Singer | All About Blues Music

‘St LOUIS JIMMY’ ODEN

An early Blues pianist with a dry, laconic vocal style, ‘St. Louis Jimmy’ Oden is remembered now more for his songwriting talents than for his records. ‘Goin’ Down Slow’ has been a classic, drag-out Blues piano standard for generations, and Muddy Waters recorded several of Jimmy’s tunes in the 50s. James Burke Oden was born…

OTTILIE PATTERSON

Jazz fans at Chris Barber’s concerts in 1955 were surprised when a tiny, slim girl stepped up to the mic, but when she let loose with her big, soulful Blues voice, they knew they were in the presence of a unique talent. A few years later, patrons of some Chicago South-side Blues clubs had the…

FREDDIE SPRUELL

Often cited as the first Delta Bluesman to make a record, Freddie Spruell cut his ‘Milk Cow Blues’ c/w ‘Muddy Water Blues’ on June 25th 1926 in Chicago. After a brief career with the Okeh label, ‘Papa Freddie’ or ‘Mr. Freddie’ made several more records in 1935 for Bluebird, but his total output came to…

HATTIE McDANIEL

There were many pioneers of racial equality in 20th Century America, but few made breakthroughs in as many areas as Hattie McDaniel. She was the first African American to win an Oscar; probably the first to sing on radio; the first to take the lead rôle in a radio series; first to have two ‘stars’…

JOE COCKER

Joe Cocker’s rough, testosterone-soaked Soul voice gave us some iconic records in the late 60s and early 70s. Standing at the mic, thrashing and twitching with seemingly uncontrollable passion, his vocals have a rare and beautiful emotional resonance which fills every song he sings, whether a heart-rending ballad, a high-energy rocker or a funky R&B…

LARRY DALE

Larry Dale was a Texan guitarist and singer who played some swinging electric Blues in New York in the 50s; played on some seminal records; had a brief career as a bandleader, and was still active in Harlem in the 1990s. Ennis Lowery was Larry’s original name, and he was born in Hungerford Texas in…

LARRY WILLIAMS

Larry Williams was a great singer, pianist, producer and songwriter, who had long and fruitful partnerships with both Little Richard and Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson. However, he also had a long term drug problem, and he died from gunshot wounds in LA at the age of 44. Born in New Orleans in 1935, Lawrence Eugene ‘Larry’…

PAPA CHARLIE JACKSON

Papa Charlie Jackson’s ‘Lawdy, Lawdy Blues’ was the first commercially successful Blues song recorded by a man. In an age when ‘Race Music‘ was a new phenomenon, dozens of Blues Divas were recording for the major companies, but the idea of a black man singing about the hardships of his life was a politically sensitive…

‘SMOKEY’ HOGG

‘Smokey’ Hogg was an old-school Texas Blues guitarist and pianist who moved to the West-coast after WWII and had a couple of good R&B chart hits with a smooth piano Blues sound, alongside his dozens of country-style, guitar based records. His down-home delivery and eccentric sense of timing sounded old-fashioned in an era of frenetic…

LONESOME SUNDOWN

Lonesome Sundown was given his Blues name by Jay Miller, the legendary producer at Excello Records who also gave new names to Lightnin’ Slim, Lazy Lester and many more. Lonesome’s particular brand of ‘swamp Blues’ had strong echoes of the hard-edged sound of Chicago Blues rather than the usual one-chord boogies or the more lyrical…