MickeyV | All About Blues Music

LOVIE LEE

Pianist Lovie Lee is best known as a member of Muddy Waters‘ band in its final incarnation, and he won that position as a result of many years relentless gigging around the Chicago club scene. Lovie’s big grin, affable stage presence and huge repertoire made him a popular man in his neighbourhood, while he remained…

RY COODER

American popular music has its roots in dozens of diverse traditions, and most of them have been investigated by Ry Cooder as he played a wide selection of stringed instruments. A highly skilled guitar picker, his wise and amusing selection of songs on a long series of albums have broadened many horizons, and pricked many…

BIG JACK JOHNSON

Big Jack Johnson played his juke-joint guitar in a down-home and dirty style that would have been common all over the Delta eighty years previously, when the Blues were being born. Jack’s father might have been playing back then, and Jack played in the family string band from an early age. Spending his whole life…

LEONARD CHESS

The Godfather of Chicago Blues, Leonard Chess made his Chess Record company the home of many legends of electrified urban Blues. Leonard and his brother Phil were Polish immigrants who came with their parents to New York in 1928, but soon relocated to Chicago. The brothers were fascinated by the music scene in the South-side…

HARVEY MANDEL

Harvey Mandel is a stylish guitar player who mixes up Blues, rock and jazz techniques into a heady brew, and whose skills have seen him play with Canned Heat, John Mayall and The Rolling Stones. Including his solo career and work as a session musician, Harvey has been constantly busy with his guitar for 50…

RONNIE EARL

Ronnie Earl plays Blues guitar with jazz overtones with his band The Broadcasters, firing off guitar licks in the style of Otis Rush and Earl Hooker, and maintains a high standard of playing that has impressed those famous Blues players that shaped the music, A long career as a band leader has given Ronnie the…

ALVIN LEE

Alvin Lee was the front-man for British hard-rock band Ten Years After, a Blues-based four-piece who were very popular on the British club scene before exploding to world fame after appearing at the Woodstock Festival. Alvin played staggeringly quick-fingered guitar solos and as the tall, skinny, long-haired guy splattering guitar notes around the room, he…

WALTER TROUT

Walter Trout seems to have been around forever, an unspectacular but relentless force that draws on the roots of the Blues and adds the drive of rock music, blended into a spirit that still inspires audiences wherever he plays. Learning his chops under the guidance of some Blues legends before striking out on his own,…

PEG LEG HOWELL

Atlanta guitarist Peg Leg Howell was one of the first Bluesmen ever to make a ‘Race Record‘, and he was also re-discovered in the 60s when he recorded again. Joshua Barnes Howell of Eatonton GA lost a leg in an argument with a shotgun toting brother-in-law, and he turned to music when he found it…

GOOD ROCKIN’ CHARLES

Charles Edwards played his harp around Chicago for 25 years, backing veteran players like Johnny Young and ‘Smokey’ Smothers, and spent two years in Jimmy Rogers band. Leaving behind his birthplace in Tuscaloosa AL and his given name of Henry Lee Bester, Charles moved to Chicago in 1949. His harp playing owed something to his…