Mavis Staples
Mavis Staples, one of America's premier singers of gospel and soul music, has expanded her musical mastery with her performances in more blues-based settings in recent years. The blues is nothing new to the Staples [...]
Amy van Singel
Amy van Singel, known to blues radio audiences as "Atomic Mama," was a cofounder of Living Blues magazine in Chicago in 1970. She and her former husband Jim O'Neal published the magazine from their home [...]
Father of the Blues – W.C. Handy (De Capo, 1941)
Father of the Blues by W.C. Handy is a monumental opus that is indispensable to the study of American musical history. Published in 1941, the book traces Handy’s background as a trained orchestra leader, his [...]
Real Folk Blues – John Lee Hooker (Chess, 1966)
The 1966 John Lee Hooker album Real Folk Blues is the latest of several Chess Records’ Real Folk Blues albums to be elected to the Blues Hall of Fame. Whereas the rest of the LPs [...]
“Bo Diddley” – Bo Diddley (Checker, 1955)
“Bo Diddley” was not only the 1955 hit record that made Ellas McDaniel famous – it also gave him his professional name. The famed “Bo Diddley beat,” an energized update of the old “Hambone” rhythm, [...]
“Hi-Heel Sneakers” – Tommy Tucker (Chess, 1963)
“Hi-Heel Sneakers” by Tommy Tucker was the last blues record from the mighty Chess Records catalogue to hit No. 1 on the charts. Recorded in New York in 1963, the single on Chess’ Checker subsidiary [...]
“I Ain’t Superstitious” – Howlin’ Wolf (Chess, 1961)
“I Ain’t Superstitious,” an ominous Willie Dixon composition recorded by Howlin’ Wolf in 1961, is best known to rock audiences through the Jeff Beck Group’s 1968 cover version featuring Rod Stewart on vocals. On the [...]
“I’ll Play the Blues For You” – Albert King (Stax, 1971)
“I’ll Play the Blues For You,” recorded by Albert King in Memphis for the Stax label in 1971, was written by Jerry Beach, a longtime fixture on the Shreveport, Louisiana, music scene who died in [...]
“Preachin’ the Blues” – Son House (Paramount, 1930)
“Preachin’ the Blues,” a two-part single by Son House on the Paramount label from 1930, is a prime example not only of House’s intensity as a Delta blues singer and guitarist but also of his [...]
Elvin Bishop
Elvin Bishop first came to prominence alongside fellow Blues Hall of Fame guitarist Michael Bloomfield as a member of the influential Paul Butterfield Blues Band in the 1960s and has since carved his own niche [...]