Vocals | All About Blues Music

CECIL GANT

Cecil Gant had a massive hit in 1944 with ‘I Wonder’, which went to No.1 in the Billboard R&B charts and made No.20 in the Hot 100. A hard rocking boogie-woogie pianist with a voice that worked well with a Blues ballad, Cecil had his big hit while he was in the Army and his…

JOHNNY ‘Guitar’ WATSON

Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson was a flamboyant Blues guitarist with a distinctive style, who was a major influence on West Coast Blues and beyond. Always a showman, Johnny moved seamlessly from early jump-blues to 60s Blues-rock, soul, funk and even rap, and his work is often sampled in hip-hop tunes. What was constant in this ever-changing…

SAM CHATMON

When Sam Chatmon was ‘re-discovered’ during the Folk/Blues revival around 1960, musicologists found they had a true original on their hands. Sporting a wild grey beard, Sam had been playing and singing since he was a child, and his repertoire of old Blues, especially the raunchy songs that celebrated the Delta Blues in their heyday,…

BUSTER BROWN

This Georgia-born singer and harp player had a wild, animated style with whoops and shrieks borrowed from Sonny Terry. Someone said he played harp like he was falling off a cliff! Buster was well into his forties when Fire Records brought him to New York to record ‘Fanny Mae’ in 1960. It was a big…

Professor Longhair

New Orleans is famous for funky music, and Professor Longhair played a big part in bringing that funky feel to the clubs where he banged out his Afro-Cuban rhythms after WWII. Fats Domino, Huey ‘Piano’ Smith, Dr. John and Allen Toussaint all cite the Professor as a major influence on the characteristic ‘rhumba-boogie’ piano music…

HUEY ‘PIANO’ SMITH

New Orleans pianist Huey specialised in the rocking R&B flavoured boogie-woogie that was so popular in his home-town in the early 50s. He played local clubs in the company of his friend Eddie Jones (Guitar Slim) for about four years, and after session work with Little Richard and Lloyd Price he formed The Clowns in…

SLEEPY JOHN ESTES

Sleepy John Estes was an important and influential re-discovery of the Folk/Blues revival of the early 60s. His guitar work was never more than rudimentary, but his clear piercing voice conveyed his authentic and personal country Blues to a new generation of fans and performers, and his songs live on in the work of many…

‘GEORGIA TOM’ DORSEY

The Rev. Thomas A Dorsey was the founder of the National Convention of Gospel Choirs, composer of ‘Precious Lord’, mentor of Mahalia Jackson and a wonderful singer and pianist in his own right, but as ‘Georgia Tom’, he had a great early career in the Blues. He was a talent-scout, accompanist, arranger and songwriter in…

BLIND WILLIE JOHNSON

Willie Johnson was from Texas, and his haunting slide-guitar playing didn’t slash and rage like some of his Mississippi Delta counterparts, but had a stylish, vocal quality that perfectly complimented his gruff, bass voice. Growing up playing for change on street-corners in East Texas towns, Willie became a Baptist preacher and all his life he…

SNOOKS EAGLIN

‘The Human Jukebox’ Snooks Eaglin was a major figure in post-war New Orleans Blues and R&B circles. From his beginnings as a blind street singer to a long career as a ‘must-see’ artist for visitors to the bars around the French Quarter, to a late series of brilliant albums on the Black Top label where…