On January 6th in 1973 I took off on a 5 week tour in the company of Homesick James, Snooky ‘Little Bear’ Pryor, Boogie Woogie Red, Lightnin’ Slim, Washboard Willie…

L to R: Billy The Kid Emerson, Jimmy Dawkins, Jim Simpson, Lester Davenport, Little Smokey Smothers, Eddie C.Campbell, Good Rockin’ Charles, Chico Chism. Photo by Jim O’Neal. I met Little…

Picking up from where we left off last week in our quest to find as many blues performers with the name Brown as possible, let’s begin with the ladies. There’s…

Most everyone knows of Charles Brown, the man responsible for the best of all Christmas Songs, “Merry Christmas Baby”, Texas blues giant Clarence Gatemouth Brown and Dallas-born Walter Brown who…

One of the most extraordinary musicians that I ever had the good fortune to work with was Howard McCrary. Equally comfortable singing and playing piano in gospel, blues, jazz, rhythm…

Digging back into the Big Bear archives is always a fascinating and often surprising business. For instance, I just came across the programme for the 5th year of our Birmingham…

One evening in 1974 I had a totally unexpected – and most welcome – phone call. It was Victoria Spivey, who told me that she had heard from other blues…

Cousin Joe from New Orleans must be one of the most fondly remembered of all the American bluesmen we toured and recorded. Musicians, promoters, journalists and fans who saw him…

If there was an award for the most flamboyant, outrageous, eccentric and downright exciting blues singer and guitarist, then there’s little doubt that Guitar Slim would be a contender. Entering…

Robert Lee Chick Willis was born in Cabaniss, Monroe County, Georgia on September 24, 1934. His career as a singer kicked off when, in 1956, he won the talent show…