MickeyV | All About Blues Music

ADOLPH RICKENBACKER

The name Rickenbacker was made famous during WWI by Eddie Rickenbacker, the Flying Ace who shot down 26 enemy planes, started his own car company and won races in some of his products, and then set up Eastern Airlines. However, a cousin of his, Adolph, was also making a big noise with products that still…

DANNY KIRWAN

The first incarnation of Fleetwood Mac was as a hard-rocking Blues band, but when Danny Kirwan joined Peter Green on guitar and contributed his songwriting abilities to the mix, a more complex and mellow blend of music emerged. When Peter left the band, Danny assumed a more central rôle, but his struggle with alcohol, and…

BOB MARGOLIN

There are still Blues players around today who learned their craft at directly from the Chicago Legends. When Muddy Waters took on a young guitar player in 1973, he gave ‘Steady Rollin’ Bob’ Margolin a masterclass in fronting a touring and recording band that has served him well for decades, and will hopefully continue for…

PAPA CHARLIE JACKSON

Papa Charlie Jackson’s ‘Lawdy, Lawdy Blues’ was the first commercially successful Blues song recorded by a man. In an age when ‘Race Music‘ was a new phenomenon, dozens of Blues Divas were recording for the major companies, but the idea of a black man singing about the hardships of his life was a politically sensitive…

J D ‘Jay’ MILLER

Jay Miller was one of the finest producers of Swamp Blues and Cajun music Louisiana has ever heard. His Fais-Do-Do label made some pioneeering Zydeco records and later, working with the Excello label, he recorded big hits and influential tracks for Swamp legends Lightnin’ Slim, Lazy Lester and Slim Harpo at his studio complex at…

BAYLESS ROSE

Bayless Rose was a Kentucky guitarist and singer who recorded several Ragtime-style Blues tracks for the Gennett label in 1930. His articulate, ‘Piedmont’ picking got him some session work, and his occasional use of a slide is reminiscent of the Memphis guitarist Walter ‘Furry’ Lewis, who had been recording since 1927. Not much is known…

FREDDIE ROULETTE

Freddie Roulette is one of the very few Blues musicians who has made the lap-steel guitar their instrument of choice. From his early classic albums with Earl Hooker and his work with some legendary Chicago characters, through an enduring friendship with Charlie Musselwhite to a long career on the West-coast, Freddie always brings a heart…

‘SMOKEY’ HOGG

‘Smokey’ Hogg was an old-school Texas Blues guitarist and pianist who moved to the West-coast after WWII and had a couple of good R&B chart hits with a smooth piano Blues sound, alongside his dozens of country-style, guitar based records. His down-home delivery and eccentric sense of timing sounded old-fashioned in an era of frenetic…

MOSES ‘Whispering’ SMITH

Whispering Smith was a Lawman who brought justice to the railroads in the Old West in a 1906 novel that bore his name. The book was made into a film in 1926; remade by Hollywood in 1948 with Alan Ladd; and in 1961 it returned as a network TV series starring Audie Murphy. Meanwhile, down…

SYD NATHAN

Syd Nathan was an old-school, cigar-chomping, bad-tempered label owner who didn’t care much for the finer qualities of his artists, but put their records out anyway. His comment on James Brown’s first effort ‘Please, Please, Please’ was “That’s the worst piece of crap I’ve heard in my life.” but he persevered with several follow-ups that…