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Jimmy Rushing—affectionately nicknamed “Mr. Five by Five”—was one of the most commanding blues and jazz voices of the 20th century. Best known as the featured[…]

Jimmy Rogers (born James A. Lane; June 3, 1924 – December 19, 1997) was one of the architects of post-war Chicago blues. As Muddy Waters’s[…]

Jesse “Lone Cat” Fuller (March 12, 1896 – January 29, 1976) was a Georgia-born, Bay Area–based one-man band whose blend of country blues, folk, ragtime,[…]

Jimmy Reed (born Mathis James Reed) was one of the most influential and widely popular blues artists of the post-World War II era. With a[…]

James Henry Cotton (1935–2017) was one of the most electrifying harmonica players in modern blues—an unmistakable live force whose gale-strength tone and showmanship carried Delta[…]

Janis Lyn Joplin, born on January 19, 1943, in Port Arthur, Texas, and tragically departed on October 4, 1970, in Los Angeles, California, at the[…]

J. B. Lenoir (1929–1967) was a singular voice in postwar Chicago blues—instantly recognizable for his bright, high-pitched tenor, sharp social commentary, and flamboyant stage presence[…]

Ida Cox (born Ida Prather) was one of the defining voices of the classic female-blues era of the 1920s. Marketed as the “Uncrowned Queen of[…]

Joseph Benjamin Hutto, universally known as J.B. Hutto, stands as a towering figure in the annals of American blues music. Born in the heart of[…]

Howlin’ Wolf—born Chester Arthur Burnett—was one of the towering architects of post-war electric blues. With an immense, grainy baritone, a physically commanding stage presence, and[…]