Bessie Smith

Breaking Boundaries Bessie Smith, the indomitable force of blues, was more than her fiery performances and tumultuous lifestyle suggest. Born into humble beginnings, she rose to stardom on the strength of her charismatic presence, raw emotion, and a daring determination that refused to be tamed. This article delves into the life and career of Bessie…

Read More

Kaz Hawkins

The soulful blues-shouting mama is a time-honored tradition in the genre. And Kaz Hawkins seems on a mission to keep the tradition alive. Although the woman herself hails from Northern Ireland, she boasts a strong and resilient voice that comes straight from the Mississippi delta. And if the combination of an Irish background and a…

Read More

Jimmy Adler

The Devil’s Music Everything you need to know about blues guitar master Jimmy Adler and his style as a performer can be understood with a single quote from the Pittsburgh native. “Listening to blues is a spiritual experience.  Blues music expresses the emotions of the human condition and makes one feel good.  When I play…

Read More

Layla Zoe

Layla Zoe’s years on the blues scene have been insanely successful and are loaded with the promise of even greater success. Comparisons to legendary voices (Janis Joplin is the most often cited name) are not uncommon as she builds the kind of reputation that strong careers are made of. And hers only promises to get…

Read More

Cedric Burnside

Blues drummer Cedric Burnside couldn’t have gotten a better lineage of music richness if he’d requested it himself. The grandson of legendary bluesman R.L. Burnside and the son of blues drummer Calvin Jackson, this bright shinning light on the blues scene learned his craft early and has taken all the necessary steps toward an ascent…

Read More

Marcus Bonfanti

At first glance, Marcus Bonfanti seems to embody the time-honored archetype of the British rock and roll wild man. Raggedly coifed, lazily dressed, blessed with an intense stare that could frighten away a rattlesnake. If he were a few decades older, you could believe he was the love child of Janis Joplin and John Bonham.…

Read More

Jarekus Singleton

Blues guitar iconoclast Jarekus Singleton’s is fast becoming a sensation. His name is being as highly praised as it is difficult to pronounce. As with any fresh voice on the blues scene, an exposure to his music provokes endless curiosity about the story behind the voice. And in Singleton’s case, the story is riddled with…

Read More

Beth Hart

Today’s blues singers are often saddled with the unfortunate title of ‘pretenders to the throne,’ which is to say it is presumed they didn’t earn their blues the old-fashioned way, paying their dues with decades of harsh, itinerant lives, picking cotton, eking out meager livings and enduring an endless barrage of abuse. Barely in her…

Read More

Shemekia Copeland

The way Shemekia Copeland’s soaring voice scorches into a listener’s soul you’d swear you were hearing a vocal talent born to inherit the mantle of blues greatness. And you’d be right. With a father like Texas bluesman Johnny Copeland and a birthplace like Harlem, New York City, this expressive blues-shouter couldn’t have asked for a…

Read More

CAT IRON

William Carradine was born in Garden city LA in 1896, so he was quite an old man when he encountered Fred Ramsay, one of the earliest and most enthusiastic of the young music researchers who travelled the South with their recording equipment, looking for the originators of the Blues. Fred was in Natchez MS in…

Read More