I Hear You Knockin”, by Jeff Hannusch
No writer has done more to chronicle the vibrant sounds of New Orleans rhythm & blues than Jeff Hannusch, a transplanted Canadian who made the Crescent City his home. In his first book, I Hear [...]
Blues With a Feeling Newport Folk Festival Classics (Vanguard 2-CD set, 1993) – Various Artists
The Newport Folk Festival in Newport, Rhode Island, played a crucial role in introducing the music of Son House, Skip James, Bukka White, Robert Pete Williams, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Muddy Waters, Mississippi John Hurt, and [...]
Son Seals
Son Seals' fiery, hard-driven electric blues renewed the gritty Southern roots of Chicago blues during the 1970s and 80s, an era during which many of his contemporaries were molding their blues around the rhythms of [...]
Clifford Antone
Clifford Antone transformed Austin, Texas, into a major blues center in the 1970s and '80s after he founded a nightclub called Antone's to book the legendary bluesmen he loved. Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed, Albert King, [...]
Mike Leadbitter
Mike Leadbitter was hailed as the world's foremost authority on postwar blues during his years as editor of the pioneering magazine Blues Unlimited in England. Leadbitter, was born in India on March 12, 1942, but [...]
Bob Porter
The authoritative voice of Bob Porter is familiar to radio listeners across the country from his syndicated broadcasts of Portraits in Blue, the in-depth series he launched at WBGO in Newark, New Jersey, in 1981. [...]
Sitting on Top of the World — Mississippi Sheiks (Okeh, 1930)
One of most enduring songs of pre-World War II blues, 'Sitting on Top of the World' was recorded by the duo of singer-guitarist Walter Vinson and fiddler Lonnie Chatmon, who performed as the Mississippi Sheiks. [...]
Caldonia — Louis Jordan (Decca, 1945)
Louis Jordan was the biggest African-American star of his era thanks to his infectious, good-time, boogie-based blues performances, in the studio, in person, and on the screen. Jordan has been called the father of rock [...]
Amtrak Blues (Columbia, 1978) – Alberta Hunter
Alberta Hunter was in the midst of one of the great comebacks in musical history when she recorded Amtrak Blues in 1978. Hunter, then 83, had become the darling of the New York jazz /blues [...]
Reverend Gary Davis
Rev. Gary Davis was one of the foremost guitarists in acoustic blues, gospel and folk music, a spirited performer who not only dazzled audiences with his virtuosity but who also served as a mentor and [...]