Blues Music Artists

Rob Mason

Rob Mason spoke to All About Blues Music about his early meetings with some of the great blues musicians. Rob is a British Blues Harp player who has been around since the sixties. He met some of the greatest American Blues legends when they came to play in Britain. The major tours played the big…

MISSISSIPPI FRED McDOWELL

Fred McDowell was an enigma. A modest, self-effacing man who didn’t even own a guitar until he was 37 years old, and who worked as a farmer until he was over 60, Fred was a prodigious virtuoso of the bottleneck guitar. His command of the expressive ‘vocal’ quality of his playing, with it’s slides and…

T-BONE WALKER

T-Bone Walker has a good claim to be the first guitar hero. He put out the first electric Blues record and his eloquent phrasing and masterful command of this new instrument made him the prototype for millions that followed, even if they had never heard of him! He was a powerful singer and entertainer too:…

LIGHTNIN’ HOPKINS

Sam ‘Lightnin’ Hopkins was a master stylist of Blues guitar, who had an engaging talent for improvising humorous lyrics to his vast repertoire of songs. His complex guitar work had the flavour of early Texas Blues styles, and although his voice was dry and scratchy, his songs and the spontaneous stories he told at his…

JOHNNY OTIS

Few people have contributed more to R&B than Johnny Otis. All round musician, bandleader, DJ, promoter, talent scout, song-writer, label owner and producer, he found time to become a TV host, preacher, politician, author and organic farmer. He also crossed the colour-line at a time when that was very rare. The ambitious Greek teenager from…

STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN

In the early 80’s, the Blues had dropped from popular view again, but nobody did more to pick it up and shove it in people’s faces than Stevie Ray Vaughan. His bold, fiery leadership of power trio Double Trouble invited comparison with Hendrix, but his deep empathy for the Blues made guitar heroes and old-school…

ETTA JAMES

Etta James was a feisty lady with a sultry and passionate voice equally at home with R&B dance tunes and soulful ballads. Her striking good looks, with almond eyes and short blonde hair, made her a publicists dream, even though she had enough personal problems in her long career to give any manager screaming nightmares.…

CHUCK BERRY

Chuck Berry is a pioneer of rock and roll, who crossed the colour line and showed that this powerful new blast of youth culture had its roots deep in black music. His distinctive boogie-woogie flavoured double-string guitar riffs, charismatic ‘duckwalking’ stage act and witty lyrics showed young people all over the world that rock and…

SON HOUSE

When Son House was ‘rediscovered’ in 1964, he was a prized example of what the Folk/Blues revival fans had been searching for. The power and conviction of this old man as he slashed down on his battered resonator guitar, rolled back his eyes and gave out a big lungful of his Blues, left no doubt…

HOWLIN’ WOLF

Howlin’ Wolf was a scary man on stage. Six foot three and weighing over three hundred pounds, he would jump around, throw himself on the floor, twitch like he was having an epileptic fit and generally act as if he was in the grip of furious demons. His deep bass voice sounded like sandpaper on…