Blues Music Artists

WASHBOARD SAM

The washboard was the rhythm instrument of choice for street musicians playing the Blues in the early days, but Washboard Sam took it into the studio and made himself a strong career as a session musician in Chicago. He also had a great voice and a talent for songwriting that saw him record more than…

BROTHER JOE MAY

Probably the greatest Gospel singer of all time. ‘The Thunderbolt of the Middle West’ had a massive vocal range and unparalleled dynamic control, slipping effortlessly from a whisper to an earth-moving blast. His commanding stage presence and superb delivery could have made him a Blues star, but he would have nothing to do with secular…

SAM ‘The Man’ TAYLOR

A “certified honking legend”, Sam Taylor was renowned for his superb tone and hard-driving energy. Starting out with the likes of ‘Scat Man’ Crothers and Lucky Millinder, Sam spent six years touring the world with Cab Calloway’s band, then working as a first-call session man for Louis Jordan and Ray Charles. Sam contributed the sax…

SMOKEY WILSON

Downhome Mississippi Blues guitarist Smokey relocated to LA in his mid-thirties and opened the Pioneer Club in Watts, where he fronted the house band and booked the hottest Blues acts around. Smokey was born in the Mississippi Delta where he played with Big Jack Johnson and Frank Frost before taking his juke-joint boogie style Westwards.…

PINETOP SMITH

One Friday night in 1929, a great boogie-woogie pianist was rocking the joint at a dancehall in Chicago. A rumbunctious crowd was celebrating payday, when an argument at the bar led to gunshots. A stray bullet hit the piano player in the chest. Pinetop Smith was 25 years old when he was killed. Born in…

PINETOP PERKINS

Eighteen-year-old Joe Willie Perkins started out as a guitar-picker in piano player Willie Love‘s band, which made many appearances on Rice ‘Sonny Boy II’ Miller’s King Biscuit Radio Show. This early career was cut short for Joe Willie when an angry knife-wielding chorus girl severed the tendons in his left arm. Unable to manage his…

FURRY LEWIS

Of all the old Blues singers who were rediscovered in the 60s, Furry Lewis was by far the most engaging character. With his peg-leg, his inexhaustable stock of stories, his considerable skill with a guitar and his witty songs, he became a Blues Celebrity on TV, in movies and even in Playboy Magazine. Walter Lewis…

JOE LIGGINS

Joe Liggins took his record ‘The Honeydripper’ to the top of the R&B charts for a record 18 weeks in 1945, and when he named his band The Honeydrippers he kept them among the best sellers for ten years. Their infectious jump-Blues was fuelled by the optimistic post-WWII atmosphere of the day, where everybody seemed…

BLIND BOY FULLER

Piedmont Blues seems dominated by blind men who managed to survive by playing for change on streetcorners. That was true of Blind Blake, Blind Willie McTell and Gary Davis, and none of them sold enough records to make a good living while they were in their prime. That was not true of Blind Boy Fuller, who…

LOUIS JORDAN

If one man could be credited with inventing jump-blues, it would be Louis Jordan. His Tympani Five had 54 Top Ten R&B chart hits between 1942 and 1951, and eighteen of those made the top spot. Louis infectious sax-led jump-blues crossed over into the white market for both record sales and live shows, especially in…