Bluesman | All About Blues Music

SAMMY PRICE

Texan Sammy was a versatile pianist whose long career encompassed Blues and boogie-woogie and took in swing and jump-blues. Starting in Dallas as a singer and dancer in Alphonso Trent’s Orchestra, Sammy recorded his song ‘Blue Rhythm Stomp’ in 1929. He formed the Texas Bluesicians based in Kansas, moving the band on to Detroit and…

LEFT HAND FRANK

A seriously under-rated guitarist and singer, Frank Craig made a career as a sideman in lots of Chicago bands between the mid-50s and the late 70s. Born in the heart of the Delta, Frank went to Chicago as a teenager, where he played his guitar southpaw and strung upside down. He would perform outside the…

DUKE ROBILLARD

In 1967 Duke formed the Roomful of Blues, the New England outfit that has become an institution that survives into the present. Guitarist Duke formed the band with pianist Al Copley to play Blues and jazz flavoured R&B and their driving horn section made them a thrilling live act. A decade of playing bars and…

JOHN LEE ‘Sonny Boy’ WILLIAMSON

There were two men who used the name Sonny Boy Williamson, and both made a huge contribution to the Blues. One was an open-hearted genial fellow who made the harp a fixture in Chicago Blues bands, and died very young; the other was a utter rogue, whose juke-joint skills brought the sound of the Mississippi…

GEORGE ‘HARMONICA’ SMITH

George was always a showman, and there are stories of him tap-dancing along the bar while playing his harp! As well as blowing his sparse, soulful solo lines he also exploited an ‘octave’ technique to expand the possibilities of the Blues harp, making it like sound like the horn parts in a swing band and…

CUB KODA

Singer, guitarist, producer and DJ, Michael ‘Cub’ Koda is perhaps best known as a record collector, writer and critic. His work editing the All Music Guide, his journalism, reviews and album notes made his reputation for clear writing and thoughtful criticism. Cub’s music career reached it’s height when his band Brownsville Station took his song…

ZZ HILL

Texan Arzell Hill was almost unknown to white audiences when he died in 1982, but his ‘Down Home’ album stayed on the R&B charts for two years. In 1964 his gospel tinged voice first appeared on his brother Matt’s MH label in L.A. and made a surprise entry into the pop charts with ‘You Were…

KOKO TAYLOR

In 1962, Cora Walton was spotted in a Chicago club by Willie Dixon as she sang with her husband, ‘Pops’ Taylor. When he put Buddy Guy’s guitar behind her on his song ‘Wang Dang Doodle’, a million selling hit on the Chess label was the result, and ‘Koko Taylor’ had arrived on the scene. Her…

J MAYO WILLIAMS

Brown University Graduate J Mayo ‘Ink’ Williams is the only man to be inducted into both the National Football Hall of Fame and the Blues Hall of Fame. As well as being one of the first Black pro-footballers, playing for a Chicago team in the first season of the NFL, he is also remembered as…

MAMIE ‘GALORE’ DAVIS

This feisty Mississippi lady knew she wanted to be a Blues singer, even as a schoolgirl. As soon as she was old enough, Mamie joined touring shows with Little Milton and Ike & Tina Turner before picking up her own deal with St. Lawrence Records in Chicago. Her soulful 1966 hit ‘It Ain’t Necessary’ was…