Blues Music Artists

MEMPHIS MINNIE

The classic period of Blues recording in the 20’s was the era of the Blues Diva, glamorous women who the radio stations and record companies could promote as stars, like Hollywood did with its yound actresses. Memphis Minnie shattered that mould as a guitarist, singer and songwriter as steeped in country Blues as any Delta…

MARK NAFTALIN

Pianist and keyboard player Mark Naftalin has played on over 100 albums by Legends like John Lee Hooker, Otis Rush, Lowell Fulson and dozens of others. Mark started out in The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, appearing on their first four albums before settling in San Francisco in the late 60s. He led his own band,…

SHANNON CURFMAN

‘Loud Guitars, Big Suspicions’ was the debut album of this 14 year-old girl from Fargo, North Dakota in 1999. Shannon had already opened for Steve Miller and The Fabulous Thunderbirds, heralding the arrival of a major young talent. She toured with Buddy Guy and George Thorogood and released a second album, ‘Fast Lane Addiction’ in 2007 on her own…

MIKE BLOOMFIELD

Mike Bloomfield got his Blues guitar education as a kid in the clubs on Chicago’s Southside with some of the true ‘originators’, occasionally jumping onstage to join in with them! He ran a folk club when he left school, where he would book the old Blues players he had played with. Mike joined Paul Butterfield’s…

LIGHTNIN’ SLIM

Otis V Hicks from St. Louis found fame in Baton Rouge, Louisiana playing his guitar in local bars with Big Poppa’s band, where Buddy Guy would later learn his chops. He signed for Feature Records in 1954, billed as ‘Lightnin’ Slim’ and recorded his ‘Bad Luck Blues’ for them before beginning a fruitful 12 years…

PIANO RED

A native of Atlanta who played piano with Barbecue Bob and Blind Willie McTell in his early days, William Perryman could really pound the 88s. William was the much younger brother of Rufus a.k.a. Speckled Red, who was also albino, and this accounts for both men adopting the tag ‘Red’. Emulating his older brother, who…

‘CHAMPION JACK’ DUPREE

‘Champion Jack’ was not a great piano virtuoso, a stunning singer or a prolific songwriter, but he could play a huge variety of piano Blues styles and he took them around the world, thrilling audiences wherever he went. His affable stage presence and endless supply of funny stories made him a great entertainer and a…

LONG JOHN BALDRY

In the early 60s, Chicago Blues was a source of inspiration for a generation of young players in the UK who were looking for a way of expressing their frustration with a dull and restrictive post-WWII society. When they heard Muddy Waters’ moan, Elmore James’ searing guitar, and Jimmy Reed’s simple but powerful songs, the…

CARLOS SANTANA

If “Blues is the roots and other music is the fruits”, (to quote Willie Dixon) then Carlos Santana’s music might be a strawberry/melon/mango hybrid; a rich blend of flavours with plenty of juice. From the heyday of experimental 60s San Francisco Blues bands to jazz-fusion, devotional music, Latin grooves and monster selling collaborations, Carlos has…

SCREAMING JAY HAWKINS

Screamin’ Jay Hawkins never sold a lot of records in the greater scheme of things, but his one hit, ‘I Put a Spell on You’ was hugely influential and his talent for theatrical live shows made him a star. Usually emerging from a coffin onstage, wild-eyed and raving, toting a smoking skull on a pole…