MickeyV | All About Blues Music

LARRY TAYLOR

Canned Heat was one of the biggest Blues-based American bands of the 60s, which took up the challenge to Tin Pan Alley’s emasculated pop music set up by The Rolling Stones and other British ‘invaders’. As American youth culture struggled with War and Civil Rights issues, Canned Heat added important anthems of awareness and solidarity…

‘St LOUIS JIMMY’ ODEN

An early Blues pianist with a dry, laconic vocal style, ‘St. Louis Jimmy’ Oden is remembered now more for his songwriting talents than for his records. ‘Goin’ Down Slow’ has been a classic, drag-out Blues piano standard for generations, and Muddy Waters recorded several of Jimmy’s tunes in the 50s. James Burke Oden was born…

FIFE & DRUM MUSIC

Fife and drum music is a branch of country Blues that has survived from the 19th Century in a few remote rural districts of northern Mississippi. With modest home-made instruments and a simple structure, it is neverthless a joyful music, made for dancing and sharing with friends and neighbours, from a time when time itself…

OTTILIE PATTERSON

Jazz fans at Chris Barber’s concerts in 1955 were surprised when a tiny, slim girl stepped up to the mic, but when she let loose with her big, soulful Blues voice, they knew they were in the presence of a unique talent. A few years later, patrons of some Chicago South-side Blues clubs had the…

FREDDIE SPRUELL

Often cited as the first Delta Bluesman to make a record, Freddie Spruell cut his ‘Milk Cow Blues’ c/w ‘Muddy Water Blues’ on June 25th 1926 in Chicago. After a brief career with the Okeh label, ‘Papa Freddie’ or ‘Mr. Freddie’ made several more records in 1935 for Bluebird, but his total output came to…

BOB HALL

Bob Hall is a boogie-woogie pianist who has contributed to many of the great Blues projects on the London scene over the last 50 years. Born in Surrey in 1942, Bob first heard boogie-woogie played by Winifred Atwell in the early 50s, but when he heard the Blues of Howlin’ Wolf, he became a true…

HATTIE McDANIEL

There were many pioneers of racial equality in 20th Century America, but few made breakthroughs in as many areas as Hattie McDaniel. She was the first African American to win an Oscar; probably the first to sing on radio; the first to take the lead rôle in a radio series; first to have two ‘stars’…

DEREK TRUCKS

The Tedeschi Trucks Band is one of the most exciting talents to emerge onto the Blues scene in the last decade, and their success shows the continuing durability and world-wide appeal of our music. Derek Trucks is a slide-guitar player of great power and sensitivity, and his wife Susan Tedeschi is a passionate singer who…

BILLY PRESTON

When a child shows a talent beyond their years, some call them a prodigy, but many slip into obscurity. When Billy Preston performed Fats Domino‘s hit ‘Blueberry Hill’ on TV with Nat ‘King’ Cole, while just 11 years old, anyone could see the kid was a born entertainer, but he went on to spend his…

RONNIE LANE

Good-time Blues Rock was one of the offshoots of British music at the end of the 60s, and The Faces were at the forefront of the movement. Bass player and songwriter Ronnie Lane was the heart and soul of the band and when they split, he went on to explore some musical byways of his…