Blues Music Artists

FREDDIE SPRUELL

Often cited as the first Delta Bluesman to make a record, Freddie Spruell cut his ‘Milk Cow Blues’ c/w ‘Muddy Water Blues’ on June 25th 1926 in Chicago. After a brief career with the Okeh label, ‘Papa Freddie’ or ‘Mr. Freddie’ made several more records in 1935 for Bluebird, but his total output came to…

BOB HALL

Bob Hall is a boogie-woogie pianist who has contributed to many of the great Blues projects on the London scene over the last 50 years. Born in Surrey in 1942, Bob first heard boogie-woogie played by Winifred Atwell in the early 50s, but when he heard the Blues of Howlin’ Wolf, he became a true…

HATTIE McDANIEL

There were many pioneers of racial equality in 20th Century America, but few made breakthroughs in as many areas as Hattie McDaniel. She was the first African American to win an Oscar; probably the first to sing on radio; the first to take the lead rôle in a radio series; first to have two ‘stars’…

DEREK TRUCKS

The Tedeschi Trucks Band is one of the most exciting talents to emerge onto the Blues scene in the last decade, and their success shows the continuing durability and world-wide appeal of our music. Derek Trucks is a slide-guitar player of great power and sensitivity, and his wife Susan Tedeschi is a passionate singer who…

BILLY PRESTON

When a child shows a talent beyond their years, some call them a prodigy, but many slip into obscurity. When Billy Preston performed Fats Domino‘s hit ‘Blueberry Hill’ on TV with Nat ‘King’ Cole, while just 11 years old, anyone could see the kid was a born entertainer, but he went on to spend his…

RONNIE LANE

Good-time Blues Rock was one of the offshoots of British music at the end of the 60s, and The Faces were at the forefront of the movement. Bass player and songwriter Ronnie Lane was the heart and soul of the band and when they split, he went on to explore some musical byways of his…

OTHA TURNER

The hill country east of the Mississippi Delta is populated with small farms that have been home to the same families for many generations. It is also the source of some unique music that was only ‘discovered’ late in the 20th Century by Blues enthusiasts who went out to make field recordings of these remote…

JIMMY ROGERS

Muddy Waters‘ searing slide-guitar work is seen as the cornerstone of Chicago’s electric Blues tradition, but the precise and sympathetic chord patterns of Jimmy Rogers’ ‘second’ guitar features on all the great Chess recordings too. As Muddy’s right-hand man; as part of the Chess house-band; and as a singer and bandleader in his own right,…

LAFAYETTE LEAKE

Lafayette Leake played his versatile, expansive Blues piano on many great records in 50s Chicago, adding soulful counterpoint to Howlin’ Wolf‘s rumblings, and sharp phrasing to the spiky West-side sound of Otis Rush. Never a leader in his own right, Lafayette always seemed to know exactly what to add to a tune, and his long…

CHANCE GARDNER

Chance Gardner’s musical roots go back to his upbringing in Mobile AL, where he heard Gospel music in Church as a child,which seemed to soak into his vocal delivery and his guitar style. Like many of his generation, Chance’s ears were opened to The Blues by listening to Robert Johnson, and when he met…