Otis Clay
Otis Clay, who has carried the banner of deep soul music in Chicago since the 1960s, has never been a blues singer in the traditional sense, but he became a favorite on the blues circuit [...]
Joe Louis Walker
Joe Louis Walker's heralded artistry has kept him at the forefront of the blues ever since his remarkable debut album, Cold is the Night, was released in 1986. A San Francisco native, born on Christmas [...]
Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke – Peter Guralnick (Little, Brown and Company, 2005)
Dream Boogie is the fourth book by Peter Guralnick, America's premier music biographer, to attain Blues Hall of Fame status. In this meticulously researched and detailed 750-page opus, Guralnick delves into the mind, music and [...]
Hawk Squat – J.B. Hutto (Delmark, 1969)
In his liner notes to Hawk Squat! (Delmark DS-617), producer Bob Koester called J.B. Hutto and the Hawks 'the most exciting, roughest blues band in Chicago,' and he set out to capture the Hutto sound [...]
“After Hours” – Erskine Hawkins and His Orchestra (Bluebird 1940)
As a counterpoint to the boogie woogie piano craze of the era, trumpeter-bandleader Erskine Hawkins turned pianist Avery Parrish loose to wax a slow, atmospheric instrumental blues on a June 10, 1940, session in New [...]
“Catfish Blues” – Robert Petway (Bluebird 1941)
Delta blues guitarist Robert Petway helped establish an enduring downhome blues theme with his March 28, 1941, recording of 'Catfish Blues' in Chicago (Bluebird B8838). Many other bluesmen have since sung their own renditions of [...]
Louis Jordan’s Greatest Hits (Decca 1969)
Louis Jordan's big hits for Decca Records were massive in their day (1942-1951), when his infectious brand of good-humored jump blues and jive made him the top star in black music. (Just one Jordan hit [...]
More Real Folk Blues — Howlin’ Wolf (Chess 1967)
By the time Chess issued its fourth Howlin' Wolf album, More Real Folk Blues, the bulk of the most familiar and influential songs from his 45s and 78s had been used on his other LPs. [...]
Complete Recorded Works/Texas Worried Blues — Henry Ragtime Texas Thomas (Herwin 1975/Yazoo 1989)
Henry Thomas' name may not be familiar to many modern listeners, but he was an important and unique historical figure, a songster whose broad repertoire included reels, rags, spirituals, minstrel tunes, pop and folk songs, [...]
Cosimo Matassa
The audio artisan who engineered most of New Orleans' great blues and R&B hits from the late 1940s through the 1960s was Cosimo Matassa. Crescent City legends Fats Domino, Professor Longhair, Roy Brown, Guitar Slim, [...]