contemporary blues
Mr. Sipp: From Church Revivals to BMA Glory
When Castro Coleman walked onto the stage at Memphis’s Orpheum Theater in January 2014, he had been playing blues for barely two…
Derrick Dove: How a Georgia Dropout Won Memphis
Derrick Dove: How a Georgia Dropout Won Memphis On January 17, 2026, Derrick Dove walked onto the Orpheum Theatre stage in Memphis…
Kaz Hawkins: How Belfast Made a Blues Survivor
In a Belfast bar in the 1980s, a young Kaz Hawkins watched the stage from the darkness between tables, absorbing cigarette smoke…
Chris Cain: Jazz-Blues Guitar with Albert King’s Blessing
Chris Cain: The Remarkable Guitarist Albert King Endorsed One night in the late 1980s, Chris Cain found himself on a Memphis stage…
Jason Ricci: The Punk Kid Who Reinvented Blues Harmonica
Jason Ricci: The Punk Kid Who Reinvented Blues Harmonica Jason Ricci stood on a Memphis stage in 1995. He was twenty-one years…
Eddie 9V: Atlanta’s Vintage Blues-Soul Sound Revived
Eddie 9V: Remarkable Fearless New Voice in Soul Blues In 2019, Eddie 9V sat in his grandparents’ house in Atlanta pecking out…
Harrell Davenport: Young Blues Guitar Prodigy to Watch
Harrell Davenport Is a Stunning New Blues Guitar Prodigy A teenager walks into Rosa’s Lounge on Chicago’s West Side. He straps on…
Sean McDonald: Georgia Blues Guitarist Rising Fast
Sean McDonald: The Remarkable Fearless Voice in New Blues Guitar Sean McDonald walked into an Augusta guitar store around 2015 and changed…
ZZ Ward: The Blues-Pop Crossover You Didn’t Expect
ZZ Ward: Stunning Blues Power From Oregon to the World ZZ Ward was twelve years old the first time she stepped on…
Amani Burnham: Young Blues Guitarist on the Rise
Most 20-year-olds have never heard of “Hoochie Coochie Man.” Amani Burnham not only knows the Willie Dixon-penned classic — he turned it…
Christone Kingfish Ingram: A Bold New Fire in Blues Guitar
In January 2014, a fourteen-year-old from Clarksdale, Mississippi walked into the White House. He was part of the Delta Blues Museum Band.…
D.K. Harrell: Young Houston Traditionalist Keeping It Real
A two-year-old boy sat in a living room in Ruston, Louisiana, and heard B.B. King pour out of the speakers. He didn’t…
Southern Avenue: Memphis Family Band, Grammy-Nominated
When Bob Dylan — the most famously camera-shy figure in American music — eagerly poses for photos with a band, something remarkable…
Ronnie Baker Brooks: Carrying His Father’s Chicago Blues
Ronnie Baker Brooks learned guitar from Lonnie Brooks, Albert Collins, and B.B. King. His Alligator debut Blues In My DNA won three…
Shemekia Copeland: Blues, Social Justice, and Her Father
Shemekia Copeland earned 8 Grammy nods and 15 Blues Music Awards carrying her father Johnny Copeland's legacy into a bold new era…
Toronzo Cannon: Chicago Bus Driver by Day, Blues Star
Toronzo Cannon drove a Chicago CTA bus for 27 years while building a fierce blues career. Now full-time on Alligator Records, he…
Piper & The Hard Times: Nashville’s IBC Blues Champions
Piper and The Hard Times walked onto the Orpheum Theatre stage in Memphis in January 2024. They did something that two decades…
Selwyn Birchwood: Tampa’s Swamp-Funk Blues Innovator
Selwyn Birchwood: Florida’s Electric Swamp Funkin’ Blues Firebrand In September 2002, a seventeen-year-old kid from Orlando walked into a Buddy Guy concert…
Keb’ Mo’: 5-Time Grammy Winner Who Redefined Blues
Keb’ Mo’: 5-Time Grammy Winner Who Redefined Blues Before he became Keb’ Mo’, Kevin Moore spent twenty years as a ghost. The…
Eric Bibb: Grammy-Nominated Acoustic Blues Storyteller
Eric Bibb: The Acoustic Blues Troubadour Who Chose the World Bob Dylan looked at the eleven-year-old kid holding a guitar and offered…
Fantastic Negrito: Oakland’s 3-Time Grammy Blues Rebel
Fantastic Negrito: Oakland’s Three-Time Grammy-Winning Blues Revolutionary In 1999, Xavier Amin Dphrepaulezz lay in a hospital bed in a coma, his right…
Eric Gales: Memphis Blues Prodigy Who Conquered Addiction
Eric Gales: Memphis Blues Prodigy Who Conquered Addiction At fifteen years old, Eric Gales was cutting demos in a Memphis studio when…