Blues Music Artists

JOSH WHITE

Josh White had a long career as a Bluesy folk singer on the New York scene during the 50s and 60s, but his roots were in the South-East where the local music was Piedmont Blues. Josh mastered this style of elaborate finger-picking at an early age and his instrumental talent stood him in good stead…

MISSISSIPPI JOHN HURT

When the Folk/Blues revival of the early 60’s brought old Blues players out of obscurity and put them on the world stage, nobody’s obscurity was deeper than Mississippi John Hurt’s. He had a superb fingerpicking style and a vast repertiore of songs, but John turned down the chance to join a travelling show when he…

MEADE ‘LUX’ LEWIS

This ace ‘Boogie-Woogie’ pianist rose to national fame in the late 30’s when his rocking keyboard music was the current dance craze. Boogie-woogie had enjoyed some popularity in Chicago ten years earlier when Lux’s tune, ‘Honky Tonk Train Blues’ was a hit and became a piano standard, but when the style went nationwide, ‘Lux’ lived…

BUDDY GUY

Buddy Guy has probably played the Blues live for more people than anyone else. His expressive, footloose, unpredictable guitar lines, his tortured vocals and his mastery of dynamics make him an impressive artist on record, well worthy of his six Grammys, but his half-century of live performances have given him a special place in the…

ROBERT CRAY

Nobody has explored the borderlines between Blues and Soul as successfully as Robert Cray. A Blues guitarist with a distinctively economical sustainless style and a set of Soul pipes to die for, Robert was among the leaders of the 80’s Blues revival, along with Stevie Ray Vaughan and Albert Collins. Robert has more than fulfilled…

SKIP JAMES

Skip James was one of the most influential early Bluesmen, but his importance as a stylist remained undiscovered until he was brought out of a long retirement by the Folk/Blues revival of the early 60’s. His performance was characterised by eerie falsetto vocals and delicate guitar picking in the minor keys. These features, along with…

BIG MAMA THORNTON

Everything about Willie Mae ‘Big Mama’ Thornton was Big. She was a big woman with a big voice, a big harmonica sound, a big stage presence and a big hit record. Her version of Leiber and Stoller’s ‘Hound Dog’ sat on top of the R&B chart for seven weeks in 1953, but that achievement was…

BIG JOE TURNER

When the Blues made the transition from its rural roots in the Delta to the urban boogie-woogie and Jump-blues that made people dance, (and which morphed into Rock’n’Roll), nobody had a bigger voice than Big Joe Turner. A Blues shouter from Kansas City, Big Joe crossed many musical boundaries an the course of a career…

JOHN MAYALL

John Mayall played a crucial role in the development of British music in the 60’s that re-vitalised the Blues from its enclaves in the Black American community and gave it to everybody. As leader of the Bluesbreakers, his revolving door policy gave dozens of young players a chance to step into the spotlight. Mayall himself…

PETER GREEN’S FLEETWOOD MAC

When Blue Horizon boss Mike Vernon arrived at the studio in 1966 to produce John Mayall‘s second Bluesbreakers album ‘Hard Road’, he noticed a new amp and no sign of Eric Clapton. Vernon was shocked that ‘God’ was not in the band, but Mayall said, “Don’t worry, we’ve got somebody better!” They were big boots…