Wilson Pickett

Wilson Pickett (March 18, 1941 – January 19, 2006) was an influential singer songwriter, playing R&B, and rock and roll, soul music. He was born on March 18, 1941 in Prattville Alabama, and died on January 19, 2006 of a heart attack in Reston Virgina at 64 years of age. Pickett recorded over 50 hits on the US R&B charts, and some on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, including “Land of 1,000 Dances”, “Mustang Sally”, “Funky Broadway”, and “In the Midnight Hour” (which he co-wrote)

Pickett grew up singing in Baptist church choirs. He had a rough home life, as his mother would hit him with skillets and anything she could get her hands on, so Pickett moved to Detroit in 1955 to live with his father, where Pickett joined The Vioinaires. Pickett left to join The Falcons in 1959 to further pursuit his musical career. Pickett later recorded at Stax records, doing three sessions in 1965 with keyboardist Isaac Hayes, including hits such as “In the Midnight Hour”, “Don’t Fight it”, and “Ninety-Nine and a Half (Won’t Do)”.

Pickett left Stax to join Fame Studios, where he recorded many other big hits like “Land of 1,000 Dances,” and “Mustang Sally”. Pickett’s success on the charts ended in 1974, as all of his fortune seemed to slip away. He recorded with smaller labels, but never got back to the fame of his glory days, although he was featured in the comedy “The Blues Brothers” in 1988, performing “634-5789”

Listen to: In The Midnight Hour

K.F.

Solomon Burke

James Solomon McDonald (March 21, 1940 – October 10, 2010) was born during the spring of 1940 to Josephine Moore and a father he never knew. He was the eldest of six children being raised by a hard working mother in a rough and tumble neighborhood in West Philadelphia. When he was nine his mother married the full-time rabbi part-time butcher Vincent Burke and took the name Solomon Vincent McDonald Burke. From that he took the moniker Solomon Burke. His grandmother, whom he credits for his spirituality and his love of music, ordained him a bishop at birth. Burke began preaching at the age of 7 and early on it was evident that he had a gift. This preacher and self proclaimed “King” would go on to revolutionize Rhythm and Blues and become a forefather of the soul music movement during the 1960s as King Solomon Burke. The most underrated soul singer of his generation.

In an era that produced James Brown, Ray Charles, Otis Redding, and Wilson Pickett it is easy to see how and why Burke can get lost in the fold, but many consider him to be the greatest soul singer of all time. He signed to Apollo Records at the age of 15 in 1955 where they immediately tried to turn him into the next Harry Belafonte. He had some success on Apollo but fell on hard times struggling to get studio work or club dates after his departure from the label. He would eventually land on Atlantic Records in the fall of 1960 where he had a string of hits that essentially kept Atlantic afloat from 1961 to 1965. The presence of new soul singers and sagging record sales relegated Burke back to realm of B-List soul singers. These ups and downs remained constant throughout his career. When all was said and done he had recorded 35 studio albums for over a dozen different labels and had charted with 35 different singles. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001. A year later he found critical winning a Grammy. Rolling Stone Magazine named him one of the top 100 soul singers of all-time and by 2005 he had sold a total of 17 million albums.

Burke died of natural causes while on a plane headed to Amsterdam from Los Angeles in October of 2010. At the time he weighed over 350 pounds. Something he had struggled with for a majority of his career. In his final years he would perform in a wheel chair due to failing hips and knees. He left behind 21 children, 89 grand children, 20 great grand children, and a musical legacy that will last forever.

Listen to: Got to Get You Off My Mind

N.W.

Jeff Healey

Norman Jeffery Healey (March 25, 1966 – March 2, 2008) was a popular jazzy-bluesy-rock vocalist and guitarists in the 1980’s and 1990’s. He was born in Toronto, Ontario on March 25^th, 1966. He was adopted by a firefighter. As a young baby, Healey lost his sight to a rare cancer called retinoblastoma. His eyes were later replaced with replicas.

Healey began playing guitar at age 3. He discovered his own unique technique and style on the guitar, playing it on his lap. He later started a band called “Blue Direction” at age 15, playing cover songs at bars. Healey later formed “The Jeff Healey Band” with bassist Joe Rockman and drummer Tom Stephan. They played their first show at “Bird’s Nest” and got a write up in “NOW” magazine.
The Band was signed to Arista Records in 1988, where they released “See the Light”, which featured many hits, such as “Angel Eyes”, and “Hideaway”. These songs got them fame, Grammy nominations, and some mild film features in “Roadhouse”.

In 2000, Healey began to play a traditional 1920/30’s jazz style with his new group, “Jeff Healey’s Jazz Wizards.”

Healey went into surgery on January 11^th, 2007 to remove metastatic tissue from his lungs, proceeded by surgery on his legs, removing two sarcomas. Cancer finally killed Healey on March 2, 2008 at age 41. This happened a month before releasing his latest rock/blues album, “Mess of Blues”, this first of which he would release in 8 years, which won the eighth annual Indipendant Music Awards “Best Blues Album Award” in 2009.

Listen to: Roadhouse Blues

K.F.

The Allman Brothers

No group of musicians has personified or carried the banner better for the genre of Southern Rock quite like The Allman Brothers Band. Based out of Macon, GA by way of Jacksonville, FL the band was formed in 1969 by brothers Duane (guitar) and Gregg (vocals & organ) Allman, Dickey Betts (guitar & vocals), Berry Oakley (bass), Butch Trucks (drums), and Jai Johanny Johanson (drums). Musical elements of the blues, jazz, and country can be heard in their songs but it’s their live shows that have been captivating audiences for over 40 years with their incendiary guitar licks and symphonic like improvisational jams. Though tragedy, hiatus, and personal conflict may have changed the look of the band throughout those 40 years one thing has remained constant; they continue to create good old-fashioned ass kicking American rock and roll.

They released “At Fillmore East” to critical and commercial success in 1971. A live album recorded at the famed San Francisco club that is still considered one of the finest live albums ever recorded. Months later Duane was killed in a motorcycle accident. A year after that they lost bassist Berry Oakley to yet another motorcycle accident on the same stretch of road that claimed Duane. The band played on adding Chuck Leavell and Lamar Williams but infighting and personality conflicts took their toll and the band would dissolve and reunite a couple of times throughout the late 70s and early 80s with a cast of different characters. The incarnation of the band formed in 1989 contained  new members Warren Haynes, taking over on guitar and vocals after Dickey Betts was asked to leave, Oteil Burbridge on Bass, and Derek Trucks on guitar, who is the nephew of drummer Butch Trucks.

The band’s influence can be heard everywhere and it’s easy to see why. At one time or another Trucks, Duane Allman, Betts, and Haynes have been named to top 100 guitar player lists of all time. Of the 18 albums they have released, eleven are certified gold and five went platinum. They can also lay credit to several Grammy nominations and two wins including one for lifetime achievement in 2012. They have definitely cemented their story in pantheon of great rock bands, evident in 1995 when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It’s not bad when Rolling Stone Magazine adds you to their list of top 100 bands of all time. The band continues to tour and make great music.
Listen to: Not My Cross to Bear

N.W.

Janiva Magness

On January 30th in 1957 an American singer/songwriter and  American blues and soul artist Janiva Magness was born in Detroit, Michigan. Her tragic life story involves both her parents suicide before she even reached her teens and spent many years moving from foster home to foster home. She herself became pregnant at  17 years old and gave her own child up for adoption.

She first studied to become a sound engineer when she worked in a recording studio located in Saint Paul, Minnesota. When she first got talked into doing some backing vocals for RL Burnside and Kid Ramos she discovered a talent in herself she could not neglect so she journeyed down to Phoenix, Arizona. There she started her own project called ‘The Mojomatics’. After enjoying some local success she ended up relocating in 1989 to Los Angeles.

She has since then released 9 albums. In 2009 she even got named the “BB King Entertainer of the Year” by the Blues Foundation and, just like in 2006 and 2007, she was named ‘Contemporary Female Blues Artist of the Year’ and has received up to 17 similar nominations.

She is still touring and working today.

Listen to: You Were Never Mine

G.B.

Jimi Hendrix

In 1942 on November 27th Johnny Allen Hendrix aka Jimi Hendrix (November 27, 1942 – September 18, 1970), one of the greatest musician, composers and guitar player of all time, was born in Seattle, Washington. His great-grandmother was a full blooded Cherokee who married an Irish man. Their daughter, Jimi’s grandmother, then later married an “illegitimate” son of a white woman named Fanny and her slave, who is Hendrix’s grandfather. His grandparents then had a son whom people called Al, Jimi’s father, and in 1941 he met his mother Lucille.

When Jimi was age 15, he carried a broomstick around for quite some time, pretending to carry a guitar. A social worker sent his father a message telling him that leaving Jimi without a guitar might result in psychological damage. His father dug out a ukulele from the basement. Al’s friend recalls Jimi playing the ukulele, but not too much later Jimi bought his first “one string” guitar for five dollars off of one of his fathers friends. For the next while, Hendrix learned by ear playing his one string guitar until in 1959 Jimi’s father bought him his first electric guitar.

When Hendrix was caught for the 2nd time riding stolen cars, the state gave him a choice between going to prison for 2 years or joining the army. Jimi enlisted for service and after completing basic training was stationed in Kentucky to join the 101st Airborne Division. He played so much guitar, keeping his fellow soldiers awake, that they bullied him and hid his guitar. They pushed him to the point where he slept with his guitar in the bed so no one could get to it. Hendrix could not stand the army so when he broke his ankle during a landing on his 26th parachute jump he got a medical discharge. One of his officers claimed that he was unsuitable for service and had problems with authority.

Hendrix, after not having any musical success in the USA, traveled to England where he had his first break through and fan base. When he got back to the USA from the UK he also hit the charts in the US and played many big shows like Woodstock.

He died on September 18th, 1970 through a drug overdose. He could have survived if he had not asphyxiated on his own vomit!

Listen to: Voodoo Chile Blues

G.B.

Shemekia Copeland

Shemekia Copeland is a blues singer from Harlem, NY. She toured with her dad, blues guitarist Johnny Copeland, before signing a record deal right out of high school in 1997. Alligator Records issued her debut LP Turn the Heat Up! in 1998 and she toured the blues festival circuit in support of the record. She began to receive national attention with her sophomore album Wicked, which featured a duet with Ruth Brown. She won three Blues Music Awards and worked with producer Dr. John on here third album Talking to Strangers.

Two records after Talking to Strangers,  Shemekia was named “Rising Star – Blues Artist” in Down Beat Magazine‘s critics poll in December 2009. She continues to tour and write and is the reigning “Queen of the Blues” as names by Koko Taylor‘s daughter, Cookie Taylor.

Listen to: Never Going Back to Memphis

J.F.

Derek Trucks

Derek Trucks is a Grammy-winning guitarist and songwriter who started the Derek Trucks Band.  His use of slide on a modified Gibson SG, as well his embodiment of contrasting genres, like blues and traditional Indian music, create a very unique and distinct sound.  In 1999, Trucks became an official member of the Allman Brothers Band.  He has been listed multiple times in Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” and is considered one of the best guitarists of this generation.

Listen to: Down in the Flood

C.F.

Debbie Davies

Debbie Davies is a blues guitarist based out of Los Angeles.  She is best known for her solo work as well as playing lead guitar in a number of female-based bands such as Maggie Mayall and the Cadillacs.  Davies was also a member of Albert Collins’ band, the Icebreakers, from 1988-1991.  In 1997, she received the 1997 W.C. Handy Award for Best Contemporary Female Artist, and in 2012, she won the Blues Music Award for Best Traditional Female Artist. Davies has worked with well-known musicians by the likes of Tommy Shannon, Double Trouble, and Duke Robillard.

Listen to: We Came to Play

C.F.

The North Mississippi Allstars

The North Mississippi Allstars originated in Hernando, Mississippi, and enjoyed immediate success after recording their first album. Shake Hands With Shorty was nominated for a Grammy in the best contemporary blues artist category and the band also won a Blues Music Award for “Best New Artist Debut” in 2001. The band is made up of brothers Luther and Cody Dickinson on guitars and drums and Chris Chew on bass.

The Dickinsons’ father was a Memphis musician and record producer who worked with Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones. NMA has officially released 15 LPs, EPs, and live discs and enjoy a strong following throughout the country. The band now backs up and tours with John Hiatt and recently opened for Robert Plant and Band of Joy on their tour in 2011.
Listen to: Shake ‘Em On Down

J.F.

Ruthie Foster

Born and raised in a family of gospel singers in Gause, Texas, Ruthie Foster was exposed to music at a young age. After studying music at the McLennan Community College she joined the US Navy where she began to perform and evolve her bluesy/songwriter style.

After some time and extensive exposure from the military she released her first album titled Full Circle in 1997. Critics described her style as a “modern Ella Fitzgerald and Aretha Franklin”. From this her career kept on blossoming. Her hit album titled The Truth According to Ruthie Foster in 2009 was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album. She also went on to win Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year at the Blues Music Awards in May 2010.

Since then, Ruthie has toured throughout the United States, Europe, and even Australia continuing to grow her fan base. She has released other albums since then, up to her most recent Let It Burn from November 2012.

 
Listen to: If I Had a Hammer

I.G.

Mountain

Mountain is a blues/hard rock band that formed in Long Island, NY in 1969. The band consisted of four members: Vocalist/guitarist Leslie West, vocalist/bassist Felix Pappalardi, keyboardist Steve Knight and drummer N.D. Smart. After doing local tours and performing at the original Woodstock, Smart was replaced by Laurence Laing. He would soon follow to play on their most notable hit “Mississippi Queen” which reached #21 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the album Climbing! reached #17 in the Billboard Top 200.

After this huge hit, Mountain went on extensive tours all over the US and finished their second album titled Nantucket Sleighride, which reached #16 on the Top 200 but failed to have any hit singles. The band broke up in 1972 after the hectic tours but reunited  in 1973 and presently have released five more albums, with the most recent titled Masters of War released in 2007.

Listen to: Mississippi Queen

I.G.

Muddy Waters

McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 – April 30, 1983), better known as Muddy Waters, was born in Rolling Fork, Mississippi and earned his nickname at young age for his constant playing in the mud. He started out playing the harmonica but when he was seventeen, he was seen playing guitar at parties. He was influenced by the music of Son House and Robert Johnson. In 1932 he was married, divorced three years later, and by 1940 he had moved to Chicago.

After a year or so, Muddy Waters moved back to Mississippi and ran a juke joint where he regularly performed. In 1941, Alan Lomax was traveling around the country recording country blues musicians for the Library of Congress and met Muddy Waters. Lomax recorded Muddy in his house and later sent him copies of the record and a check for 20 dollars. Lomax returned to record Muddy Waters again in 1942 and by 1943 Muddy, inspired by recording, went back to Chicago to make it as a professional musician.

Waters would spend the day working and would gig at night. It was around this time that he got his first electric guitar and was gaining some renown in the music scene. He started doing recordings in 1946 and eventually began working with Aristocrat Records, which would later become Chess Records. He had a few hits before he recorded his signature song “Rollin’ Stone”. During this time, Waters and his band became the prominent sound of the early 1950’s Chicago blues scene. His band became a rite of passage for many new talents like Little Walter, Howlin’ Wolf, and Jimmy Rodgers.

Waters experienced a lull in his career until his comeback in the late 1970’s. He signed with the Blue Sky Label and cut his comeback record “Hard Again”. Over the span of roughly half a decade, he recorded several albums and toured until poor health began interfering in 1982. On April 30th, 1983, Muddy Waters died at the age of 68 from heart failure in his sleep. The funeral was attended by numerous blues musicians and fans paying respects to an innovator of the blues. Waters has been an inspiration to likes of Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, The Rolling Stones (who named themselves after Waters’ song “Rollin’ Stone”), and countless others.

Listen to: Rollin’ Stone

M.V.

Buddy Guy

George “Buddy” Guy was born on July 30th 1936 in Lettsworth, Louisiana. He is considered to be one of the founders of the Chicago blues sound. He has served as an influence on artists such as Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Rolling Stone Magazine ranks him the 30th greatest guitar player of all time, and ranked his song “Stone Crazy” 78th in the list of the 100 greatest guitar songs ever. Guy’s showmanship on stage is very memorable, playing the guitar with drumsticks and strolling through the crowd during solos.

Chess signed Guy in the 1960’s and tried recording him as a solo artist with R&B, jazz, soul, and dance music, but it didn’t go very far. Guy was mainly used by Chess as a backing guitarist for recording sessions with blues greats Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson, and many more. Guy continues to perform at his downtown Chicago nightclub while not traveling.

Listen to:  Damn Right I’ve Got The Blues

S.P.

Junior Wells

Junior Wells (December 9, 1934 – January 15, 1998) was born in Memphis, Tennessee and moved to Chicago with his mom when he was just a little boy.  Wells reigned in that town as one of the all-time-great blues artists. He was versatile—  singing vocals, playing harmonica and becoming a prominent recording artist. After Little Walter quit the Muddy Waters band in 1952, Wells hopped in as the harmonica replacement and appeared on Muddy’s records from late 1952.

Wells used the time between 1952 and 1958 to focus on his own music and did well on his own— until Buddy Guy asked to play with him. Wells couldn’t resist. This musical relationship lasted over 20 years as they played together at numerous events. In the 1960’s, Wells’ style appealed to younger people because of his gritty playing and his great stage performing. He played with many blues artists, including Eric Clapton and Van Morrison. Wells was drafted into the army for a short period of time but went AWOL. He eventually returned to finish his duties. Wells died in Chicago after going into a coma, but his music is something that will be remembered.

Listen to:  Cryin’ Shame

A.K.

Sue Foley

Sue Foley was born on March 29, 1968. She has been writing and playing professionally since 1984. Foley has recorded ten albums for both Antone’s Records and Shanachie Records; spending over fourteen years on the road as a bandleader, lead vocalist, guitarist and manager of her own band. In addition to her own touring, she has shared the stage with blues musicians, such as Back Alley John, B. B. King, Buddy Guy and John Lee Hooker. Her career began in Ottawa, Canada at the age of sixteen where, in addition to solo work, she sang with the Back Alley John Revue.

Foley sent a demo tape of herself to Clifford Antone’s label (Antone’s Records) in 1990. Stunned, the record label arranged an audition for the guitarist to join the label. She soon moved to Austin, Texas and signed a recording contract with Antone’s. She appeared at the 1992 San Francisco Blues Festival. Foley won a Juno Award for Best Blues Album for Love Comin’ Down in 2000. Her 2007 album, Time Bomb, features two other female blues players, Deborah Coleman and Roxanne Potvin. The opening title track, “Time Bomb”, is an instrumental with all three women taking turns laying down leads. The following nine songs feature the women trading off on lead vocals and guitar duties on every third song, but coming together again on the final track “In The Basement”.

Sue Foley has been awarded many titles including the Maple Blues Award, and she continues to write and record blues music, collaborating with other musicians along the way. Partnering with Peter Karp, she has written hit songs such as “Treat Me Right”. Writing with Karp has helped her become known for her lyricism and musical style.

Listen to:  Treat Me Right

R.R.

Jimmy Rogers

Born in 1924 in Mississippi as James Lane (June 3, 1924 – December 19, 1997), Jimmy took his stepfather’s surname Rogers. He was raised in the South, spending most of his time in Atlanta, Georgia or Memphis, Tennessee. As a teenager Jimmy took up the guitar and harmonica, beginning to play professionally in East St. Louis, Illinois with Robert Lockwood Jr. He eventually moved to Chicago’s South Side to play with Little Walter, and Muddy Waters.

After playing with Muddy Waters in the 1950’s and establishing the Chicago blues sound, Jimmy saw a little success as a solo artist on Chess records, but as the public began looking for new music, the blues’ popularity fell to the wayside. Jimmy briefly played with Howlin’ Wolf in the 1960’s, but quit his career in music to open up a clothing store in Chicago, which burned down in the Chicago race riots after the Martin Luther King, Jr. assassination. Jimmy began playing publicly again in the 1970s, reuniting with Muddy Waters and reestablishing his career by the mid eighties. Shortly after his induction into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1995, Jimmy Rogers died of colon cancer in 1997.

Listen to:  Round About Boogie

C. K.

Debbie Davies

Debbie Davies was born on August 22, 1952, in Los Angeles, California. Debbie’s interest in music started at an early age listening to her parent’s playing piano and listening to big band jazz, harmony vocal groups and pop icons of the day. She took a particular interest in the bluesy sounds of Ray Charles and by age 12 realized her preference for electric guitar.

During the 1960’s, she became captivated by the blues and rock bands coming out of Britain, particularly Eric Clapton’s guitar playing with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers. She started out playing with rock-and-roll and blues bands around the San Francisco Bay area before she returned to Los Angeles in 1984 to take the lead guitar position with Maggie Mayall and the Cadillacs. In 1988, Albert Collins offered her a spot with his backing band, The Icebreakers. While performing with Collins, Davies was invited to record with John Mayall on his 1990 album A Sense of Peace.

Since 1993, Davies has released nine solo records and 2 collaborative albums. She has recorded with the likes of Ike Turner, Mick Taylor, Coco Montoya, Mudcat Ward, and Tommy Shannon to name a few. In 1997 she won an award for Best Contemporary Female Blues Artist from the Blues Music Awards. She has been described as “… one of the direct links to the originators of this music. She knows what the blues is all about and you can hear it in the passion of her playing” by Coco Montoya and Music Connection magazine said “Davies exhibits guitar playing virtuosity with the likes of Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan.”

Listen to:  Blue And Lonesome

M.V.

Magic Sam

Samuel “Magic Sam” Gene Maghett (February 14, 1937 – December 1, 1969) was born in Grenada, Mississippi. He started learning the blues by listening to recordings of Muddy Waters and Little Walter and making his own makeshift guitars out of cigar boxes and loose baling wire on the side of his house. His family moved to Chicago by 1950 and shortly after, Sam began playing professionally under the name Good Rocking Sam.He started his own band in 1955 and, with musicians like Otis Rush and Buddy Guy, made the Westside of Chicago the center of the next generation of Chicago bluesmen. The heightening popularity of the Westside artists eventually grabbed the attention of Willie Dixon, who tried to convince Chess Records to give Sam and the other Westside musicians a shot. Eventually Sam went to the Cobra label.

In 1957, Sam entered the Cobra studio and recorded his first song “All of Your Love”. The song had local success and led to other recordings over the next two years— and the new name Magic Sam. Although Cobra found local fame with the Westside bluesmen, they closed their doors in 1960. Some musicians found work at Chess Records, but Sam was drafted into the army. After a few weeks in the army, Sam deserted and made his way back to Chicago to record a few tracks at the Chief label, but to little recognition. Eventually the army caught Sam and sent him to prison for six months.

After being released with a dishonorable discharge from the army, Sam went back to Chicago and eventually found a home at Delmark Records in 1967. He recorded his highly acclaimed albums “West Side Soul” and “Black Magic” before dying of a heart attack in 1969. His music went on to inspire blues musicians long after his death.

Listen to:  Sweet Home Chicago

M.V.

Dani Wilde

Dani Wilde is a British blues singer and guitar player who was born in the 1980s. She grew up down the road from Jamie Cullem, the popular British jazz/pop artist. She loves what he has done with a genre of music for more adventurous listeners and how he made it more modern and pop— which has now made him popular. Dani is really her own person, though. With her finger picking style and her raspy soulful voice she was able to grab a record deal from the famous blues label Ruf Records. When her debut album hit in January 2008, she headed out on the road to tour with the “Blues Caravan”, which travelled Europe, America and her home country the UK.

With her second album Shine, she toured more on her own in Europe and had the opportunity to play with the likes of Pee Wee Ellis and was able to start a group called “Girls with Guitars”, including Samantha Fish and Cassie Taylor, who are both from the United States. Wilde also helps out in the slums of Embu, Kenya every year and encourages support saying “The level of poverty there is so horrific. HIV and aids are also a huge problem. Seeing the hardships these kids have to endure is so heartbreaking. With help and donations from my fans, we have been able to improve these children’s education and are able to give them opportunities that they will always remember and be proud of.”

Listen to:  Rock Me Baby

A.K.

Little Walter

As a little boy in Louisiana, Little Walter (born Marion Walter Jacobs; May 1, 1930 – February 15, 1968) learned from some of the best players— as far as the harmonica is concerned. Walter was primarily known for being the harmonica player for Muddy Waters’ band and played with him off and on throughout his career. When he finally decided to launch his own solo career, he was very successful, with his song “Juke” hitting the number one spot on Billboard’s R&B Charts. “Juke” was also the first and only harmonica instrumental to hit the number one spot.

He made the harmonica such an art that he has been compared to Jimi Hendrix as someone who brought innovation to his intsrument. Even though Walter was known for his harmonica playing, he did end up singing his own solo material and actually did quite well with his own compositions. “Ah’w Baby” is a particular favorite. Even though Little Walter led a short life, he made a big impact within the world of blues harmonica.

Listen to:  Ah’w Baby

A.K.

Susan Tedeschi

Born into an Italian family from Boston, Massachusetts in 1970, Susan Tedeschi grew up in a family of Catholics. Having an affinity for music even at the young age of eight, she made her debut as an understudy for a Broadway musical. She also began attending Baptist churches, finding stronger faith in the celebratory gospel choirs in which she sang. Susan attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts after graduating from high school, earning a degree in Performance and Composition. Shortly thereafter, Tedeschi became a fixture on the blues scene in the area.

Susan has played many notable festivals and shows, namely the Crossroads Festival in Chicago, Illinois, where she opened for Eric Clapton, as well as the Lilith Fair in cooperation with Sarah McLachlan. She has been compared to many notable musicians both vocally and in her guitar playing ability. Most critics compare her voice to that of Janis Joplin and Bonnie Raitt, while her guitar tone and ability is often paired with blues legends Buddy Guy and Freddie King.

In 2001, Susan Tedeschi married blues artist Derek Trucks, who has played with The Allman Brothers, filling in the spot left vacant by Duane Allman. Derek’s uncle, Butch Trucks, is a founding member of the Allman Brothers. In 2010 Susan and Derek announced a new group that will be their focus for the foreseeable future— the “Tedeschi Trucks Band”.

Listen to:  Hurt So Bad

C. K.

Paul Butterfield Blues Band

Paul Butterfield (December 17 1942 –  May 4 1987) was born in Chicago, Illinois. The son of a wealthy attorney, Paul attended a private school that was closely related to the University of Chicago. As a young man Paul studied flute under the direction of Walfrid Kujala, who was the flautist for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Shortly after Paul’s introduction to the flute he became obsessed with blues harmonica.

After Paul left the University of Chicago, he began socializing with local blues men in an effort to learn the trade.  The most notable of these Chicago blues men were Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Howlin’ Wolf, and Otis Rush. After hiring away some of Howlin’ Wolf’s touring band Paul’s mixed race foursome became a staple at Big John’s Folk Club on Chicago’s North side. Upon adding guitar player Mike Bloomfield (July 28, 1943 – February 15, 1981) as lead guitarist, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band signed on with Elektra Records. While most of the tracks were discarded from these sessions some tracks appeared on an LP shared with the Lovin’ Spoonful.

After gaining notoriety as bluesmen some members of the band were asked to back up Bob Dylan when he went electric at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965, which was at the time an often criticized move on Dylan’s part. Often considered major highlights in the Paul Butterfield’s Blues Band’s career the band was asked to play on the same stage twice as notable rock legends Jimi Hendrix, and The Who. The first time the band played on the same stage as these rock legends was at the seminal Monterey International Pop Festival, and secondly at the Woodstock Festival, although their performance was not recorded and released on the subsequent film.

Paul Butterfield passed away in 1987 of heart failure related to an excessive and fast paced lifestyle.

Listen to:  Born in Chicago

C.K.

Betty Lavette

Betty Lavette (January 29, 1946) born in Muskegon, Michigan and brought up in Detroit, began singing— not in the traditional blues way. She started singing rhythm and blues and country western music in her parent’s living room. In 1962, a local record producer, Johnnie Mae Matthews, signed 16 year old Lavette to a recording contract and released the single “My Man – He’s a Lovin’ Man”. This title landed in the top ten R&B charts.

Three years later Lavette made the top ten charts again with “Let Me Down Easy”, recorded in 1965. Almost 35 years later this song was released again as a live version. This created new interest in Lavette in 2003. Joining together with Grammy Award winning producer Dennis Walker, she released “A Woman Like Me”. This single won the W.C. Handy Award for “Comeback Blues Album of the Year”.

Listen to:  Let Me Down Easy

S.P.

Otis Rush

Otis Rush (born April 29, 1935 in Philadelphia, Mississippi) is a unique guitar player, playing a left-handed gutiar strung upside down with the lowest tuned string furthest down on the neck. Rush was discovered playing in the bars and clubs in the South and West sides of Chicago. In 1971, Rush recorded with Capitol Records, producing an album entitled Right Place, Wrong Time, however it was not initially released. Finally, in 1976, Rush purchased the album and released it with P-Vine Records in Japan. It was released shortly after by Bullfrog Records in the U.S.

In 1994, after a 16 year gap, Rush recorded and released Ain’t Enough Comin’ In. He released another, Any Place I’m Goin’ in 1998. One year after that Rush was nominated for and received a Grammy Award For Best Traditional Blues Album. Afterwards, he would not return the studio but would continue to tour and perform.

Listen to: Listen to:  I Can’t Quit You Baby

S.P.

Etta James

Etta James (January 25, 1938 – January 20, 2012) was born in Los Angeles, California and received her first professional vocal training at the age of five from James Earle Hines, musical director of the Echoes of Eden choir at the St. Paul Baptist Church in South Central Los Angeles. She quickly became a singing attraction at the church and her foster father tried to get the church to pay him for having her sing. They refused.

In 1950 James’ mother took her to the Fillmore district in San Francisco. Soon after, James started listening to doo-wop and was inspired to form a girl group, called the Creolettes (due to the members’ light skinned complexions). The 14-year-old girl met musician Johnny Otis, who opened many doors for her as a singer. Otis mentored the group, helping them sign to Modern Records and changing their name from the Creolettes to the Peaches. He also gave the singer her stage name—changing it from Jamesetta into Etta James.  Her debut album At Last! was released in late 1960 and was noted for its varied choice in music— from jazz standards, to blues numbers, to doo-wop and rhythm and blues. The album also included James’ classic, “I Just Want to Make Love to You” and “A Sunday Kind of Love”.  James started to add gospel elements to her music the following year releasing “Something’s Got a Hold on Me”, which peaked at number four on the R&B chart and was also a top 40 pop hit.

Etta James was a very versatile musician and performer, singing many styles of music by the end of her career. In May 2009, James received the Soul/Blues Female Artist of the Year award from the Blues Foundation, which was the ninth time James had won the award. Etta James died on January 20, 2012 due to the illness leukemia.

Listen to:  Something’s Got A Hold On Me

R.R.

Howlin’ Wolf

Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910 – January 10, 1976) was known as Howlin’ Wolf and was an influential American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player. With a big voice and definite physical presence, Burnett is ranked among the leading performers in blues.  Many of his songs were considered important to the development of blues. “Smokestack Lightnin'”, “Back Door Man”, “Killing Floor” and “Spoonful”—quickly became blues and blues rock standards.

In 1950, Howlin’ Wolf cut several tracks at Sun Studio in Memphis. He soon became a local celebrity, and  began working with a band that included Willie Johnson and guitarist Pat Hare. His first recordings came in 1951, when he recorded for both the Bihari brothers at RPM Records and Leonard Chess’s Chess Records. Chess issued Howlin’ Wolf’s “Moanin’ At Midnight” and the label eventually persuaded Howlin’ Wolf to move to Chicago, Illinois to make more music and establish himself as a musician.

Howlin’ Wolf was considered one of the best blues musicians of his time. ” In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him #51 on their list of the “100 Greatest Artists of All Time”. Wolf met his future wife, Lillie at one of his performances in a Chicago club. His health declined in the late 1960s through 1970s and his kidneys were damaged in a car accident. He died in 1976 from complications of kidney disease.

Listen to: Smokestack Lightning

R.R.

Leadbelly

Huddie William Ledbetter (January 23, 1888 – December 6, 1949) was an American folk and blues musician, notable for his clear and forceful singing, his virtuosity on the twelve string guitar, and the rich songbook of folk standards he introduced. He is best known as Leadbelly or Lead Belly.

Although he most commonly played the twelve string, he could also play the piano, mandolin, harmonica, violin, concertina, and accordion. In some of his recordings, such as in one of his versions of the folk ballad “John Hardy”, he performs on the accordion, a gift he received from his uncle, instead of the guitar. The topics of Lead Belly’s music covered a wide range of subjects, including gospel songs, blues songs about women, liquor, racism, folk songs about cowboys, prison, work, sailors, cattle herding, dancing, and songs concerning the newsmakers of the day, such as President Franklin Roosevelt, Adolf Hitler, the Scottsboro Boys, and multi-millionaire Howard Hughes.

In 1903 Lead Belly was already performing in the nearby town of Shreveport, Louisiana in St. Paul’s Bottom— a notorious red light district in the city. He began to  develop his own style after exposure to a variety of musical influences on Shreveport’s Fannin Street, a row of saloons, brothels, and dance halls in the bottom. By his early 20s, after fathering at least two children, he left home and made a living as a guitarist.

In 1918 Lead Belly found himself in prison after killing one of his relatives, Will Stafford, in a fight. But he was released 13 years early after writing a song appealing to Governor Pat Morris for his freedom. The song appealed to Pat’s religious values., That, coupled with good behavior lead to his early release. It was short lived, he ended up back in prison in 1930 for attempted homicide, where he acquired his nickname “Lead Belly” for his physical toughness. It was there, three years later, that he was “discovered” by musicologists John and Alan Lomax. They petitioned for his early release which was again, granted. In 1934 he migrated to New York City with Alan where he attained fame, though not fortune.

In 1935 he married Martha Promise and began recording with the American Record Corporation. He found himself back in jail in 1939 for assault. After his release in 1940 he returned to the New York folk scene. In 1944 headed to California, where he recorded strong sessions for Capitol Records. In 1949 he began his first European tour, but fell ill before its completion, and was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. He died shortly thereafter.

Listen to: Dancing With Tears in my Eyes

D.T.

Alberta Hunter

Alberta Hunter (April, 1 1895 – October 17, 1984) was born in Memphis, Tennessee and her mother was a servant at a whorehouse.  She moved to Chicago when she was eleven to become a professional blues singer because her mother had remarried and Alberta was not happy with the family. She is most know for reviving her performing career when she was in her 80’s after working as a nurse for nearly 30 years.

She began her career in the 1910’s in the lowest dives and eventually worked her way to the top of the black entertainment establishments in Chicago. One of them was the Dreamland Ballroom where she performed for 5 years, eventually earning $35 dollars  a week. In 1917 she made her first tour of Europe where she was treated like an artist, with respect. By the 1920’s her career was in full swing, performing in New York and London, recording and writing songs with Perry Bradford, Black Swan, Paramount, Gennett, OKeh, Victor and Colombia Records, among others.

By the 1940’s Alberta was doing U.S.O. tours to Europe during WWII, and Korea in the 50’s. She left the music business when her mother became sick. Alberta faked her age and high school diploma to become a nurse, the career she remained in for almost 30 years. When the hospital made her retire at 80 she began to sing professionally again in New York at the The Cookery in Greenwich Village, as well as writing and recording. She had a number of television and film appearances, performed at the White House, and wrote music for films, as well as performing in Europe and South America. Alberta even had a documentary film made of her life and a documentary musical stage show. She continued to perform until just before her death and is buried in the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York and was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2011.

Listen to: Fine and Mellow

A. B.

Son House

Eddie James “Son” House, Jr. (March 21, 1902 – October 19, 1988) was an American blues singer and guitarist. The middle of three brothers, House was born in Riverton, two miles from Clarksdale, Mississippi. Son House’s child hood was rough with the spilt of his parents at age 7. He moved with his mother and decided he wanted to be a preacher. Luckily for blue music House decided to pioneer an innovative blues style.  The style featured strong, repetitive rhythms, often played with the aid of slide guitar, and his singing often incorporated elements of southern gospel and spiritual music. Son House had to take a break from music after killing a man, allegedly in self-defense, in Mississippi. He spent time at the Mississippi Penitentiary (Parchman Farm) in 1928 and 1929. The official story on the killing is that sometime around 1927 or 1928, he was playing in a juke joint when a man went on a shooting spree. Son was wounded in the leg, and shot the man dead. He received a 15-year sentence at Parchman Farm prison, of which he served two years.

In 1930, House made his first recordings for Paramount Recordings during a session for Charlie Patton. However, these did not sell well due to the Great Depression, and he drifted into obscurity. He was recorded by John and Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress in 1941 and ’42. Afterwards, he moved north to Rochester, New York, where he remained until his rediscovery in 1964, spurred by the American folk blues revival. In 1964, after a long search of the Mississippi Delta region by Nick Perls and Phil Spiro, he ended up being “rediscovered” in Rochester. House had been retired from the music business for many years, and was unaware of the 1960s folk blues revival and international enthusiasm regarding his early recordings. Ill health plagued his later years and in 1974 he retired once again, and later moved to Detrioit, Michigan, where he remained until his death from cancer of the larynx. He was buried at the Mt. Hazel Cemetery. Members of the Detroit Blues Society raised money through benefit concerts to put a monument on his grave. He had been married five times.

Listen to: Grinnin’ In Your Face

C.M.

Mamie Smith

Mamie Smith was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on May 26th, 1883.  She was an American singer, dancer, pianist, and actress. Mamie was a very accomplished blues and jazz player, and the song “Crazy Blues” was one of her most popular. When she was ten years old, she found work touring with a white act called the Four Dancing Mitchells. As a teenager, she danced in Salem “Tutt” Whitney’s Smart Set. In 1913, she left the Tutt Brothers to sing in clubs in Harlem and married a waiter named William “Smitty” Smith. She entered blues history by being the first African-American artist to make vocal blues recordings in 1920.

In 1920 she recorded “Crazy Blues”, and the record became a best seller — over a million copies in the first year. Her song “Crazy Blues” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1994.  In 2005, Mamie was selected for permanent preservation in the National Recording at the Library of Congress. She also appeared in the early sound film, “Jail House Blues” in 1929. She retired in 1931 and died in 1946 in New york.

Listen to: Crazy Blues

N. T.

Charley Patton

Charlie Patton was born in 1891. He was an American Delta blues player and is to be considered the “Father of the Delta blues.” He was extremely popular across the southern United States and played scheduled engagements at plantations and taverns. Patton gained notoriety for his showmanship, often playing with the guitar down on his knees, behind his head, or behind his back. Although Patton was a small man at about 5 foot 5, his gravelly voice was rumored to have been loud enough to carry 500 yards without amplification. He took guitar lessons from Earl Harris of Cleveland. When he turned 38 he recorded fourteen titles with Paramount Records. He also recorded twenty-six titles, including “Oh Death,” for the American Recording Company.

In 1943, when was 42, he died of heart failure on the Heathman-Dedham plantation in Mississippi.

Listen to: Shake it and Break it

N. T.

 

Ida Cox

Born February 25, 1896 in Habersham County, Georgia, Ida Cox grew up singing in the local African Methodist Church choir. She left home in her teens to tour with traveling minstrel shoes, appearing in blackface into the 1910s. By 1920, she was the headline act at the 81 Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia.

After the success of fellow blues songstress Mamie Smith, record labels realized the popular demand for recordings of race music. The female blues era had begun and would last through the 20’s. During that decade and into the next, Cox recorded for Paramount Records and headlined touring companies, sometimes billed as “The Sepia Mae West,” sometimes as “The Uncrowned Queen of the Blues,” a title she would use until her retirement.

In 1939 she appeared at Cafe Society Downtown in Greenwich Village, and participated in the lauded Carnegie Hall concert, From Spirituals to Swing. She also resumed her recording career with bands that included Charlie Christian and Lionel Hampton. She then retired until 1960, when producer Chris Albertson asked her to make one final album, titled Blues for Rampart Street. Her accompanists included Roy Eldridge and Coleman Hawkins. She revisited songs from her old repertoire, including perhaps her most famous song, “Wild Women Don’t Have the Blues.” Cox referred to the album as her “final statement,” and it was. She died of cancer in Knoxville, Tenness in 1967, at the age of 71.

Listen to: Wild Women Don’t Have the Blues

T.R.

Tampa Red

Tampa Red (January 8, 1904 – March 19, 1981) was born Hudson Woodbridge and was best known for his single string slide guitar style in the 1940’s. He was born in Smithville, Georgia and moved to Tampa, Florida  to live with his grandparents when his parents died. He began playing guitar because of his older brother, Eddie, and was heavily influenced by Piccolo Pete, an old street musician.

Tampa moved to Chicago in the 1920’s and brought his slide technique with him. When he began his music career, he named himself Tampa Red after his hometown and his light skin color. He was first noticed when he played with Ma Rainey and recorded for the first time in 1928 with the song “It’s Tight Like That”. He was also the first black musician to play the National steel-bodied resonator guitar, furthering his unique single-string bottleneck style.

Tampa is considered one of the most prolific blues artists and recorded extensively throughout his career, often as a side man session musician, working with such artists as Thomas A. Dorsey, Georgia Tom, Frankie Jaxon, John Lee “Sonny Boy” Wiliams, Big Maceo, and Memphis Minnie. By the 1940’s he was playing electric guitar and had a hit on the record charts at #4  with “Let Me Play With Your Poodle”. But in 1953 his wife died and Tampa became a destitute alcoholic, eventually dying at age 77 in Chicago.

Listen to: You Missed A Good Man

A. B.

Memphis Minnie

Memphis Minnie (June 3, 1897 – August 6, 1973), born Lizzie Douglas in Algiers, Louisiana was one of the most influential and pioneering female blues musicians and guitarists of all time.  She was an American blues guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. She was the only female blues artist considered a match to male contemporaries as both a singer and an instrumentalist.  She was born as “Lizzie Douglas,” in Algiers, Louisiana on June 3, 1897. She learned to play guitar and banjo as a child, and ran away from home to go to Memphis at the age of 13. She then started playing guitar in nightclubs, under the name, Lizzie “Kid” Douglas.  That next year she joined the Ringling Brothers circus.

She started to record in 1929, when a Columbia Records Talent scout heard her play in the Beale Street barbershop.  Her song “Bumble Bee” was her first big hit.  She recorded for forty years, which was almost unheard of for any woman in show business at the time and very unique among female blues artists.  She was known for wearing bracelets made of silver dollars, and was popular from the early Depression years through World War II.

She retired in the mid 1950’s, where she returned to Memphis.  She died in 1973.

Listen to: Bad Luck Woman

M.R.

Big Bill Broonzy

Born Lee Conley Bradley in 1903, “Big Bill” Broonzy was one of 17 children born to Frank Broonzy (Bradley) and Mittie Belcher. He began playing music from an early age, and grew up in Pine Bluff singing spirituals and folk songs. By the age of 17, Broonzy was married and working as a sharecropper. In 1916 his crop and stock were wiped out by drought. He was drafted into the Army in 1917, serving two years in Europe during the first world war. After returning to Pine Bluff, Broonzy left for Chicago in search of opportunity. He learned guitar from minstrel veteran Papa Charlie Jackson. Thanks to this connection, Broonzy got an audition with Paramount executive J. Mayo Williams. His first record was released in 1927, to negative reviews and poor record sales. His fortunes didn’t improve until the mid-1930’s, when he moved to Bluebird Records, and filled in for the recently deceased Robert Johnson at the From Spirituals to Swing concert at Carnegie Hall in 1938.

Through the 40’s, Broonzy expanded his work. He honed his songwriting skills which appealed to a wide audience, as he was performing across a wider musical spectrum than any other bluesman before or since. His style embraced ragtime, hokum, country & city blues, jazz-tinged tunes, folk songs and spirituals. After WWII, he began recording songs in the style that would lay the ground work for Rock n’ Roll in the late 1950’s, electric blues. Perhaps his best known song, “Key to the Highway,” appeared at this time.

Broonzy toured heavily through the 50s, in America and in Europe, where he received critical praise and standing ovations wherever he played. When he returned to America, he was featured with Pete Seeger, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee. He returned to his solo folk-blues roots and travelled and recorded extensively until his death from throat cancer in August, 1958.

Listen to: Key to the Highway

T.R.

Ethel Waters

Ethel Waters (October 31, 1896 – September 1,1977) grew up in extreme poverty and was married for the first time at the age of 12, while attending convent school. At 13 she became a chambermaid in a Philadelphia hotel. That same year, she sang in public for the first time in a local nightclub. She billed herself as “Sweet Mama Stringbean,” singing professionally in Baltimore, Maryland. She became the first woman to sing the W.C Handy classic “St. Louis Blues” on the stage. Her professional rise was rapid, and she moved to New York City. In 1925 she appeared at the Plantation Club in Harlem, and her performance there led to Broadway.

In 1927 Waters appeared in the all-black revue Africana. She divided her time between the stage, nightclubs, and eventually movies. In 1930 she was on the Broadway stage again in Blackbirds, a revival of the popular 1924 musical, and the following year she starred in Rhapsody in Black. In 1933 Waters appeared with Marilyn Miller in Irving Berlin’s musical As Thousands Cheer, her first departure from shows with all-black casts. Her rendition of “Heat Wave” in that show linked the song permanently to her. Considered one of the great blues singers, Waters also performed and recorded with such jazz greats as Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman. Several composers wrote songs especially for her, and she was particularly identified with “Dinah” and “Stormy Weather.”

Listen to: What Did I Do To Be So Black And Blue

D.T.

 

Tommy Johnson

Tommy Johnson (1896 – November 1, 1956) was a Delta Blues musician who recorded in the 1920s and was known for his eerie falsetto singing. He was born in Terry, Mississippi and played guitar at local parties with his two brothers. In 1916, he married and moved onto a plantation, but later became an alcoholic and traveling musician. In 1928, he made his first recordings for the Victor label. The recordings included “Canned Heat Blues”, in which he sang of drinking cooking fuel. He also recorded for the Paramount label. Johnson did not record again because he mistakenly thought he had signed his rights away, being too drunk at a copyright settlement to understand what had happened.

The myth of selling his soul to the devil in exchange for musical abilities that was later attributed to Robert Johnson, originated with Tommy Johnson. He was a flashy performer, often throwing the guitar in the air or playing it between his legs. He became a popular performer in the Jackson, Mississippi area. His influence on local musicians is discussed in David Evans’ Tommy Johnson and Big Road Blues: Tradition & Creativity in the Folk Blues. Johnson died of a heart attack after playing a party in 1956. He is buried in the Warm Springs Methodist Church Cemetery near Crystal Springs, Mississippi. A large granite memorial marker, purchased by Bonnie Raitt, has never been placed due to a dispute between Johnson’s family and land owners near the gravesite. An annual Tommy Johnson Blues Festival is held in Crystal Springs each October.

Listen to: Canned Heat Blues

T.L.

Ma Rainey

Ma Rainey (April 26, 1886 – December 22, 1939) was one of the earliest known American professional blues singers and one of the first generation of such singers to record. Her birth name was Gertrude Pridgett. She was born April 26, 1886 in Columbus, Georgia. She was the second of five children of  Thomas and Ella (née Allen) Pridgett, from Alabama. She had at least two brothers and a sister named Malissa, with whom Gertrude was later confused in some sources. Pridgett met a singer, dancer and comedian named William “Pa” Rainey and they married February 2, 1904, when she was 18. From then on, she performed as “Madame Gertrude Rainey”, and later, “Ma Rainey”. They sang and danced together in black minstrel shows, and for several years toured with F.S. Wolcott’s Rabbit Foot Minstrels. Blues music increased in popularity and Ma Rainey became well known.

In 1923, Rainey was discovered by Paramount Records producer J. Mayo Williams. She signed a recording contract with Paramount, and in December she made her first eight recordings in Chicago. These included the songs “Bad Luck Blues”, “Bo-Weevil Blues” and “Moonshine Blues”.  From the time of her first recording in 1923 to five years later, Ma Rainey made over 100 recordings. Ma Rainey was known for her very powerful vocal abilities, energetic disposition, majestic phrasing, and a ‘moaning’ style of singing similar to folk tradition. In 1924 she embarked on a tour of the Theater Owners Booking Association (TOBA) throughout the South and Midwestern United States, singing both for black and white audiences. Ma Rainey also recorded with Louis Armstrong in addition to touring and recording with the Georgia Jazz Band. In 1928, she recorded 20 more songs, before Paramount finished her contract. Her style of blues was no longer considered fashionable by the label. Ma Rainey continued to tour until 1935 when she retired to her hometown, Columbus, Georgia. She ran two theaters there, “The Lyric” and “The Airdrome”, until her death from a heart attack in 1939, in Rome, Gerogia. She was known as “The Mother of the Blues.”

Listen to: Barrel House Blues

C. M.

Blind Lemon Jefferson

“Blind” Lemon Jefferson (September 24, 1893 – December 19, 1929)  was an American blues singer and guitarist from Texas. He was one of the most popular blues singers of the 1920s, and has been titled “Father of the Texas Blues.”  He was born blind, near Coutchman, Texas.  He was one of eight children.  Jefferson began playing guitar in his early teens, and soon after he began performing at picnics and parties.  He also became a street musician, playing in East Texas towns in front of barbershops and on corners.

By the early 1910s, Jefferson began traveling frequently to Dallas, where he met and played with fellow blues musician Leadbelly. In Dallas, Jefferson was one of the earliest and most prominent figures in the blues movement developing in the Deep Ellum area of Dallas. Jefferson likely moved to Deep Ellum in a more permanent fashion by 1917, where he met Aaron Thibeaux Walker, also known as T-Bone Walker. Jefferson taught Walker the basics of blues guitar, in exchange for Walker’s occasional services as a guide. Also, by the early 1920s, Jefferson was earning enough money for his musical performances to support himself as a musician.

Jefferson became a successful solo guitarists and male vocalist in the commercial recording world. In December 1925 or January 1926, he was taken to Chicago, Illinois, to record his first tracks. Uncharacteristically, Jefferson’s first two recordings from this session were gospel songs (“I Want to be like Jesus in my Heart” and “All I Want is that Pure Religion”), released under the name Deacon L. J. Bates.

Jefferson’s singing and self-accompaniment were distinctive as a result of his high-pitched voice and originality on the guitar. He was not influential on some younger blues singers of his generation, as they did not seek to imitate him as they did other commercially successful artists. However, later blues and rock and roll musicians attempted to imitate both his songs and his musical style. His recordings would later influence such legends as B.B. King, T-Bone Walker, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Canned Heat, Son House and Robert Johnson.

Listen to: Eagle Eyed Mama

M.R.

Bessie Smith

Bessie Smith (April 15, 1894 – September 26, 1937), known as “The Empress of the Blues”, was a popular singer of the 1920s and 1930s. She was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee and grew up busking on the streets of Chattanooga with her brother Andrew. The two left home by joining a small traveling troupe for whom Bessie was hired as a dancer rather than a singer. She worked her way through the performing circuit in the U.S. and eventually became one of Columbia Records’ biggest stars. She became the highest paid black entertainer, touring in her own railroad car.

Smith’s career suffered from the Great Depression and declined as vaudeville lost its popularity to film. Bessie Smith’s career got a later boost when John Hammond produced some recordings with her for Okeh Records. On September 26, 1937, Smith was critically injured in a car accident while traveling Highway 61 between Memphis, Tennessee, and Clarksdale, Mississippi. She died the next morning without regaining consciousness. Her funeral was held in Philadelphia on Monday, October 4, 1937 with an estimated 10,000 mourners filing past her coffin. Her grave, however, remained unmarked until August 7, 1970, when a marker was purchased by Janis Joplin and Smith’s houseworker. Bessie Smith’s recordings were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1989.

Listen to: Baby Won’t You Please Come Home

T.L.