Vocals | All About Blues Music

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…

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…

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…

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…

JOHN PRIMER

The story of the Blues might be summed up by the tale of a kid who sits twanging a ‘diddley bow’ in some rural Delta backwater, who fulfils his dreams by moving to the big city and playing alongside the biggest Blues Legends. Surprisingly, there are still one or two of these characters around, and…

Chantel McGregor

Chantel is a sweet girl’s name, of French origin, which is associated with ‘song’ but an older meaning links it to a mountainous area and means ‘rock’, so the omens are good for Chantel McGregor, because that is just what she does. With her long blonde hair and a taste for evening dresses, it’s hard…

GUITAR SHORTY 1

There has been more than one Blues player called Guitar Shorty, but something they have in common is a talent for showmanship. Jimi Hendrix‘s brother-in-law is still using that name over on the West-coast for his backflipping, flash-guitar stage act, and others may have used it too, but an older Bluesman with an similar ‘larger-than-life’…

AMÉDÉ ARDUIN

The records made by Amédé Arduin in the 30s are at the very heart of the Creole French music of Louisiana. Played by white folks, it is called ‘Cajun’ and played by black folks it is known as ‘Zydeco’, but everyone who hears it knows that it is superb, French-based dance music. Amédé was a…

BILLY BRANCH

The ‘Mississippi Saxophone’ was the name given to the Blues harp when players in post-WWII Chicago, following the lead of Little Walter, started blowing their big, horn-like solos through a microphone. That broad juke-joint sound is alive today, and can be heard in the playing of younger men like Billy Branch, who learned first-hand from…

RICK ESTRIN

The Blues has got to make you smile once in a while, even if it is just to keep from cryin’, but a night out with Little Charlie and the Nightcats is the kind of stimulant that cures most ills, and the medicine has been available for almost forty years. The main ingredient is Rick…