Guitar | All About Blues Music

JIMI HENDRIX

Jimi Hendrix was a Rock God. Fantastically talented and supremely self-confident, his iconic poster on a zillion bedroom walls, Jimi invented new sounds for the electric guitar and used them to illustrate his passionate songs in a spectacular career. Jimi took the music industry by storm when he arrived in London in 1966, made a…

BARBECUE BOB

The extrovert Bob Hicks was one of Atlanta’s most popular Bluesmen in the 20s. His gruff voice and 12-string bottleneck style got him a recording contract when a Columbia scout went to a Barbecue where Bob would cook, serve and sing! His ‘Barbecue Blues’ and ‘Going Up the Country’ were among his hit records and…

CLARENCE ‘GATEMOUTH’ BROWN

With its wide range of influences, from French cajun to Irish folk, and Scandinavian ‘shilling songs’ to polkas, as well as the obvious African, Caribbean and country roots, Texas Blues comes up with some colourful and innovative artists, but guitar and fiddle player Clarence was one of the finest. Playing harp and drums, as well…

LITTLE MILTON

Always known as Little Milton, Mississippi singer and guitarist Milton Campbell walked the Soul/Blues borderline over a long career, but his broad spread of material may have counted against him, as he was not an easy man to pin down to a single genre. He started off playing guitar in Delta juke joints around his…

TOMMY JOHNSON

The Dockery Plantation, just a few miles from Clarksdale Mississippi, was home to the giants of early Delta Blues. The folk music played by the country people there formed the origins of The Blues, and it spread out from that district all over The South, all over the country and all over the world. Tommy…

BOBBY PARKER

Bobby Parker was a great Blues all-rounder, with a superb voice, a stinging guitar style and a talent for songwriting. His big 1961 hit, ‘Watch Your Step’ influenced Little Milton, Santana and even The Beatles, leading to a big following in Europe. Bobby was a long-term resident of Washington DC, and a popular act on…

LUTHER ‘SNAKE BOY’ JOHNSON

There are no less than THREE unrelated Luther Johnsons that play guitar and sing the Blues, and all of them were born in the South around the same time. Luther ‘Snake Boy’ Johnson was also known as ‘Georgia Boy’, referring to his home-town of Davisboro; Luther ‘Guitar Junior’ Johnson hails from Itta Bena MS, and…

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…

CHARLIE BURSE

Charlie Burse was a wild-living, hard-drinking, bad-tempered man whose redeeming feature was an extraordinary skill on guitar, banjo, mandolin and ukelele, the latter giving rise to his stage-name, the ‘Uke Kid’. It was his good fortune to meet up with the level-headed, business-minded multi-instrumentalist Will Shade, who managed and played with his Memphis Jug Band.…

ARTHUR’ BIG BOY’ CRUDUP

Arthur ‘Big Boy’ Crudup was a powerful and dynamic singer who wrote, ‘That’s Alright Mama’, the song which demolished the racist idea that music had a colour. His reward was small and late arriving, but Arthur’s singing and songwriting talents deserve to be much more than a footnote to the Story of the Blues. Born…