The Chuck Berry-style guitarist six years before Chuck Berry

The Chuck Berry-style guitarist six years before Chuck Berry

BLUESMUSE22. TAKE A LISTEN ON THE LINK BELOW Updated and reformatted March 31st 2017 Chuck Berry (God bless him) is one of the finest lyricists known to rock & roll. Chuck also plays inimitable, dynamic, guitar-driven old-school rhythm & blues. Except Chuck’s style isn’t quite that inimitable. That’s because, in April 1949, sounding very much like the Chuck Berry…

Why Lonnie Johnson was the most influential blues guitarist of all

Why Lonnie Johnson was the most influential blues guitarist of all

“He (Lonnie) certainly had a presence: the blog points are well considered. Sadly, his grace and subtlety marginalized him.” @steviegurr May 19, 2015, California. “Thank you, Paul. I enjoyed reading the writing on Lonnie Johnson you wrote. I agree he and Big Bill get overlooked.” bryanhimes @bryanhimes June 20, 2013. While I can’t agree with the blues historians…

This 16-year old white kid wrote the book on blues guitar

Before Muddy (Waters), before Buddy (Guy), before even Howlin’ Wolf, there was a white kid from Chicago’s outer suburbs recording electric blues guitar in the Windy City. His name was George Barnes and he was almost certainly the second guitarist ever to record electric blues commercially. And judging from the number of instruction manuals he brought out in…

The English woman who sang the blues in 1799.

The English woman who sang the blues in 1799.

BLUESMUSE18 Johann Graupner The world’s first public performance of African-American-influenced music most probably occurred at the Federal Street Theatre, Boston, in 1799, but not quite in the manner the time-worn myth or Wikipedia portrays.  According to popular legend, one of the era’s leading classical musicians, the German oboist, Johann Christian Gottlieb Graupner, is said to…