Vocals | All About Blues Music

WHISTLIN’ ALEX MOORE

Whistlin’ Alex Moore was an eccentric Texas pianist whose career stretched from the early 20s into the late 80s. His archaic playing style incorporated elements of ragtime, barrelhouse and ‘stride’ patterns, and his talent for endless improvisation, spur-of-the-moment diversions and wild, Thelonius Monk-like spatterings of ‘blue-notes’ spoke of an inventive man whose main job was…

KEB MO’

Keb Mo’s guitar style is firmly rooted in the Delta, his voice has an authentic Blues tone, and his songwriting speaks to modern concerns so, like his contemporaries Eric Bibb and Guy Davis, his work shows that the Blues is ‘alive and kicking’ in a form that would not sound out of place ninety years…

HOUSTON STACKHOUSE

Houston Stackhouse was a Delta slide-guitarist who would have been much more well known as a Bluesman if he had been prepared to play outside his native region. He did not record until late in his career, but he accompanied many of the great Delta players of his day, especially his cousin Robert Nighthawk. Houston…

WILLIE KENT

Willie Kent was a Chicago bass man with deep roots in the Delta, and his solid style, his strong voice, and his disciplined backing musicians made his Blues sound heartfelt and convincing without ever being flashy. With his tight, regular band providing the perfect backdrop, his passionate and committed vocals told of a man who…

BILLY BOY ARNOLD

Chicago harp player Billy Boy learned from the best: legend has it that the kid knocked on John Lee ‘Sonny Boy’ Williamson‘s door and asked him how he played the harp. The patrician Sonny Boy gave the 13-year-old some lessons, but that tutoring was cut short when the maestro was murdered soon afterwards. Billy Boy…

LEFTY DIZZ

The History of the Blues is littered with wild characters like Charley Patton, Little Walter and Guitar Slim, but Lefty Dizz was one of the wildest, despite being little known outside Chicago. A fixture on the club scene from the mid-60s until the early 90s, Lefty and his band Shock Treatment pulled every trick in…

AL ‘Blind Owl’ WILSON

Al Wilson played harp and guitar for the great white American Blues band, Canned Heat, from it’s formation in 1965 to his untimely death in 1970. As an instrumentalist, singer and lyricist, he was a cornerstone of the band; as a student of the Blues, he was a respected researcher who was part of a…

BREWER PHILLIPS

Brewer Phillips is best remembered as a driving force behind Hound Dog Taylor’s Houserockers. Alongside his loud long-time drumming partner Ted Harvey, Brewer would keep a bass-line pounding on his guitar using a thumb-pick, while using his fingers to strum the heavy juke-joint boogies of his native Mississippi hill country. This potent rhythm section allowed…

ROY BUCHANAN

‘The Best Unknown Guitarist in the World’ was a 1971 TV documentary about Roy Buchanan. Playing his trademark Fender, which he first picked up at the age of 13, Roy was a unique-sounding session guitarist, who apparently turned down a spot in The Rolling Stones, and went on to record some great Blues-rock albums before…

SYLVESTER WEAVER

Sylvester Weaver was the first man to record a Blues guitar instrumental, and his recordings with Sara Martin in 1923 were the first songs where a Blues singer was accompanied by a single guitar. Sylvester’s work on guitar and banjo were very influential in all kinds of Blues and Country music, but at the age…