Posts about blues music

Lonnie Johnson stands at the crossroads of blues and jazz, the rare musician whose single-string guitar leads redefined how both traditions could sound. A refined[…]

Little Walter (born Marion Walter Jacobs) reshaped the sound of postwar Chicago blues. With a bullet mic cupped to his harmonica and a small amp[…]

Leroy Carr (1905–1935) was a singer-pianist whose smooth voice, conversational phrasing, and elegant piano lines helped steer the blues from the rough-hewn country idiom toward[…]

Koko Taylor—born Cora Ann Walton—rose from Tennessee sharecropper roots to become the undisputed “Queen of the Blues.” With a volcanic, sandpapered voice and a fearless[…]

Kim Wilson, born on January 6, 1951, is an iconic American blues singer and harmonica player, widely recognized as the enduring frontman for the legendary[…]

Kenneth Earl Burrell (born July 31, 1931) is an iconic American jazz guitarist whose career has spanned over seven decades. Renowned for his understated, melodic[…]

Junior Wells was one of the most dynamic harmonica players and vocal stylists of the postwar Chicago blues. A street-honed performer with a sharp sense[…]

Julia Lee (1902/1903–1958) was a Kansas City pianist-singer who brought jump-blues swagger, jazz phrasing, and a famously sly sense of humor to American popular music.[…]

Josh White (1914–1969) was a pathbreaking blues and folk singer-guitarist whose supple tenor voice, crisp Piedmont-style guitar runs, and fearless topical repertoire helped move Black[…]

Johnny Shines (born John Ned Shines, April 26, 1915 – April 20, 1992) was a towering voice of Delta and Chicago blues whose career traced[…]