MickeyV | All About Blues Music

SLIM HARPO

Slim Harpo wrote some classic Blues songs that made him Excello Records’ best selling artist and his easy-rolling Swamp Blues was an inspiration for many British bands that brought the Blues to American youth in the 60s. Pounding out his insistent Southern rhythms on guitar and blowing harp in a neck-rack, Slim’s music crossed a…

AMOS MILBURN

Pianist and singer Amos Milburn was one of the biggest R&B stars of the post WWII years. His signature tune ‘Chicken Shack Boogie’ went to No.1 in the R&B charts and he repeated the achievement three more times. He had a string of up-tempo hits with drinking songs like ‘One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer’,…

ROBERT PETE WILLIAMS

If country Blues is about lamenting a hard life, with poverty, violence, illiteracy, jail-time and betrayal by your woman, then Robert Pete Williams certainly lived that life. Despite being an endlessly inventive guitarist and a desperately soulful singer, Robert was never a big selling artist, but his appearances at Blues Festivals around the world opened…

MATT ‘GUITAR’ MURPHY

One of the most respected side-men on the Chicago Blues scene, Matt Murphy is universally acclaimed for his sharp, eloquent guitar lines that seem to say ‘Amen’ to every tune they attend. He has played with some of the seminal figures of the Blues and added high quality to their work in every instance, in…

DAVE BARTHOLOMEW

If Rock’n’Roll is a mixture of jump-blues and R&B, then New Orleans’ own Dave Bartholomew has a claim to being the man who put them together. As songwriter, producer, arranger and trumpet player, Dave’s work gave this music the energy that got the youth of America and the whole world up on their feet and…

PEETIE WHEATSTRAW

St.Louis pianist and singer Peetie Wheatstraw was not a great player- his piano skills were little more than functional- but his singing, with it’s almost arrogant self-confidence, his trademark ‘Ooh well,well’, and his clever way with a lyric made him one of the best-selling Blues artists of the 30s. William Bunch of Ripley TN arrived…

ROEBUCK ‘POPS’ STAPLES

The Staple Singers were a big soul act in the 60s and 70s with their inspiring gospel-flavoured sound, but their patriarch Roebuck Staples was an old-fashioned Blues player who bridged the worlds of the Delta and deep urban funk, and went back to his roots with a late-blooming solo career. Born in Winona MS in…

DINAH WASHINGTON

Dinah Washington was probably the most popular R&B singer of the 50s. Raised in gospel; gifted with an immaculate sense of blues phrasing; equally at home in jazz, blues, R&B and pop, Dinah’s clear yet passionate delivery made her one of the biggest stars of the day and earned her the title ‘Queen of the…

GUITAR SLIM

With a gospel voice straight out of Church and a guitar style straight out of the swamp; with his flashy suits and wild stage act, Guitar Slim was a major contributor to New Orleans R&B. Slim was a direct influence on the young generation of up-and-coming Southern guitarists like Buddy Guy and Albert Collins. If…

JUNIOR WELLS

Junior Wells’ wailing harp lines became one of the iconic sounds of Chicago Blues, following the example of the men he most closely emulated, John Lee ‘Sonny Boy’ Williamson and ‘Little Walter’ Davis. Junior had several spells in Muddy Waters‘ band and a long informal partnership with Buddy Guy confirming his place in the top rank of Chicago Blues harp…