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It’s arguable that the Ed Sullivan Variety Show did more for popular music than any other TV program. Introduced America to the Beatles, to Elvis Presley. That show gave most people their first taste of Rock n’ Roll. But it wasn’t Elvis who did it…

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…

This is the latest installment of our weekly series The Language of the Blues, in which author and rock musician…

It was 1961. The very beginning of the folk blues revival. An up and comin’ young folk singer recorded a track for his debut album called “Fixin’ to Die”…

The “Father of the Blues” W.C. Handy claims he was at a train station in 1903 when he first heard the long, low sound of a knife on steel strings. According to myth, Handy hearing that slide guitar was the official birth of the blues. Makes sense. There are more 78s and 45s dedicated to stations, railways and locomotives than can ever be counted…

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In a town known worldwide for its music, Toussaint’s name was among the rarified cultural bastions of the city, along with James Booker, Professor Longhair, Dr. John and Louis Armstrong.

This is the latest installment of our weekly series The Language of the Blues, in which author and rock musician…

It’s 1981. And a synthpop duo called Soft Cell isn’t doing so well. They’ve got one last chance to make a hit before their label kicks ‘em to the curb. So they took one final shot with a version of an old soul song—Tainted Love…

It is a too common tale that legendary artists have had to wait years or decades to get a fraction of what they’re owed. The story of “The Father of Rock n Roll”; Arthur Big Boy Crudup is the king of those stories.