Marcus Bonfanti

At first glance, Marcus Bonfanti seems to embody the time-honored archetype of the British rock and roll wild man. Raggedly coifed, lazily dressed, blessed with an intense stare that could frighten away a rattlesnake. If he were a few decades older, you could believe he was the love child of Janis Joplin and John Bonham.…

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Jarekus Singleton

Blues guitar iconoclast Jarekus Singleton’s is fast becoming a sensation. His name is being as highly praised as it is difficult to pronounce. As with any fresh voice on the blues scene, an exposure to his music provokes endless curiosity about the story behind the voice. And in Singleton’s case, the story is riddled with…

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Kirk Fletcher

Kirk Fletcher is not the first blues guitar master whose early musical tutelage came through gospel music. But when the eight-year-old Kirk picked up his first guitar in his father’s church, he was – however unwittingly – following a time honored tradition of the blues. For many musicians growing up in the south, gospel music…

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Aynsley Lister

With a propulsive drive that seems to erupt directly from a wounded soul, Aynsley Lister’s scorching guitar work sounds as though it could have come from an itinerant blues master of from ages past eager to escape a life of sharecropping. But as his name would suggest Aynsley is no Delta Bluesman. He’s one of…

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BEN POOLE

If ever a simple Youtube video told you everything you needed to know about a particular up-and coming-artist it is Ben Poole’s unforgettable live rendition of the classic Temptations track “I Know I’m losing You.” Poole’s version announces its sinister mission with a searing riff that cuts as deep as Dennis Edwards’ icy vocals from…

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CAT IRON

William Carradine was born in Garden city LA in 1896, so he was quite an old man when he encountered Fred Ramsay, one of the earliest and most enthusiastic of the young music researchers who travelled the South with their recording equipment, looking for the originators of the Blues. Fred was in Natchez MS in…

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JIMMY THACKERY

There are many spectacular guitar players, using many diverse styles and countless hours are spent debating which is best (a pointless exercise as Kenyan, Columbian, Blue Mountain and Black Ivory are all excellent coffees, and which is ‘best’ is just a matter of taste.) Jimmy Thackery has built a long career on his wide-ranging guitar…

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LAURENCE JONES

“I can’t do an encore- it’s a schoolnight and it’s way past my bed-time!” Baby-faced Laurence Jones might look a bit like a schoolboy, but when he cranks up his Strat, he sounds just like a veteran Blues player and his songwriting has a maturity way beyond his years. With his third album out on…

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JOE WILLIE WILKINS

Joe Willie Wilkins was born to the Blues. His Daddy, Papa Frank Wilkins, was a friend of Charley Patton and he played guitar himself, so it was inevitable that the young kid was going to play too. Although mainly famous for a long career as a side-man who played on many great Blues records in…

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WILLIE WALKER

Piedmont Blues guitar style, with its jaunty folk and ragtime tunes and quick, elaborate fingerpicking formed the backbone of a lot of music that emerged in the late 20th century. Blind Blake and Blind Boy Fuller passed away before WWII but their legacy, and the playing of Blind Willie McTell, Rev. Gary Davis and Brownie…

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