Author: C.C. Rider

Remember this name if you don’t know it already: Al Green. The Reverend Al Green to you. Cause you know this sound. It’s a sound like no other—his voice…

What you’re hearin’ right there is one of the very first songs recorded at Sun Studios. But that incredible, aching sound is none other than Big Walter “Shakey” Horton…

This is the latest from The Bluesmobile’s C.C. Rider, who spends her life venerating the founding fathers of the blues. She’s walked the crooked highways of this singing country to resurrect the voices of the past. With the dirt of the Delta on her hands, she sleeps in the shadow of the giants on whose shoulders popular music now stands. April Fools As long as there’ve been songs there’s been fools to sing ‘em and fools to sing about in ‘em. And you know all the foolin’s usually on account of love and lovin’. Sometimes you’re crazy in love, and you’re feelin’ like the fool. Tina…

He was born Major Merriweather in Atlanta, Georgia. By the time he migrated to the Motor City in 1924, he was already a talented self-taught pianist…

When young sportswriter and photographer Dick Waterman discovered the man known as Son House on a porch in Rochester, New York in 1964, he had no idea what he would find…

This is the latest from The Bluesmobile’s C.C. Rider, who spends her life venerating the founding fathers of the blues. She’s walked the crooked highways of this singing country to resurrect the voices of the past. With the dirt of the Delta on her hands, she sleeps in the shadow of the giants on whose shoulders popular music now stands. Wilson Pickett (March 18, 1941 – January 19, 2006) Wilson Pickett. An Alabama gospel singer who climbed the charts and altered the course of music history. You know the song Mustang Sally? He’s the one that made Sally’s ride so famous. Wilson hit it big…

Green is certainly not the first color that comes to mind when you think about the blues. But you wouldn’t be so crazy if you did…

Born in Louisiana, Lloyd Price made a killing from the start. His very first recording for Specialty Records in 1952 became an instant hit. Piano intro courtesy of another New Orleans treasure, Fats Domino. Thanks to “Lawdy Miss Clawdy,” Price was an r&b superstar before he could even vote. And the hits kept coming…

You might say Irma Thomas had a lot to sing about. She was born Irma Lee in Pontchatoula, Louisiana. She went to school and sang in a gospel quartet at her local church. Then she got pregnant, married, pregnant again and divorced. She remarried and gave birth to two more children. Oh, and this is all by the time she’s 19…

If you’re lucky enough to travel to Clarksdale, Mississippi, you’ll see some super cool, super weird guitars hanging around. They’re made of car parts, wood salvage, glass and glue, and they’re painted up beautifully. These super individual axes are the work of Clarksdale’s own treasure, Super Chikan…