Blues guitarist and bandleader Theodis Ealey is a Mississippi native who first learned to play the instrument when he was four years old thanks to instruction from big brother YZ Ealey who is about a decade older Almost ten years later the brothers w…

Singer and songwriter Albert Washington spent most of his career singing in the blues clubs around Cincinnati Ohio and his home in Long Island NY Washington who is blind released two recordings for Iris Records in the 1990s Step It Up and Go in 1993 …

Amos Milburn's recordings from the late 1940s and early '50s are among the first vital stirrings of rock & roll. Texas born and bred, Milburn's piano-driven mixture of R&B, blues, and boogie created musical ripples still heard decades after his passi…

Super Chikan born James Louis Johnson was one of the more acclaimed emerging blues performers of the late 90s His small-combo good-humored blues has a funky touch As an instrumentalist hes distinguished not so much by his style as his equipment his C…

The original tough-mama prototype for nearly every female blues singer to come, hard-living, big-voiced Bessie Smith was also the first blues singer with a mega-hit recording career, achieved in part via collaborations with some of the most notable m…

b. Carrie Louise Smith, 25 August 1941, Fort Gaines, Georgia, USA. Smith appeared at the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival as a member of a New Jersey church choir, but her solo professional career did not take off until the early 70s. An appearance with Di…

b. 21 March 1930, Jackson, Mississippi, USA, d. 24 April 1970, Chicago, Illinois, USA. One of the finest pianists of post-war blues, Spann learned the instrument as a child. He initially played in his stepfather's church, but by the age of 14 was a m…

While primarily a blues vocalist Lady Bianca first earned notice as a session singer on a wide range of projects including recordings from Van Morrison Frank Zappa and Merle Haggard Born Bianca Thornton in Kansas City Missouri on August 8 1953 she wa…

One of the finest white folkblues singers of the early to mid-60s Judy Roderick developed a loyal following fostered by her concert and club appearances at the best known venues on the East Coast -- the Second Fret Philly Club 47 Cambridge and Cafe A…

Formed in Nottingham, England, as the Jaybirds in 1965, they abandoned their pedestrian title for a name that slotted in with the booming underground progressive music scene. The quartet of Alvin Lee (b. 19 December 1944, Nottingham, England; guitar/…

Harmonica player Sonny Terry was one of the initial bluesmen who crossed over into areas not normally associated with the genre before he came along Along with his partner guitarist Brownie McGhee Terry played on numerous folk recordings with the lik…

An influence on everyone from Frank Zappa (who helped revive his career) to Jimi Hendrix, Johnny "Guitar" Watson was one of the most distinctive West Coast blues guitarists. He marked himself as a unique stylist early on with his reverb-laced 1953 si…

After honing his chops behind Little Joe Blue and John Lee Hooker guitarist Ron Thompson went solo in 1980 forming his own bluesroots-rock trio the Resisters Just Like a Devil a 1990 release on pianist Mark Naftalins Winner label was culled from Thom…

A monumental figure in American music, Kansas City-born Big Joe Turner started performing in the late 1920s as a band singer for Bennie Moten, Count Basie, and others. Over the next couple of decades Turner helped define the boogie-woogie and jump-bl…

Albert King is one of the most important post-war blues guitarists. His influence was even more profoundly felt in the rock world than in blues, though he earned iconic stature in both. His unusual style came from playing pickless, upside-down, and l…

A second cousin of the late zydecoblues legend Clifton Chenier Roscoe Chenier is an expressive bluesRB singer and guitarist who isnt nearly as well known as his famous relative Roscoe Chenier was born and raised in Louisiana where he joined a band ca…

Somewhere between the blues-jazz of Lonnie Johnson and Charlie Christian and the electrified blues of B.B. King, Chuck Berry, and Buddy Guy is Aaron "T-Bone" Walker. During the 1930s through the 1950s, the height of his recording and performing caree…

Originally a Delta bluesman in the vein of Son House, Muddy Waters moved north in the 1940s and became the leader of the first--and greatest--electric Chicago blues band. Waters' abrasive guitar, impassioned singing, and commanding stage presence ins…

b. Booker T. Washington White, 12 November 1906, Houston, Mississippi, USA, d. 26 February 1977, Memphis, Tennessee, USA. White learned guitar and piano in his teens, and hoboed from 1921, playing blues with artists such as George "Bullet" Williams. …

Tim Krekel is a Louisville KY native that plays straight rock roll He has written songs for many different artists including Dr Feelgood and Delbert McClinton but his biggest song was probably Patty Loveless cover of You Can Feel Bad He has also pla…

b. Joe Lee Williams, 16 October 1903, Crawford, Mississippi, USA, d. 17 December 1982, Macon, Mississippi, USA. Big Joe Williams was one of the most important blues singers to have recorded and also one whose life conforms almost exactly to the stere…

Sometimes known as Sonny Boy Williamson II, bluesman Rice Miller took his musical moniker from another blues singer who used it first, though Miller was the best-known Sonny Boy Williamson. He began performing in the 1920s, but the Mississippi singer…

b. Robert L. Willis, 29 September 1934, Cabiness, Georgia, USA. This bawdy blues singer is best known outside the circuit for his ribald 1972 jukebox hit "Stoop Down Baby, Let Your Daddy See" and for being the cousin of Chuck Willis, but he has maint…

b. 6 January 1951, Detroit, Michigan, USA. Kim Wilson is a member of the blues band the Fabulous Thunderbirds. Tigerman, his first solo album, predominantly consisted of cover versions, performed by various combinations of ex- and current Thunderbird…