Road stories, blues history, music, and behind the scenes.
Here’s some harmonica news that made my week: Nine Below Zero will celebrate 50 years on the road in 2027, and part of the party will be just the two founders, Dennis…
Read moreAfter writing about “Juke” here on the Journal, I owed you another record that, for me, sits on the same shelf for harp players: “Easy,” by Big Walter Horton. If “Juke” put…
Read moreToday, October 24, is Sonny Terry’s birthday. He was the harmonica player who could make the harp sound like a train, a pack of hunting dogs and a field holler all at…
Read moreThis harmonica record reached me through John Sacksteder’s review in Blues Blast Magazine, published on the 12th: “Pure Blues,” by Twin Cities harp player Paul Barry. It’s his third album, self-released in…
Read moreBilly Branch turned 75 on October 3, and ten days later he sat down for a long conversation with Brant Buckley, published by American Blues Scene. I read it slowly, because few…
Read moreLast Friday, October 9, Sherman Holmes put out a new album, “One Step Ahead of the Blues”, on Nola Blue Records. I first read about it in Sara Bao’s review in the…
Read moreEvery blues harmonica player runs into certain songs sooner or later, almost like a rite of passage. For harp players, that song is Little Walter’s “Juke”. I wanted to give today’s Journal…
Read moreToday, September 16, is the birthday of one of the last living giants of Chicago blues harmonica: Billy Boy Arnold turns 91. William “Billy Boy” Arnold was born in Chicago in 1935,…
Read moreToday, September 15, is (probably) the birthday of one of the most forgotten names in blues harmonica history: Rhythm Willie. William Hood — that was the real name behind the nickname —…
Read more