Eddy Clearwater
Eddy Clearwater earned a reputation early in his career as a colorful and versatile entertainer, one whose onstage flamboyance belied his soft-spoken nature. A Chuck Berry act was once his specialty, and he learned how [...]
Jimmy Johnson
Jimmy Johnson followed a circuitous route back to the blues he grew up within Mississippi to reemerge on the Chicago blues scene in the 1970s heralded as a fresh and exciting “new” voice in the [...]
John Mayall
The "Godfather of British Blues" and a longtime crusader for American blues originators, John Mayall joins many of his idols, as well as a famous former band member, with his induction into the Blues Hall [...]
The Memphis Jug Band
The Memphis Jug Band was one of the most popular and prolific blues groups of the 1920s and '30s, employing jugs, harmonicas, kazoos, guitars, mandolins, fiddles, and other instruments to entertain a wide variety of [...]
Tommy Couch Sr. and Wolf Stephenson
Tommy Couch (born in Tuscumbia, Alabama, on November 12, 1942) and Gerald "Wolf" Stephenson (born in Columbia, Mississippi, on August 24, 1943) built Malaco Records, the premier label for Southern soul, soul-blues and gospel music, [...]
Early Downhome Blues: A Musical and Cultural Analysis, by Jeff Todd Titon
Jeff Todd Titon's Early Downhome Blues: A Musical and Cultural Analysis ranks as one of the most important analytical studies of the blues, examining the music in an incisive and interconnected web of contexts, including [...]
Blues in the Mississippi Night (Nixa, 1957; United Artists, 1959)
When folklorist Alan Lomax recorded Big Bill Broonzy, Memphis Slim, and John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson in 1947 in New York City, the results were so controversial that he waited a decade to release the [...]
Mamie Smith: “Crazy Blues” (OKeh, 1920)
"Crazy Blues" by Mamie Smith was the record that launched a new era for blues in the music business. Smith was not the first person to sing the blues on record, but up until "Crazy [...]
Jimmy Rogers: “That’s All Right” (Chess, 1950)
"That's All Right" by Jimmy Rogers was not a chart hit when first released as a Chess 78 rpm single in 1950 but has since become a standard in the blues repertoire, recorded by dozens [...]
Billy Boy Arnold: “I Wish You Would” (Vee-Jay, 1955)
"I Wish You Would," a 1955 single for Vee-Jay Records, exemplified the creative flair of the then 19-year-old blues phenom who recorded and composed the song, Billy Boy Arnold. Its catchy riffs and propulsive rhythmic [...]