Muddy Waters' historic recordings for Chess and Aristocrat Records are so iconic within the framework of the blues that several 'Greatest Hits'-type Muddy albums from the Chess vaults have been inducted into the Hall of [...]
Widely regarded as the premier blues composer of the post-World War II era, Willie Dixon (born July 1, 1915, in Vicksburg, Mississippi) was also probably the single most influential figure in shaping the Chicago blues [...]
Every time a guitarist in blues, jazz, or rock plays a solo today, he carries on the legacy of one of the first virtuosos of the instrument, Lonnie Johnson. The predominant style of modern blues [...]
At the age of 23, Otis Rush was able to mine the essence of deep blues with his classic single 'Double Trouble' for the Cobra label of Chicago in 1958. The minor-key masterpiece depicted a [...]
My Babe' was a No. 1 rhythm & blues hit for Chicago blues singer-harmonica player Little Walter in 1955 on Chess Records' subsidiary Checker label. With Robert Jr. Lockwood's memorable guitar riffs propelling the arrangement, [...]
Vee-Jay Records of Chicago came up with an unlikely formula to put John Lee Hooker on both the rhythm & blues and pop music charts with the catchy original version of his bad-man theme, 'Boom [...]
Big Joe Williams, whose 1935 classic Baby Please Don't Go is already in the Blues Hall of Fame in the singles category, had been recording singles, first on 78 rpm and then 45 rpm, for [...]
Bobby Bland's first LP with Malaco Records provided him with his biggest hit of recent decades, the title track Members Only, written by Larry Addison. Bland, a model for company loyalty in the record business, [...]
Etta James Rocks the House, recorded live at the New Era Club in Nashville on September 27 and 28, 1963, is only the fifth live album elected to the Blues Hall of Fame. It joins [...]
Jimmy Reed was already making history in 1958 when Vee-Jay Records of Chicago released his first album, I'm Jimmy Reed. Not only had Reed already had ten singles on the national rhythm & blues charts [...]