John Hammond picked up Jimi Hendrix for his band after Curtis Knight fired Jimi in 1965…

latest offering on the Malaco label is a return to the rhythm & blues and soul that seductively permeated the airwaves decades ago and it is a welcome return indeed.

It seems only fitting that Jeff Jensen would have the last word at the 2014 White Mountain Blues & Boogie Festival…

Homecoming at Hopson’s Commissary and The Shack Up Inn Juke Joint Chapel in Clarksdale, MS – October 12th from 3:00 – 7:30 pm. Suggested Donation $15

The blues is all about gettin’ through tough times. About surviving. Surviving poverty, inequality, and hard labor.

This Week in Blues Past has some big landmarks, with the loss of a Hill Country icon, the opening of a distinctly American hall of fame, the birth of a Texas blues giant a big bootleg recording, and much more!

If you don’t know “Ozark Grunge”, you’re about to.

It was announced this week that Mike Zito would be leaving the seminal blues-steeped Royal Southern Brotherhood. Bart Walker talk about stepping in to try and fill Zito’s larger than life shoes and the big move.

“That’s who I am and what I do. I want to inspire people to keep pushing their way through hard times.” says Jarekus in an extensive, interesting Q&A with the “next big thing” in the blues!

In the early ‘20s a Vaudeville guitar player named George Beauchamp paid a visit to a stringed instrument shop. His complaint: no matter how loud he played, his guitar just couldn’t compete with the rest of the instruments in the orchestra.

So, the owner of that shop, John Dopyera, developed the idea of fitting a guitar body with aluminum cones. Discs of fine-spun aluminum that vibrate to amplify sound. Make the body out of metal, and you’ve got a National guitar.