Updated 31 May 2016 Global underpants legend: David Beckham   What does global underpants icon and ex-England soccer star, David Beckham, have in common with the mysterious 1930s Delta blues legend, Robert Johnson? Answer: London’s East End suburb of Leytonstone in the UK. To be more precise, Leytonstone was where David Beckham was born in 1975 and where…

Updated 31 May 2016 The latest statistics gathered by Prof. Dianna Kenny Researching my books ‘America’s Gift’ and ‘How Blues Evolved’, I naturally became aware of how many early blues musicians died well before their time. I was therefore surprised to read press reports of a new study claiming that old blues pioneers were far less likely…

Updated 1 June 2016. Seasick Steve Describing Oakland-born Californian Steve Wold as a national treasure in the UK might be over-egging the pudding a bit; but for many British rock and pop fans, the 74-year-old American guitarist is certainly a blues icon. Steve first sprang to prominence aged 65 on Jools Holland’s New Year’s Eve BBC TV rock music…

 Updated 1 June 2016 The internationally acclaimed concert pianist, Percy Grainer Down Under this week, I visited Melbourne University’s Percy Grainger Museum. You’ve probably never heard of Percy Grainger, an Australian, but he was one of the more interesting composers that ever lived. Born in Melbourne in 1882, Grainger was an internationally-famous concert pianist, musical maverick and one of…

UPDATED JUNE 28 2016 The Bloody Nerve’s Stacey Blood, left, and Laurie Ann Layne What a bloody terrible year 2014 was for the Nashville-based blues-rock duo, The Bloody Nerve. The home of guitarist Stacey Blood and singer Laurie Ann Lyne, their possessions and the Nerve’s carefully-constructed recording studio were all totally destroyed by fire. And…