Updated: September 14, 2021. Electric blues and rock guitar heroes … do they still exist, or are they relics of the past, now most possible note combinations and innovations have long been worked out? That’s not a question I feel I’m qualified to comment on, subjectivity being the main influence on who your top rock and…

One of the greatest rock bands of all time, not to mention America’s most famous music magazine, as many know, both took their names from a song written and recorded in 1950 by blues icon Muddy Waters. The song of course was ‘Rollin’ Stone’. The band was the Rolling Stones and the magazine, Rolling Stone. On…

American Thunder: How rock ‘n’ roll evolved. Part One. The first thunderous notes of the oldest of rock ‘n’ roll’s forerunners were hammered out by black musicians, on second-hand, often second-rate pianos called tin pans, in north-easternTexas, sometime around 1872. This new 1870s variety of popular piano music was just one of the musical strains that would…

“Wanna fight about it”, says Charlie Patton in the video below. Charlie’s singing his 1929 track, A Spoonful Blues. While he sounds as rough and tough as old boots, in reality Charlie Patton was a slight little guy, about the size of a jockey, albeit a jockey with a mighty voice. Now, many call Charlie…

Oh, the irony! White evangelists peddled drugs and booze, as black families feared the blues. When it comes to blues, booze, drugs and religion, this is a world laced with irony. In the early days of blues, black families, steeped in a century of Christianity, worried sick about sons, daughters and grandchildren playing what they…