Juke Boy,The Lone Cat, Stovepipe and The Good Doctor
Considering the importance of the one man band in the Blues lexicon, it is remarkable how few of them ever…
Paris Blues
Since the early 1920s Paris had become a bolt-hole for black American musicians. During the First World War black U.S.…
Those Wild Women Who Sing The Blues
Listening to those self-assured early female blues singers, I’m always impressed by the strength of character, confidence and self-assuredness at…
Lone Star State Blues
The origins of Texas Blues go back to the early 1900s when a veritable army of the unemployed came to…
Those Jumpin’ Blues
I was seventeen years old, as fed up with school as it was with me, impatiently awaiting my call-up to…
Blues Girls With Attitude
One afternoon back in 1973, I took an unexpected telephone call. It was Victoria Spivey. Considering that we had only…
Standing On The Corner of 12th Street and Vine
Kansas City, Missouri stands at the crossroads where blues and jazz meet. From the wild and wide-open days of the…
Detroit Black Bottom
Black Bottom was a predominantly black neighbourhood in Detroit, Michigan. A lot of folk wrongly believe that it got its…
Beale Street Blues
From the early 1900s, musicians from the nearby state of Mississippi made their way to Memphis, Tennessee, attracted by the…
Those Mississippi Hill Country Blues
Whereas Mississippi Delta Blues is a well-known and recognisable form of the music, there is a lesser-known style that might…