Capitol Records made a brief attempt to mine the late 1960s/early '70s blues revival market, releasing albums by James Cotton, Fred McDowell, Guitar Jr. (Lonnie Brooks) and Stu Ramsay & Chicago Slim, none of which [...]
Moanin' in the Moonlight (Chess 1434) was the first compilation of Wolf's work to be issued on LP, in 1959, and marks the fifth time the Blues Hall of Fame has inducted a Wolf album [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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. [...]
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, [...]
Despite a reputation as one of the world's premier blues guitar slingers dating back to the 1960s, Buddy Guy had never had an album on the charts until he crossed over in spectacular fashion with [...]
The Robert Cray Band, already a West Coast favorite when "Bad Influence" was released in 1983, broke through to the national blues circuit on the strength of this fresh and original blend of blues and [...]
Fifty-two years after his death, Robert Johnson stunned the recording industry when this boxed set of his 1936-37 recordings sold over half a million copies, eventually surpassing a million worldwide. Since Columbia's initial reissues of [...]
The second landmark live album recorded by B.B. King in Chicago, six years after 'Live at the Regal,' 'Live in Cook County Jail' generated spectacular sales and publicity. It is still the only B.B. King [...]