MickeyV | All About Blues Music

BUSTER BENTON

Even when The Blues is going through one of its slow spells, some performers still come to the fore who have something powerful and urgent to communicate. Buster Benton was one of those guys who put his body and soul into his music: his emotive vocals and heartfelt guitar lines gave his slow Blues an…

LONNIE MACK

Some people make a huge contribution to our music and are rightly immortalised with awards, statues and Hall of Fame accolades. However some, like Lonnie Mack, remain little known, despite the great groundbreaking work they did in those formative days, five decades ago. With a guitar style that owes as much to Bluegrass as the…

ZOOT MONEY

In the sixties, ‘Swinging London’ was full of extroverted, colourful characters, and one of the brightest was Zoot Money, the merry prankster who led The Big Roll Band from behind his huge organ. In a long career, where he has always rolled with the punches, Zoot embodies an irrepressible spirit that celebrates the good-time vibe…

DICK WATERMAN

During the late 50s and early 60s, college campuses and downtown coffee shops often rang to the sound of Folk music. One branch of country music that young people found exciting was Delta Blues, and when they realised many of these guys must still be alive, many took up the quest to locate these ‘living…

SWAMP DOGG

Wearing a white suit and a super-fine hat, the much loved and highly under-rated Swamp Dogg has the glamorous image and rich-toned voice of a Soul/Blues Superstar, but his talent for hilarious and cynical lyrics also mark him out as a masterful songwriter. Swamp Dogg is a cult hero to many, but the character is,…

PAUL LAMB

When Paul Lamb blows his harp, you would never instantly recognise his style, because he can play The Blues every-which-way. From ‘whoopin’ country tunes to blistering runs, with sprays of well-chosen notes spinning off the theme, to down-home boogies and up-tempo rockers, Paul’s accuracy and command of tone make him a phenomenal player. He has…

BRUCE IGLAUER

Alligator Records was born from the passion for Blues music felt by its founder Bruce Iglauer. Bruce was working for a record company in Chicago when he heard an exciting slide-guitarist in a club, and when he couldn’t get his boss to bring him into the studio, he did the job himself. This started a…

JACK WHITE

Millions of young music fans got their first taste of Blues guitar played with a soulful slide by Jack White of The White Stripes. His adaptations of Son House‘s songs were a central plank of the Detroit garage band’s early repertoire, and Jack’s love of that original Blues has informed much of his work. Since…

RONNIE WOOD

Ron Wood is best known as the mirror image of Keef Richard cranking out guitar riffs for The Rolling Stones behind the exuberant Mick Jagger and in front of the inscrutable Charlie Watts, as they continue to fill the world stage. He performed in similar style with The Faces, but outside the lime-light, there is…

CHRIS STRACHWITZ

“Arr-hoolie” was a field call, common among agricultural workers back when the Blues began, and when the young Chris Strachwitz and his friend Mack McCormick were drifting around the South in 1960 looking for Blues singers to record, it was suggested as the name for a new record company. Arhoolie went on to be a…