Vocals | All About Blues Music

BIG JOE WILLIAMS

Big Joe Williams was a classic Mississippi Delta Bluesman. This gruff voiced, awkward fellow with his nine-string guitar had played in jug-bands and minstrel shows; he had wandered all over the South ‘riding the blinds’ as a hobo; played for tips on street-corners and juke-joints and then, when he moved to Chicago, wrote some songs that…

PINK ANDERSON

Back at the start of the 20th Century, when the original Blues music was born out of the hard life of rural African-American workers, travelling shows, circuses, tent-show revues and ‘medicine shows’ were a common sight in the South. They all had musicians as part of their entertainment, and these ‘wandering songsters’ spread the new…

IVORY JOE HUNTER

Ivory Joe Hunter (his full given name) was playing piano and developing his velvet voice around Beaumont Texas when he was recorded as a teenager for the Library of Congress in 1933. When he moved to Oakland CA. in 1942, he set up his own Ivory Records and his ‘Blues at Sunrise’ was a national…

RICE MILLER, SONNY BOY WILLIAMSON II

The man we know as ‘Sonny Boy Williamson II’, or Rice Miller, was born somewhere in Mississippi in 1899 (or 1897, or 1910 although newer sources say 1912) and his real name was Aleck (or Willie) Miller (or possibly Ford). Deception came easily to this man, so stories he told about his own past cannot…

SISTER ROSETTA THARPE

Sister Rosetta was a sanctified Gospel singer who caused consternation among the flock by appearing in theatres and nightclubs, singing the Blues. She was a glorious sight to behold in her smart dresses and high heels as she toted her electric guitar like a Tommy-gun, spattering Blues licks around her audience like red-hot bullets. Rosetta…

SCRAPPER BLACKWELL

Scrapper Blackwell was one of the early Blues guitarists whose jazz-based, single-note style was to prove hugely influential. Like his contemporary Lonnie Johnson, Scrapper’s powerful phrasing on his acoustic guitar showed the way for later electric blues guitarists to express themselves. He also wrote some classic Blues tunes and, with his piano-playing partner Leroy Carr,…

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…

DUKE ROBILLARD

In 1967 Duke formed the Roomful of Blues, the New England outfit that has become an institution that survives into the present. Guitarist Duke formed the band with pianist Al Copley to play Blues and jazz flavoured R&B and their driving horn section made them a thrilling live act. A decade of playing bars and…

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…

CUB KODA

Singer, guitarist, producer and DJ, Michael ‘Cub’ Koda is perhaps best known as a record collector, writer and critic. His work editing the All Music Guide, his journalism, reviews and album notes made his reputation for clear writing and thoughtful criticism. Cub’s music career reached it’s height when his band Brownsville Station took his song…