B.B. King: The King of Blues Who Changed Guitar Forever On a cold night in 1949, a fight over a woman nearly killed the man who would become B.B. King. Two men brawling in a dance hall in Twist, Arkansas, knocked a barrel of burning kerosene across the wooden floor. The building caught fire within […]
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10 Essential Blues Records That Belong in Every Collection In 1961, a Columbia Records producer pulled together twenty-nine songs by a Mississippi guitarist who had been dead for nearly a quarter century. The album — King of the Delta Blues Singers — sold slowly at first. However, within two years it had reached Keith Richards,
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Women in Blues: The Forgotten Founders Who Shaped American Music In August 1920, a vaudeville singer named Mamie Smith walked into a New York recording studio and changed American music forever. Her recording of “Crazy Blues” sold 75,000 copies in its first month alone. Within a year, that number crossed one million. Consequently, record executives
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Ally Venable: The Texas Blues Guitarist Rewriting the Rules Ally Venable was twelve years old, riding in her father’s car in Kilgore, Texas. Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “Texas Flood” came through the speakers and changed her life. Within months, she had a guitar in her hands. Within a year, she had a band. By fourteen, she
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Hill Country Blues: How Africa’s Oldest Rhythms Survived in the Mississippi Hills On a September afternoon in 1959, Alan Lomax pulled his recording equipment onto Lonnie Young’s front porch in Como, Mississippi. He had come to document the fife and drum music that fed directly into the Hill Country blues tradition. Specifically, he wanted to
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Buddy Guy: The Daring Fire That Ignited Chicago Blues Three days without food. No money. No contacts. No plan. Buddy Guy stood on a Chicago sidewalk in September 1957 with a Gibson guitar and the growing certainty that leaving Louisiana had been the worst decision of his life. He had mailed demo tapes to Chess
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Stevie Ray Vaughan: The Blazing Texas Blues Guitar Legend On a July evening in 1982, a skinny Texan named Stevie Ray Vaughan walked onto the stage at the Montreux Jazz Festival wearing a wide-brimmed hat and a bolero jacket. He was unknown outside Austin. However, within minutes of tearing into Larry Davis’s “Texas Flood,” the
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Texas Blues: The Evolution of an American Guitar Tradition Texas blues developed as a distinct regional style from the 1920s through the 1990s, characterized by sophisticated guitar work, jazzy sophistication, and a fusion of rural and urban influences. Unlike the raw, emotional intensity of Delta blues or the full-band electric sound of Chicago blues, Texas
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What’s Nat Myer’s “Yellow Peril” All About? “Yellow Peril” is not merely a collection of musical tracks but a combination of a story, a journey, and a reflection. The album is primarily based on blues, a genre that is famous for its emotional depth and capability to convey stories. With “Yellow Peril,” Myers uses blues
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Selwyn Birchwood’s “Exorcist” – Review – A New Wave in Blues Selwyn Birchwood, a name that resonates with the soulful tunes of contemporary blues, has graced the music scene with his latest album, “Exorcist”. Released on June 09, 2023 Released under the Alligator Records label in 2023, this album is a testament to Birchwood’s musical
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British Blues Invasion: A Blazing New History of the Blues On the evening of October 16, 1958, Muddy Waters walked onto the stage at Leeds’ Odeon Theatre with his electric guitar and set about terrifying an audience that had come expecting acoustic folk blues. British papers ran a headline the next morning reading “Screaming Guitar
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Chicago Blues: The Ultimate Guide to Its History & Legendary Artists Introduction Chicago Blues emerged in the 1940s when musicians from the Mississippi Delta moved north. These artists electrified their Delta sound, creating the genre as we know it today. The music was revolutionary because these pioneers used amplification to cut through noisy club environments.
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Robert Johnson: The Delta Blues Legend Who Changed Music Forever Son House couldn’t explain it. The kid who used to grab his guitar at house parties in Robinsonville — the one House and Willie Brown would shoo away because he couldn’t play — had gone missing for the better part of a year. When Robert
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Muddy Waters: The Powerful Hidden New Voice of Chicago Blues In August 1941, a folklorist named Alan Lomax drove a government sedan down a dirt road to Stovall Plantation in Coahoma County, Mississippi. He was looking for Robert Johnson. Johnson was dead — had been for three years. However, the plantation workers pointed Lomax toward
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T-Bone Walker: The Revolutionary Who Changed Electric Blues Introduction When T-Bone Walker plugged in his electric guitar in the late 1930s, he changed everything. Born Aaron Thibeaux Walker in Linden, Texas on May 28, 1910, he didn’t just play the blues—he reinvented what a guitar could do. While other musicians saw amplification as just a
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Immerse yourself in the soul-stirring R&B journey of ‘I Am The Moon: Episode II. Ascension’ by the renowned Tedeschi Trucks Band. This album blends blues, jazz, funk, and gospel into a captivating exploration of love and life. Experience the emotional depth, authentic storytelling, and polished production that resonates with listeners on a profound level.
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Tedeschi Trucks Band’s “I Am The Moon: Crescent” Album Series Review At last! We are once again indebted to Tedeschi Trucks Band! They never cease to amaze us musically! Their latest project, “I Am the Moon” is an ambitious album series that is divided into four separate releases. The first installment, “Crescent “, showcases the
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Big Bill Broonzy: Chicago’s Bridge Between the Cotton Fields and the Electric City In 1951, a fifty-something son of Arkansas sharecroppers walked onto the stage at London’s Kingsway Hall. He carried nothing but an acoustic guitar and three decades of blues in his hands. Big Bill Broonzy was about to change how the world heard
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Bukka White: An Authentic Raw Pioneer of the Delta Blues In 1963, a young guitarist named John Fahey wrote an address on an envelope that would reshape blues history. It read simply: “Bukka White (Old Blues Singer), c/o General Delivery, Aberdeen, Mississippi.” Fahey had no phone number, no street address, and no certainty that the
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A Deep Dive into Cash Box Kings’ “Oscar’s Motel” Introduction The Cash Box Kings, a band with a rich history and a deep dedication to the Chicago Blues sound, have once again graced the music scene with their latest album, “Oscar’s Motel”. This album is a testament to their commitment to keeping the spirit of
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Son House: The Delta Preacher Who Defined Raw Blues In May 1930, a Paramount Records producer traveled to Lula, Mississippi, looking for Charley Patton. He found Patton — and he found Son House. What he heard that day was a voice that sounded like it had been dragged out of the earth, paired with a
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What Makes This Sound Hauntingly Human? There’s a sound in the blues that nothing else quite replicates. It’s not the bent string of a fretted guitar. Not the wail of a harmonica or even the human voice — though the best slide players make their instruments do exactly that. Blues slide guitar occupies its own
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The Ultimate Delta Blues Guide: Artists, History & Albums Introduction Delta Blues emerged from the Mississippi Delta in the early 1900s, creating a raw, emotional sound that would become the foundation of modern blues music. Born in the cotton fields and juke joints of the Deep South, this uniquely American art form captured the struggles,
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