MickeyV | All About Blues Music

KIM SIMMONDS

Guitarist Kim Simmonds is the leader and founding member of Savoy Brown, the British Blues-rock band who rose to fame in the Blues Boom of the 60s, gathered a big following in The States and are still touring today. Kim has extended his boundaries by going back to acoustic Blues as a solo artist, and…

JJ CALE

JJ Cale took relaxed, long-legged boogie rhythms, combined them with tunes that had roots in the Blues, wrote light, clever lyrics he delivered almost in a whisper, and carefully hand-crafted them into hugely influential records. His subtle, understated guitar style is cited by many renowned players as a model of quiet effectiveness. John Weldon Cale…

LITTLE JIMMY KING

Little Jimmy King took elements of his mentor Albert King’s soulful guitar sound, the flash of Jimi Hendrix and the power-trio oomph of Stevie Ray Vaughan, to make a concoction of modern Blues that deserved wider exposure. Sadly, it was not to be, as he was taken before his time. Manuel Lynn Gales was born…

TAL WILKENFELD

Tal Winkenfeld is the ultimate ‘rock chick’. An astonishingly accomplished bass guitarist, with a complex, light and delicate style, she has attracted the attention of many Blues-rock and Jazz legends. Legions of fans all over the world with have been impressed by her appearances on records, DVDs and at prestigious gigs that players of such…

KEEF HARTLEY

The Blues was a dying form of music in its heartlands in the early 60s, but when some British kids discovered the music and used it to talk to new generations, it came back to America re-invigorated. Bands like The Rolling Stones and The Beatles sold Blues and R&B back to its American roots, and…

TINY BRADSHAW

Tiny Bradshaw was a successful big-band leader in the 30s who re-invented himself as an R&B shouter after WWII, in the hey-day of Jump-Blues. He co-wrote many of his songs, including ‘Train Kept Rollin’ which was a much bigger hit for Johnny Burnette in 1956, and has become a rock standard, covered by many bands.…

JERRY PORTNOY

Blues harp is perhaps the most expressive instrument in a classic Blues band line-up, and Jerry Portnoy must be one of a handful of men around today whose playing speaks with the voice straight out of 50s Chicago. With a fluency, range and emotional bite that is nothing short of thrilling, Jerry learned his trade…

SID WHELAN

Sid Whelan was born and bred in New York City, and after a lifetime of playing Blues, Country and World music, he has recorded the first part of his Americana Trilogy, ‘Flood Waters Rising’. Sid was introduced to the Blues by his Dad, a passionate devotee of New Orleans jazz and traditional Blues, who took…

MIKE VERNON

As a producer and label owner, Mike Vernon has probably contributed more than anyone to the recording of early British Blues and presenting American original Blues players to the British public. By combining the keen young talent he found in London with the wealth of experience he brought from America, he created a heady mixture…

WHISTLIN’ ALEX MOORE

Whistlin’ Alex Moore was an eccentric Texas pianist whose career stretched from the early 20s into the late 80s. His archaic playing style incorporated elements of ragtime, barrelhouse and ‘stride’ patterns, and his talent for endless improvisation, spur-of-the-moment diversions and wild, Thelonius Monk-like spatterings of ‘blue-notes’ spoke of an inventive man whose main job was…