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Arts > Music > Gospel, Blues, Blues rock, R&B > 20th, early 21st century > USA, UK

 

 

 

 

American legends: T Model Ford        Video        Guardian Music        20 June 2011

 

Jamie-James Medina's interview with T Model Ford

for Observer Music Monthly's American legends.

 

YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8j3NUzPBw4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christone 'Kingfish' Ingram        USA

 

 

https://www.npr.org/2019/05/09/
721047827/first-listen-christone-kingfish-ingram-kingfish

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits        USA

 

 

http://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/2015/10/03/
445086198/deep-thoughts-with-tom-waits

 

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/dec/09/
popandrock 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

George "Buddy" Guy        USA

 

 

http://www.npr.org/2015/08/03/
427728963/buddy-guy-i-worry-about-the-future-of-blues-music

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2002/aug/03/
artsfeatures

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Otis Rush Jr        USA        1935-2018

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blues legend

Otis Rush ('s)

unique style of soloing

and powerful tenor voice

helped shape

the Chicago blues sound

and deeply influenced

a generation of blues

and rock musicians

https://www.npr.org/2018/09/30/
653129759/otis-rush-chicago-blues-legend-dies-at-84

 

 

https://www.npr.org/2018/09/30/
653129759/otis-rush-chicago-blues-legend-dies-at-84

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Matthew Tyler Murphy        USA        1929-2018

 

master bluesman

who played

with Howlin’ Wolf,

Etta James,

Chuck Berry

and Memphis Slim

but was best known

as a member

of the Blues Brothers

band

 

(...)

 

Mr. Murphy

began his career

in Memphis

before moving

in the 1950s

to Chicago,

which was then

at the epicenter

of a new kind

of hard-driving,

heavily electrified

blues.

 

His harmonically

sophisticated,

jazz-inflected

guitar playing

established him

as a mainstay

of the Chicago scene,

and a true original.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/19/
obituaries/matt-murphy-master-of-blues-guitar-is-dead-at-88.html

 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/19/
obituaries/matt-murphy-master-of-blues-guitar-is-dead-at-88.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CeDell Davis        USA        1926 or 1927-2017

 

Delta bluesman

from Arkansas

who used a knife

for a guitar slide

 

(...)

 

Mr. Davis

spent decades

performing

around the South

at juke joints

and house parties

before

a broader audience

got a chance to hear

his electrified

rural blues

in the 1980s.

 

His voice

was a grainy moan

as he sang

about woman troubles

and hard luck;

his guitar

could drive dancers

with boogie

and shuffle beats

or play leads

that were lean

and gnarled,

gliding smoothly

and then coiling

into a dissonant sting.

 

After childhood polio

constricted his hands,

he developed

his own technique

of using a knife

along the fretboard

of his guitar.

 

The New York Times

critic Robert Palmer

called it “a guitar style

that is utterly unique,

in or out of the blues.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/01/
obituaries/cedell-davis-bluesman-dies.html

 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/01/
obituaries/cedell-davis-bluesman-dies.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ms. Hopkins        USA        1924-2017

 

Linda Hopkins ('s)

soaring,

gospel-rooted voice

was heard on Broadway

in the 1970s

in “Inner City”

and the one-woman show

“Me and Bessie,”

and in the 1980s

in the long-running revue

“Black and Blue”

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/11/
arts/music/linda-hopkins-died-gospel-singer-on-broadway.html

 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/11/
arts/music/linda-hopkins-died-gospel-singer-on-broadway.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

James Henry Cotton        USA        1935-2017

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

one of the foremost

blues harmonica players

of the 20th century

 

(...)

 

The Grammy Award-winning Cotton

was born July 1, 1935,

on a Mississippi cotton plantation

and began playing the harmonica

at age 9.

 

As a teenager,

he was mentored

by Sonny Boy Williamson II,

toured with Howlin' Wolf

and recorded sessions

at the legendary

Sun Records studio.

 

Starting at the age of 20,

Cotton spent 12 years

on the road

with Muddy Waters

and was featured

on Waters' records

At Newport 1960.

http://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2017/03/16/
520453907/james-cotton-legend-of-the-blues-harmonica-dies-at-81

 

 

http://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2017/03/16/
520453907/james-cotton-legend-of-the-blues-harmonica-dies-at-81

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/16/
arts/music/james-cotton-dead-blues-harmonica-great.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lonnie Mack (born Lonnie McIntosh)        USA        1941-2016

 

guitarist and singer

whose impassioned,

fast-picking style

on the early 1960s

instrumentals

“Memphis” and “Wham!”

became a model

for the blues-rock

lead-guitar style

and a seminal influence

on a long list

of British and American

artists

 

(...)

 

Mr. Mack

was a country boy

from southern Indiana

who grew up

on the Grand Ole Opry,

rhythm and blues radio,

and the gospel music

he sang at his local church,

influences that he blended

as both a singer and guitarist.

 

“Memphis,”

his instrumental version

of Chuck Berry’s

“Memphis, Tennessee,”

was a rockabilly-blues ripsnorter

with a scorching 12-bar solo.

 

Released in 1963,

it rose to No. 5

on the pop charts,

sold more than

a million copies

and galvanized

young guitar players

around the world.

 

The music historian

Richard T. Pinnell

called “Memphis”

“a milestone

in early rock guitar”

in Guitar Player magazine

in 1979.

 

Just as influential

was “Wham!”,

also from 1963,

with its flamboyant

use of a vibrato bar,

a device

that became known

as a whammy bar.

 

“Mack took the rough,

country-inspired rockabilly

style of the ’50s

and rocketed it into the future,”

the music critic Greg Kot

wrote in The Chicago Tribune

in 1989.

 

“He played it hot,

with screaming

single-note sustains

and shuddering vibrato,

a siren call to a legion

of aspiring guitar heroes.”

 

The records

were studied closely

by a long list of British

and American guitarists,

including Jeff Beck,

Duane Allman,

Dickey Betts,

Jimmy Page

and Stevie Ray Vaughan.

 

In 1980,

Guitar World

placed Mr. Mack’s

1964 album,

“The Wham

of That Memphis Man!,”

first on a list

of 50 landmark records,

ahead of recordings

by Jimi Hendrix,

Cream, Mr. Beck,

the Paul Butterfield Blues Band

and the Allman Brothers.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/23/
arts/music/lonnie-mack-singer-and-guitarist-who-pioneered-blues-rockdies-at-74.html

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/23/
arts/music/lonnie-mack-singer-and-guitarist-who-pioneered-blues-rockdies-at-74.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

B. B. King        USA        1925-2015

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Frankie Ford (born Francis Guzzo)        USA        1939-2015

 

 

 

Frankie Ford in 1959.

 

Bruno of Hollywood, via Gems/Redferns

 

Frankie Ford, Singer of ‘Sea Cruise,’ Dies at 76

NYT

SEPT. 30, 2015

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/01/
arts/music/frankie-ford-singer-of-sea-cruise-dies-at-76.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

singer

whose hit record

“Sea Cruise”

brought him

international fame

when he was 19

 

(...)

 

“Sea Cruise,”

which combined a bouncy,

hard-charging rhythm

with simple, upbeat lyrics

(“Be my guest,

you got nothin’ to lose/

Won’t you let me take you

on a sea cruise?”),

reached No. 14

on Billboard magazine’s

pop singles chart

and No. 11

on the rhythm-and-blues list

in 1959.

 

It was Mr. Ford’s

only Top 40 single.

 

The song was written

by the New Orleans R&B

pianist Huey Smith

and originally recorded

(but not released)

by Mr. Smith

and his group the Clowns.

 

Mr. Ford was among

the white Louisiana artists

brought to Cosimo Matassa’s

New Orleans studio

to cover songs

by local black musicians,

whose records

were receiving

limited airtime

because

of racial discrimination.

 

Ace Records,

which was Mr. Smith’s label

as well as Mr. Ford’s,

had Mr. Ford record a new vocal

over the Smith band’s

backing track.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/01/arts/music/frankie-ford-singer-of-sea-cruise-dies-at-76.html

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/01/
arts/music/frankie-ford-singer-of-sea-cruise-dies-at-76.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

James Lewis Carter Ford / T-Model Ford        USA        1920-2013

 

raw-sounding,

mesmerizing

guitarist and singer

who was among the last

of the old-time

Delta bluesmen

— and whose career

was all the more noteworthy

for his not having

picked up a guitar

until he was almost 60 —

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/19/
arts/music/t-model-ford-late-blooming-bluesman-is-dead.html

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/19/
arts/music/t-model-ford-late-blooming-bluesman-is-dead.html

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013/jul/19/
t-model-ford

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bobby (Blue) Bland / Robert Calvin Brooks        USA        1930-2013

 

debonair balladeer

whose sophisticated,

emotionally fraught

performances

helped modernize

the blues

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/25/arts/music/bobby-blue-bland-soul-and-blues-balladeer-dies-at-83.html

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/25/
arts/music/bobby-blue-bland-soul-and-blues-balladeer-dies-at-83.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

James Henry Dawkins / Jimmy Dawkins        USA        1936-2013

 

Chicago blues guitarist

whose prodigious technique

earned him the nickname

Fast Fingers,

and whose admirers

included

a number of guitarists

far more famous

than he was

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/19/
arts/music/jimmy-dawkins-fast-fingered-blues-guitarist-dies-at-76.html

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/19/
arts/music/jimmy-dawkins-fast-fingered-blues-guitarist-dies-at-76.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Morris Holt / Magic Slim        USA        1937-2013

 

 

 

 

Magic Slim & The Teardrops

YouTube > Wouter Vuijk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7ZaFdpTG8g

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

singer and guitarist

acclaimed

as a keeper of the flame

of electrified Chicago blues

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/23/
arts/music/magic-slim-blazing-chicago-bluesman-dies-at-75.html

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/23/
arts/music/magic-slim-blazing-chicago-bluesman-dies-at-75.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

McHouston Baker        USA        1925-2012

 

Mickey Baker's

prickly,

piercing guitar riffs

were featured

on dozens

if not hundreds

of recordings

and helped propel

the evolution

of rhythm and blues

into rock ’n’ roll

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/30/
arts/music/mickey-baker-guitarist-whose-riffs-echo-today-dies-at-87.html

 

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/dec/02/
mickey-baker

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/30/arts/music/
mickey-baker-guitarist-whose-riffs-echo-today-dies-at-87.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Etta James        USA        1938-2013

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hubert Sumlin        1931-2011

 

Of the blues

that were most closely

listened to in the early 60s

by young guitarists

such as Eric Clapton,

Keith Richards

and Jimmy Page,

many were

by Howlin' Wolf, and,

of those, not a few

featured a guitarist,

then still young himself,

who could steal a scene

even from so charismatic

a performer.

 

Hubert Sumlin (...)

thus became

one of the most revered

of blues guitarists,

and in his later years

younger musicians

practically lined up

to play with him

or have him guest

on their recordings.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/dec/05/hubert-sumlin

 

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/dec/05/
hubert-sumlin

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/dec/09/
rolling-stones-hubert-sumlin-funeral

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Phoebe Snow        1950-2011

 

Her signature hit,

“Poetry Man,”

established her

as a leading light

of the singer-songwriter

movement

and whose swooping

vocal acrobatics

transcended

musical genres

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/
arts/music/phoebe-snow-bluesy-singer-songwriter-dies-at-58.html

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/
arts/music/phoebe-snow-bluesy-singer-songwriter-dies-at-58.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joe Willie Perkins        USA        1913-2011

 

boogie-woogie

piano player

who worked

in Muddy Waters’s

last great band

and was among

the last surviving members

of the first generation

of Delta bluesmen

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/22/
arts/music/pinetop-perkins-delta-boogie-woogie-master-dies-at-97.html

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/22/
arts/music/pinetop-perkins-delta-boogie-woogie-master-dies-at-97.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edward Kirkland        USA or JAM        1923-2011

 

For more than

half a century

Eddie Kirkland

played the blues,

and for much of that time

he seemed

to have known

the blues firsthand.

 

As a child, he was poor

in the Jim Crow South.

 

As an adult,

he lived through

the deaths of several children,

including the murder of the niece

he had reared as a daughter.

 

By his own account,

he also survived two shootings

and spent time on a chain gang.

 

A guitarist, singer,

songwriter

and harmonica player,

Mr. Kirkland

performed with some

of the greatest names

in blues and soul,

including John Lee Hooker

and Otis Redding.

 

But he remained somewhat

in the shadow of the stars,

not as widely known

as they and not remotely

as well off.

(Both conditions,

by all accounts,

were fine with him.)

 

He kept a rigorous

touring schedule.

 

Until several years ago,

he spent more than

40 weeks a year on the road;

more recently, he toured

two weeks out of every four.

 

His itinerant life long ago

earned him the nickname

the Gypsy of the Blues.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/07/arts/music/07kirkland.html

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/07/arts/music/
07kirkland.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Albert Abraham "Little Smokey" Smothers        USA        1939-2010

 

The guitarist and singer

Little Smokey Smothers

(...)

was an influential mentor

on the Chicago blues scene

in the 1960s.

 

He was best known

for his involvement

in bringing together

the young musicians

who became

the groundbreaking

Paul Butterfield Blues Band.

 

Smothers first saw

Butterfield playing harmonica

on the sidewalk in Chicago's

Hyde Park neighbourhood

in the early 60s.

 

Impressed by

his prodigious ability,

he incorporated Butterfield

into his South Side revue,

a regular event

at the Blue Flame club

on 39th Street.

 

The venue became a magnet

for an enthusiastic coterie

of young, white blues players,

including the guitarists

Mike Bloomfield

and Elvin Bishop.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/dec/13/little-smokey-smothers-obituary

 

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/dec/13/
little-smokey-smothers-obituary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Koko Taylor        USA        1928-2009

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Phillip Guy        USA       1940-2008

 

Born in Lettsworth,

Louisiana,

the third son

of sharecropper parents,

Phil quickly fell

under the spell

of the crackling 50,000-watt

beacon of rhythm and blues

that was the Nashville-based

radio station WLAC.

 

Soon, both he

and his older brother Buddy

were playing the guitar,

emulating the sounds

of local heroes

such as Slim Harpo

and Lightnin' Slim.

 

A left-handed player,

Phil learned

to play upside-down

on a conventionally

strung instrument

of Buddy's

and once recalled

how he would take

the guitar

down to the bayou

to play because

he liked the sound

of the echo

coming off the water.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/sep/18/popandrock.usa 

 

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/sep/18/
popandrock.usa

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carey Bell        USA        1936-2007

 

 

 

 

John Lee Hooker (w Carey Bell) - Shake It Baby & Satisfaction (Live France 1970)

 

YouTube > Bob the Juke

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LXffUmh3Ig

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

distinctive Chicago

blues harmonica player (...),

who performed

with both Muddy Waters

and Willie Dixon

 

(...)

 

 ''Carey took the big tone

that Little Walter brought

with amplifying

the harmonica

in the first place

and using distortion

from the microphone

to thicken the sound

of the instrument,

and he combined that

with a funkier,

more contemporary

rhythm feel''

 

(...)

 

Carey Bell Harrington

was born on Nov. 14, 1936,

in Macon, Miss.

 

He wanted a saxophone

but his family

could not afford one.

 

Instead, his grandfather

bought him a harmonica.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?
res=9802E4D91631F93BA35756C0A9619C8B63

 

 

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?
res=9802E4D91631F93BA35756C0A9619C8B63

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jessie May Hemphill        1933 or 1934-2006

 

Lineage has always been

important to blues musicians,

and the singer, guitarist

and drummer Jessie

Mae Hemphill,

(...) had more than most.

 

Her grandfather,

Sid Hemphill,

was a highly regarded player

of fiddle, fife

and quills (panpipes)

in the Tate and Panola counties

of north-west Mississippi,

and was recorded there in 1942

by the folklorist Alan Lomax

for the US Library of Congress.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2006/aug/08/guardianobituaries.usa1

 

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2006/aug/08/
guardianobituaries.usa1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Homesick James (John William Henderson)        1910-2006

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2007/jan/27/
guardianobituaries.jazz

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Lee Burnside        USA        1926-2005

 

The Mississippi blues

musician RL Burnside, (...)

was first recognised

as a performer

in the late 1960s,

but only came

to international

prominence

in the 1990s

when he was marketed

as a living Mississippi

"primitive"

to young, white rock

audiences.

 

For the last decade

of his life,

Burnside

was championed

by the international media,

earned six figure sums

and outsold every other

black blues icon

except BB King

and the late

John Lee Hooker.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2005/sep/05/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries

 

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2005/sep/05/
guardianobituaries.artsobituaries

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown        1924-2005

 

http://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/sep/20/
guardianobituaries.usa

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John Lee Hooker        USA        1917-2001

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brother John Sellers        USA        1924-1999

 

singer known

for his raw

and earthy rendition

of blues, jazz

and gospel music

 

(...)

 

Mr. Sellers

learned to perform

by watching itinerant singers

like Robert Johnson

and Blind Lemon Jefferson

on the streets

of Clarksville, Miss.,

where he was born.

 

By age 5,

he was dancing, singing

and playing the tambourine

in tent shows put on

by the Sanctified church,

whose worshipers

were known as Holy Rollers.

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/11/
nyregion/brother-john-sellers-74-blues-singer-dies.html

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/11/nyregion/
brother-john-sellers-74-blues-singer-dies.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Johnny Clyde Copeland        USA        1937-1997

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

James / Jimmy Witherspoon        USA        1920-1997

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.npr.org/2008/07/02/
92123120/jimmy-witherspoon-shouting-the-blues

 

https://www.npr.org/sections/ablogsupreme/2010/12/21/
132025542/5-depressing-blues-songs-for-christmas

 

https://www.nytimes.com/1997/09/22/
arts/jimmy-witherspoon-singer-of-blues-and-jazz-dies-at-74.html

 

https://www.nytimes.com/1988/01/22/
arts/jimmy-witherspoon.html

 

https://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/10/
arts/blues-jimmy-witherspoon.html

 

https://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/10/
arts/jazz-jimmy-witherspoon-sings-the-blues.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Albert King        USA        1923-1992

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

William James "Willie" Dixon    1915-1992

 

 

 

 

Willie Dixon - Interview - 7/6/1984 - Rock Influence (Official)        Video

 

YouTube > Docs&Interviews on MV

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DZamnusfyI

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Willie Dixon (...)

wrote blues standards

and produced many classic

blues albums

 

(...)

 

As a songwriter, producer,

arranger and bassist,

Mr. Dixon was a towering figure

in the creation of Chicago blues,

which was in turn a cornerstone

of rock-and-roll.

 

His songs were performed

by leading blues figures,

including Muddy Waters

and Howlin' Wolf,

and picked up by rock bands

including the Rolling Stones,

Cream and the Doors.

 

The lusty imagery,

laconic humor

and hints

of mysterious ritual

in his best songs

made them sound

like age-old folk poems.

http://www.nytimes.com/1992/01/30/arts/willie-dixon-musician-76-dies-singer-and-writer-of-classic-blues.html

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/1992/01/30/
arts/willie-dixon-musician-76-dies-singer-and-writer-of-classic-blues.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John Mayall        UK

 

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/dec/02/
john-mayall-godfather-british-blues-80th-birthday-special-people-eric-clapton-peter-green

 

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2002/nov/15/
artsfeatures.popandrock2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roy Buchanan        USA        1939-1988

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Buchanan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Son House        USA        1902-1988

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Willie Mae ("Big Mama") Thornton        USA        1926-1984

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chester Arthur Burnett        known as Howlin' Wolf        USA        1910-1976

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mathis James "Jimmy" Reed        USA        1925-1976

 

 

 

The American blues singer and musician Jimmy Reed,

around 1965.

 

Photograph: Val Wilmer/Redferns, via Getty Images

 

The Rolling Stones Paint It Blue on Their New Album

By JON PARELES        NYT        NOV. 9, 2016

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/13/
arts/music/the-rolling-stones-blue-and-lonesome-album-interview.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/13/
arts/music/the-rolling-stones-blue-and-lonesome-album-interview.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fred "Freddie" King        USA        1934-1976

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Born and raised in Texas,

Freddie King

learned guitar basics

from his mother and uncle.

 

At first,

he soaked up acoustic blues

and Texas country,

but in late 1949, at the age of 15,

he moved to Chicago with his family.

 

It was there that King learned

from such electric Chicago blues greats

as Jimmie Rodgers and Muddy Waters

and eventually came up

with his signature sound.

 

King's blues style was fluid,

but with biting power

that was arguably more forceful

than that of many other

bluesmen of his day

(with the notable exception

of living legend Buddy Guy).

 

King used thumb

and finger picks

and would just dig

into his Gibson 355

— hung precariously

over just his right shoulder —

creating what are now classic,

deeply influential

and riveting solos.

 

King's versions of blues classics

such as "Key to the Highway,"

"I'm Tore Down"

and "Have You Ever Loved a Woman"

have become part

of the blues-rock pantheon.

https://www.npr.org/2012/04/12/
150496715/freddie-king-rock-hall-inductee-patriarch-of-blues-rock

 

 

https://www.npr.org/2012/04/12/
150496715/freddie-king-rock-hall-inductee-patriarch-of-blues-rock

 

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/
story.php?storyId=128496104 - July 14, 2010

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aaron Thibeaux "T-Bone" Walker        USA        1910-1975

 

 

 

 

T-Bone Walker w/ Jazz At The Philharmonic - Live in UK 1966

 

YouTube > xraymusicdotcodotuk

https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=pFqK6PBq-hA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blues star

T-Bone Walker

(...)

inspired BB King

to play

the electric guitar

and led the way

for Jimi Hendrix

to play guitar

with his teeth

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/worldfolkandjazz/11467455/
T-Bone-Walker-a-true-musical-innovator.html

 

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/worldfolkandjazz/11467455/
T-Bone-Walker-a-true-musical-innovator.html

 

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/jun/16/
t-bone-walker-plugs-in

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sister Rosetta Tharpe        USA        1915-1973

 

 

 

Rosetta Tharpe, left,

with Duke Ellington on guitar

and Cab Calloway on piano

in 1939.

 

Photograph: Charles Peterson/Getty Images

 

Sister Rosetta Tharpe: the godmother of rock’n’roll

G

Wednesday 18 March 2015    18.14 GMT

Last modified on Friday 20 March 2015    15.57 GMT

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/mar/18/sister-rosetta-tharpe-gospel-singer-100th-birthday-tribute

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sister Rosetta Tharpe - This Train

YouTube > joantgv1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOrhjgt-_Qc

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/mar/18/
sister-rosetta-tharpe-gospel-singer-100th-birthday-tribute

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fred McDowell        USA        1904-1972

 

Mr. McDowell,

recorded

in Sept. 25, 1959,

was farming cotton

in Como, Miss.,

when Lomax,

in the area to record

other country blues artists,

first encountered him.

 

Mr. McDowell

went on

to make

a dozen albums,

tour extensively

and hear

his "You Got to Move"

covered

by the Rolling Stones.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/01/30/arts/music/20120131-lomax-interactive.html

 

 

 

 


Mississippi Fred Mc Dowell - Mississippi Blues

YouTube > Sanma Bluesandroll
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=478MF96BRqc

 

 

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_McDowell

 

 

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/jul/02/
secret-jazz-freemason-history-duke-ellington-sun-ra

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/31/
arts/music/the-alan-lomax-collection-
from-the-american-folklife-center.html

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/01/30/
arts/music/20120131-lomax-interactive.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alonzo "Lonnie" Johnson        1899-1970

 

 

 

 

Lonnie Johnson - Another Night To Cry

YouTube > Luiz Paulo Carvalho

https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=n8fyb9vpIc0&ebc=ANyPxKptZ1Bdc4j_B7wYlvjkV9qinU5iqrJ0YF2HXua66PrNLxOkjvLVtkU2XcHXiohT5aRlfBTL

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nehemiah Curtis "Skip" James        USA        1902-1969

 

 

 

 

Skip James sings "Crow Jane"

 

Blues legend Skip James sings "Crow Jane." From 1967.

 

YouTube > ledzepp461

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytVww5r4Nk0

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marion Walter Jacobs / Little Walter        USA        1930-1968

 

Born in Louisiana

in 1930,

Little Walter played

in Muddy Waters's band,

and after his 1952

harmonica solo

"Juke"

became popular,

he successfully led

his own bands,

becoming one

of the major figures

in postwar

Chicago blues.

 

Influenced

by guitarists

as well as by senior

harmonica players,

he brought

a singular variety

of phrasing

to the blues harmonica.

 

He was inducted

into the Rock and Roll

Hall of Fame in 2008.

http://www.biography.com/people/little-walter-9383615

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/13/
arts/music/the-rolling-stones-blue-and-lonesome-album-interview.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

J.B. Lenoir        USA        1929-1967

 

 

 

 

J.B. Lenoir sings Down in Mississippi

 

J. B. Lenoir (March 5, 1929 -- April 29, 1967)

was an African American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter,

active in the 1950s and 1960s Chicago blues scene.

 

In 1963, Lenoir recorded for USA Records

as 'J. B. Lenoir and his African Hunch Rhythm',

developing an interest in African percussion.

 

However, he struggled to work

as a professional musician and for a time took menial jobs,

including working in the kitchen

at the University of Illinois in Champaign.

 

Lenoir was rediscovered by Willie Dixon,

who recorded him with drummer Fred Below

on the albums Alabama Blues and Down In Mississippi

(inspired by the Civil Rights and Free Speech movements).

 

Lenoir's work had direct political content

relating to racism and the Vietnam War.

 

The 2003 documentary film The Soul of a Man,

directed by Wim Wenders

as the second instalment of Martin Scorsese's series The Blues,

explored Lenoir's career,

together with those of Skip James and Blind Willie Johnson.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvADUarQM8I

 

 

http://www.wim-wenders.com/movies/movies_spec/
thesoulofaman/the-soul-of-a-man.htm#

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John Smith Hurt / Mississippi John Hurt        1892 or 1893-1966

 

 

 

The country blues singer and guitarist Mississippi John Hurt,

outside the Gaslight Cafe. New York. 1963.

 

Robert James Campbell, via the City of Burlington, Vt.

 

Photographs as Clues to a Mysterious Bohemian Life

By John Leland        NYT        Feb. 19, 2016

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/02/19/robert-james-campbell-jessica-ferber-rebirth-of-the-cool/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_John_Hurt

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alex or Aleck Miller (né Ford) / Willie "Sonny Boy" Williamson II        USA        1912-1965

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.npr.org/sections/ablogsupreme/2011/06/16/
137151334/oh-mama-a-tale-of-two-cities-memphis-blues

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elmore James        USA        1918-1963

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guupuxcR_RY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blind Willie McTell (born William Samuel McTier)        USA        1898-1959

 

 

 

 

Blind Willie McTell - Statesboro Blues

YouTube > Raiwons

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnWxZtI3ONY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Big Bill Broonzy (Born Lee Conley Bradley)        USA        1893-1958

 

 

 

 

Big Bill Broonzy 1957: 3 Songs

YouTube > GtrWorkShp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-pShRISHnQ

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

in Chicago

in the 1930s and ’40s,

(...) he paved the way

for protégés

like Muddy Waters

and Howlin’ Wolf

and, later,

the British rockers

Eric Clapton

and Pete Townshend.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/17/us/17cncblues.html

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/17/us/
17cncblues.html

 

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/11/nyregion/
brother-john-sellers-74-blues-singer-dies.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Huddie William Ledbetter / Lead Belly        USA        1888-1949

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mamie Smith (née Robinson)        USA        1891-1946

 

 

 

Mamie Smith recorded “Crazy Blues”

— African-American women’s

breakthrough into the mainstream recording industry —

with the Jazz Hounds in the summer of 1920.

 

Photograph:

Donaldson Collection/Getty Images

 

100 Years Ago, ‘Crazy Blues’ Sparked a Revolution for Black Women Fans

Mamie Smith’s song wasn’t just an artistic breakthrough.

It proved Black women and girls bought records,

paving the way for today’s fan armies.

NYT

Published Aug. 10, 2020

Updated Aug. 11, 2020, 12:33 p.m. ET

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/10/
arts/music/mamie-smith-crazy-blues.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sheet music cover for “Crazy Blues.”

 

Photograph:

Robert Langmuir African American Photograph Collection

at Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University

 

A Song That Changed Music Forever

100 years ago, Mamie Smith recorded a seminal blues hit

that gave voice to outrage at violence against Black Americans.

NYT

Aug. 8, 2020

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/08/
opinion/sunday/crazy-blues-mamie-smith.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Aug. 10, 1920,

two African-American musicians,

Mamie Smith and Perry Bradford,

went into a New York studio

and changed the course

of music history.

 

Ms. Smith,

then a modestly successful

singer from Cincinnati

who had made only one other record,

a sultry ballad

that fizzled in the marketplace,

recorded a new song

by Mr. Bradford called “Crazy Blues.”

 

A boisterous cry of outrage

by a woman driven mad

by mistreatment,

the song spoke

with urgency and fire

to Black listeners

across the country

who had been ravaged

by the abuses

of race-hate groups,

the police and military forces

in the preceding year

— the notorious

“Red Summer” of 1919.

 

“Crazy Blues” became

a hit record

of unmatched proportions

and profound impact.

 

Within a month of its release,

it sold some 75,000 copies

and would be reported to sell

more than two million over time.

 

It established

the blues as a popular art

and prepared the way

for a century of Black expression

in the fiery core of American music.

 

As a record, something made

for private listening in the home,

“Crazy Blues” was able to say

things rarely heard

in public performances.

 

Seemingly a song about

a woman whose man has left her,

it reveals itself, on close listening,

to be a song about a woman

moved to kill her abusive partner.

 

As a work of blues,

it used the language of domestic strife

to tell a story of violence and subjugation

that Black Americans also knew

outside the home,

in a world of white oppression.

 

The blues worked

on multiple levels simultaneously

and partly in code,

with “my man” or “the man”

translatable as “the white man”

or “white people.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/08/
opinion/sunday/crazy-blues-mamie-smith.html

 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/10/
arts/music/mamie-smith-crazy-blues.html

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/08/
opinion/sunday/crazy-blues-mamie-smith.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blind Willie Johnson    1897 (?) - 1945

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_Willie_Johnson

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Ma" Rainey        USA        1886-1939

 

http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/03/08/
reviews/980308.08davist.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Ma" Rainey (born Gertrude Pridgett)        USA        1882 or 1886-1939

 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/12/
obituaries/ma-rainey-overlooked.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Johnson        USA        1911-1938

 

 

 

One of only two known photographs of Robert Johnson

 

Highway to hell

Will Hodgkinson had six months to learn the guitar.

Four months later, he’d picked up just a few chords.

It was time to take inspiration

from one of the all-time great guitarists

— and head for the crossroads . . .

The Guardian        G2        p. 19

9 March 2006

http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,,1726766,00.html - broken link

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.npr.org/2020/12/29/
950794131/brother-robert-reveals-true-story-of-growing-up-with-blues-legend-robert-johnson

 

 

 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/25/
obituaries/robert-johnson-overlooked.html

 

 

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/02/
arts/music/claud-johnson-83-son-of-blues-singer.html

 

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/may/23/
robert-johnson-photo-does-not-show-blues-legend-music-experts-say

 

 

 

 

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/21/
mississippi-bluesman-robert-johnson-son-wins-photo-profits

 

 

 

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/may/08/
robert-johnson-honeyboy-edwards-blues

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bessie Smith        USA    1894-1937

 

She was big and brown

and built hig

off the ground

— "a hell of a woman,"

men called her,

but most women said

she was "rough."

 

And while there were

other blues singers

in the first half

of the 20th century

— some who shared

her surname —

none could be mistaken

for Bessie Smith.

 

Not Mamie Smith

or Clara

or Trixie or Ruby

or Laura.

 

None of the others

could sing

with her combination

of field holler

and Jazz Age

sophistication.

 

None could throw

her voice from the stage

— without a microphone —

and make a balcony seat

feel like the front row.

 

None made

such an artistic impression

on her contemporaries

in jazz,

or her disciples

in rock 'n' roll.

 

That's because she was

the "Empress of the Blues"

— and empress is,

by definition, a solo gig.

https://www.npr.org/2018/01/05/
575422226/forebears-bessie-smith-the-empress-of-the-blues

 

 

https://www.npr.org/2019/08/07/
748399015/an-immortal-reflection-of-bessie-smith-in-feeling-and-form

 

https://www.npr.org/2019/08/06/
748312631/from-the-tent-show-to-the-parlor-bessie-smiths-travels-in-her-time

 

https://www.npr.org/2018/01/05/
575422226/forebears-bessie-smith-the-empress-of-the-blues

 

http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/03/08/
reviews/980308.08davist.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Charlie / Charley Patton    1891-1934

 

http://www.celticguitarmusic.com/patton1.htm 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A315875

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Skip James, Blind Willie Johnson and J. B. Lenoir

 

 

 

 

"Dark was the Night-Cold was the Ground"

Blind Willie Johnson

Columbia 14303

http://bluesimages.com/html/78_blind_willie_johfull1.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jack White on the Mississippi blues artists:

'They changed the world'

 

Jack White learned his craft

listening to the blues legends of the 20s and 30s

on albums released by a tiny Scottish label.

 

And now he's rereleasing Document Records' archive on vinyl

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013/mar/07/
jack-white-blues-artists

 

 

 

 

Mississippi Delta

http://nytimes.com/2001/06/22/obituaries/22HOOK.html

 

 

 

 

the ballad of Stagolee

http://www.pbs.org/americanrootsmusic/pbs_arm_es_folkballad.html 

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2003/may/09/artsfeatures  

 

 

 

 

Chess Records

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/nov/06/
leonard-phil-marshall-chess-records

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Charlie Patton

by R. Crumb

added 28.3.2005

http://www.celticguitarmusic.com/patton1.htm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Related > Anglonautes > Arts

 

blues

 

music

 

 

 

 

 

Related > Anglonautes > History

 

20th century > USA > Civil rights

 

 

17th, 18th, 19th, 20th century

English America, America, USA

Racism, Slavery,

Abolition, Civil war,

Abraham Lincoln

 

 

17th, 18th, 19th century

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Related > Anglonautes > Vocapedia

 

slavery, eugenics,

race relations, racism, civil rights,

apartheid

 

 

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