Chicago | All About Blues Music

CAREY BELL

Carey Bell was a Blues harp master whose technique incorporated the wild flares of Little Walter and the intricate melodic style of Big Walter ‘Shakey’ Horton. His long career as a side-man has been punctuated by solo albums and spells as a band-leader, sometimes sharing the stage with his son, the guitarist Lurie Bell. Born…

DAVE MYERS

Dave played his guitar alongside his harp and guitar playing brother Louis in The Aces, one of the most influential backing bands in the classic period of Chicago Blues. The brothers came from Mississippi, where they had played local dates with Robert Nighthawk, Sonny Boy Williamson II and Memphis Minnie. They moved to the Windy…

LEFT HAND FRANK

A seriously under-rated guitarist and singer, Frank Craig made a career as a sideman in lots of Chicago bands between the mid-50s and the late 70s. Born in the heart of the Delta, Frank went to Chicago as a teenager, where he played his guitar southpaw and strung upside down. He would perform outside the…

JOHN LEE ‘Sonny Boy’ WILLIAMSON

There were two men who used the name Sonny Boy Williamson, and both made a huge contribution to the Blues. One was an open-hearted genial fellow who made the harp a fixture in Chicago Blues bands, and died very young; the other was a utter rogue, whose juke-joint skills brought the sound of the Mississippi…

KOKO TAYLOR

In 1962, Cora Walton was spotted in a Chicago club by Willie Dixon as she sang with her husband, ‘Pops’ Taylor. When he put Buddy Guy’s guitar behind her on his song ‘Wang Dang Doodle’, a million selling hit on the Chess label was the result, and ‘Koko Taylor’ had arrived on the scene. Her…

J MAYO WILLIAMS

Brown University Graduate J Mayo ‘Ink’ Williams is the only man to be inducted into both the National Football Hall of Fame and the Blues Hall of Fame. As well as being one of the first Black pro-footballers, playing for a Chicago team in the first season of the NFL, he is also remembered as…

ALBERT AMMONS

Chicago pianist Albert performed at New York’s Carnegie Hall in the 1938 ‘From Spirituals to Swing’ Concert. This event led directly to the ‘Boogie-Woogie Craze’ that lasted beyond WWII and spread this up-tempo piano Blues all over the world. Along with Meade ‘Lux’ Lewis and Pete Johnson, both of whom also played at that show,…

SNOOKY PRYOR

Mississippi born James Pryor learned to play Blues harp from listening to records, despite the objections of his devout father. During Military service, Snooky played bugle, and after blowing his ‘calls’ through the PA at his camp, he would blow his harp too, making him an early exponent of ‘electric harp’. Snooky was discharged from…

SUNNYLAND SLIM

Albert Luandrew began pounding the keyboard in Delta juke-joints in the 20s, and when he moved to Memphis and recorded ‘Sunnyland Train’ in 1928, he got a new Blues name. He made the journey to Chicago, where he became a session pianist and bandleader, recording at least 250 tracks. Slim had a heavy left hand…

JAMES WHEELER

This Georgia Blues guitarist made it in Chicago where, after backing Billy Boy Arnold for while, he formed his own band The Jaguars, who backed BB King, Millie Jackson and Otis Clay. When they disbanded, James toured with Clay for three more years, and after a period of retirement he joined Otis Rush for another…