Arguably the instrumental bridge to rock and roll music, the primal, repetitive urgency of what’s known as ‘the Bo Diddley beat’ is the blues condensed to its rhythmic essence. That
Chuck Berry isn’t usually considered a blues artist, but his genius actually lies in the means by which he modified elements of the genre into a style immediately recognizable as
Considered to be the leading postwar Chicago blues pianist, Otis Spann played on records by Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, while his own records
In retrospect, the Grateful Dead’s 1979 recruitment of the late Brent Mydland was the first in a series of purposeful steps the group took to reconfigure its band chemistry in
While Johnnie Johnson was the leader of guitarist Albert King’s rhythm section (during the blues icon’s most prolific and musically significant period) and also served as one of the cornerstones
No figure has had a more profound effect on blues music than Robert Johnson. A grand(iose) statement, to be sure, but given the rarity of film footage and photographs of
In deserved recognition of the seminal Southern band’s final concert a decade ago, The Allman Brothers Band: Live—Beacon Theatre New York City 10-28-14 has been issued digitally and as a set of
Hearing Ballad of Easy Rider from a fifty-five-year perspective no doubt evokes the same reaction as it did at its original release: ‘This doesn’t sound like the Byrds!?!’ And indeed, with the
With over a half-century retrospect, it’s altogether mind-boggling that Live/Dead is the first of what would subsequently become a plethora of concert recordings by The Grateful Dead. And, in the density of
In a performance just shy of three and a half-minutes, Junior Wells fully demonstrates why he’s held in such high regard as a progenitor of blues music at its most stylish and deeply
