How Many More Years -- Howlin' Wolf (Chess, 1951) 'How Many More Years' introduced the startling voice of Chester Burnett, aka Howlin' Wolf, to the record-buying public at the end of 1951, and its impact [...]
Canned Heat Blues' is in one sense a Prohibition-era period piece, a lament by Mississippi blues guitarist Tommy Johnson on the evils of drinking concoctions made from canned heat (Sterno) in place of liquor. Johnson [...]
'Let the Good Times Roll,' Louis Jordan's buoyant invitation to party, became a standard show opener for countless blues artists over the years, from B.B. King to Koko Taylor. Recorded with his Tympany Five combo [...]
On his way to becoming one of the biggest blues stars of the 1950s and '60s, Little Junior Parker rocked out some classic blues at Sun Records in Memphis. 'Mystery Train,' recorded in October 1953, [...]
Memphis Minnie was one of the popular blues acts in Chicago when she recorded 'Me and My Chauffeur Blues' there on May 21, 1941. Accompanied by her husband, Ernest 'Little Son Joe' Lawlers on second [...]
Tampa Red proved himself a master of many moods during his long recording career, and with the classic line "When things go wrong, go wrong with you, it hurts me too," he showed how the [...]
"Pine Top's Boogie Woogie" is the record credited with laying the foundation for the boogie woogie craze, but its creator, Alabama-born pianist Clarence "Pine Top" Smith, did not live long enough to witness the phenomenon. [...]
"All Your Love" was the record that introduced the vibrant vocal and guitar work of 20-year-old Magic Sam to the blues world. Produced by Willie Dixon for Eli Toscano's Cobra label, it became Sam's signature [...]
Howlin' Wolf's 1960 single 'Spoonful' for Chess Records has become one of the standards of Chicago blues but like many other such songs that are familiar to nearly every blues fan today, it never even [...]
Eighteen-year-old Little Willie John (1937-1968) didn't want to record 'Fever' when the song was presented to him in 1956, according to King Records producer Henry Glover, but Glover persisted and John's career got its biggest [...]