as the little sonny cooper band and earl payton's blues cats. in 1953 he recorded with the latter for parrot records, but these recordings were never released. as the 1950s progressed, king played with several of muddy waters's sidemen and other chicago mainstays, including the guitarists jimmy rogers, robert lockwood jr., eddie taylor, and hound dog taylor; the bassist willie dixon; the pianist memphis slim; and the harmonicist little walter.