Eric Clapton
Submitted: 03/15/2010 12:53 PM

The weight of becoming a guitar god in the '60s never seemed to slow Clapton's creativity, though he has had some close calls while overcoming addiction and other tragedies. Originally lauded for his lightning-fast guitar licks, it's arguably Clapton's soulful blues playing that merits the "Clapton is God" refrain. After performing in a slew of influential and certifiably Classic Rock bands in the '60s -- and chumming around with guitar greats like Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, and John McLaughlin -- Clapton launched a successful, provocative solo career, quickly finding his own voice as a singer and ballad writer. Borrowing heavily from Freddie King, Clapton's playing continues to find new styles worthy of a blues injection: he's recorded R&B crossover hits, unplugged singer-songwriter fare, and even incognito trip-hop projects (as x-sample). - Jessy Terry

Ray Charles
Submitted: 03/12/2010 01:35 PM

Heaven and earth battle it out in the music of Ray Charles, who combined gospel with the best of secular music and helped give birth to soul, rock, and hard bop. His early work showed the silky influences of the Nat "King" Cole trio and the piano blues great Charles Brown. Charles combined their sophisticated styles with R&B and gritty gospel to create his signature sound: hard, snappy piano combined with exquisite vocals that fall somewhere between a preacher gone bad and a yearning romantic balladeer. Charles absorbed styles like a sponge: big band jazz, country and pop were all added to his musical arsenal, and he built up a musical empire that kept him in the public eye for decades up until his untimely death, at the age of 73, in June 2004. Just prior to his passing, Charles cut his first duets record with such fans as Norah Jones, Willie Nelson, and Elton John, which illustrates a multi-generational sampling of the artists who list him as a prime influence. An American institution, Ray Charles' rendition of "Georgia on My Mind" has even become that state's anthem. If only the other 49 states could be as fortunate. - Nick Dedina

Stevie Ray Vaughan
Submitted: 03/15/2010 12:53 PM

The loss of Stevie Ray Vaughan in a 1990 helicopter crash was a rock (and blues) death on par with the loss of Jimi Hendrix and Otis Redding, so deeply was the public moved. Vaughan had been the catalyst for a massive blues revival in the 1980s, with a distinctive guitar tone and a string of singles that managed to cross over to mainstream rock radio. This was somewhat detrimental to his image, as Vaughan was at heart a pure blues guitarist, and his mainstream success did more to damage any authenticity he might have enjoyed as an obscure axeman, especially with purist blues fans. But in the years since his death Vaughan's music has come to represent a pinnacle of Texas or Modern Blues, and no longer seems like the call to arms for beer-swollen George Thorogood fans that it did at the height of his popularity. All his early studio albums are worth checking out (they're certainly better than Robert Cray's), but the real fun begins with Vaughan's live recordings, on which he repeatedly goes wholly over the top. - Mike McGuirk

Bonnie Raitt
Submitted: 03/15/2010 12:53 PM

Bonnie Raitt's mellifluous voice, accomplished guitar playing and classic catalog of blues, folk, R&B, and pop songs have made her one of the most acclaimed artists of her generation. Though she made her debut in in 1971, it was not until 1989's Nick of Time and 1991's Luck of the Draw that Raitt achieved the enormous commercial success fans and critics had been predicting for decades.

The daughter of Broadway star John Raitt, Bonnie Raitt began playing guitar at age 12 and was immediately attracted to the blues. In 1967 she left her L.A. home to enter Radcliffe, but dropped out after two years and began playing the local folk and blues clubs. Dick Waterman, longtime blues aficionado and manager, signed her, and soon she was performing with Howlin' Wolf, Sippie Wallace, Mississippi Fred McDowell, and other blues legends. Her reputation in Boston and Philadelphia led to a record contract with Warner Brothers.

Raitt's early albums were critically lauded for her singing and guitar playing (she is one of the few women who play bottleneck) as well as her choice of material, which often included blues as well as pop and folk songs. Most of Raitt's repertoire consists of covers, and she has gone out of her way to credit her sources, often touring with them as opening acts. Her sixth album, Sweet Forgiveness (Number 25, 1977), went gold and yielded a hit cover version of Del Shannon's "Runaway" (Number 57, 1977). The Glow (featuring her first original tunes since three on Give It Up) (Number 30, 1979) was produced by Peter Asher, but it did not sell as well as its predecessor.

A Quaker, Raitt has played literally hundreds of benefits over the course of her career. She was a founder of M.U.S.E. (Musicians United for Safe Energy), which in September 1979 held a massive concert at Madison Square Garden, with other stars such as Jackson Browne, James Taylor, and the Doobie Brothers. It was later commemorated on a three-LP set. In 1982 she released her eighth LP, Green Light (Number 38, 1982), a harder-rocking effort aided by her backup band, the Bump Band, which included veteran keyboardist Ian MacLagan (of the Faces and the Stones) and Raitt's longtime bassist and tuba-player, Freebo, remained a constant sideman through her various backup bands. They toured with Raitt in mid-1982, greeted by the usual critical acclaim. Her work also appeared on the platinum 1980 Urban Cowboy soundtrack, with the country song "Don't It Make You Wanna Dance."

When Nine Lives (Number 115, 1986) flopped, Raitt lost her deal with Warner Bros. Prince reportedly produced an album's worth of tracks with her, but they were never released. Instead, Raitt reemerged in 1989 on Capitol with her Don Was–produced breakthrough album Nick of Time, which smoothed out her rough bluesy edges yet avoided crass commercialism. It topped the charts, sold 4 million copies, and won an Album of the Year Grammy (one of four awards won by a thunderstruck Raitt at the 1990 gala; one was for her duet with Delbert McClinton, "Good Man, Good Woman").

The pattern held with Luck of the Draw (Number 2, 1991), another Was production, which included the hit singles "Something to Talk About" (Number 5, 1991) and "I Can't Make You Love Me" (Number 18, 1991). It sold over 4 million copies and netted three more Grammys, for Album of the Year, Best Female Rock Vocal, and Best Pop Vocal Performance. Raitt earned another in 1990, for Best Traditional Blues Recording, for "In the Mood," a duet with John Lee Hooker on his album The Healer. Her former label Warner Bros. capitalized on Raitt's high profile by releasing The Bonnie Raitt Collection (Number 61, 1990), which included live duets with Sippie Wallace and John Prine.

In April 1991 Raitt married actor Michael O'Keefe (they divorced in 1999). Raitt also cofounded the Rhythm & Blues Foundation, dedicated to raising awareness and money for influential musical pioneers left impoverished in their old age by unfair record deals and lack of health insurance. Raitt once again found success working with producer Don Was, as 1994's Longing in Their Hearts topped the chart and went platinum shortly after its release; it sold over 2 million copies. It included "Love Sneakin' Up on You" (Number 19, 1994) and "You" (Number 92, 1994). Around this time, Raitt had a hit with "You Got It" (Number 33, 1995) from the film Boys on the Side, and a minor hit with "Rock Steady"(Number 73, 1995), a duet with Bryan Adams. Road Tested (Number 44, 1995) is a live album.

In 1995 Raitt became the first woman guitarist to have a guitar named for her. All royalties from the sale of Fender's Bonnie Raitt Signature Series Stratocaster go to programs to teach inner-city girls to play guitar.

Her next effort, Fundamental (Number 17, 1998), produced by Mitchell Froom and Tchad Blake, was a less polished collection that some viewed as a return to the fine roots- and blues-based work of her earlier, hitless days. Raitt called 1982's Green Light the album's "true predecessor." Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000, Raitt continues to perform for and speak out on a wide range of issues, including nuclear power, reproductive freedom, and the environment. In 2002, Raitt issued Silver Lining (Number 13, 2002) followed by a greatest hits compilation, The Best of Bonnie Raitt on Capitol 1989-2003 in 2003. The self-produced (with Tchad Blake) Souls Alike (Number 19, 2005) followed in 2005. In 2006, Bonnie collaborated with Norah Jones, Alison Krauss, Keb' Mo', and Ben Harper on the DVD/CD project Bonnie Raitt and Friends.

B.B. King
Submitted: 03/11/2010 02:04 PM

The undisputed king of the blues, B.B. "Blues Boy" King will go down in history as one of the most important electric guitarists and blues singers ever. King's vocals are smooth and rich as they emote wailing cries and good-hearted humor, while every sound he plays on the guitar is instantly recognizable by his distinct vibrato, vocal guitar style and authorship of hundreds of the most classic blues riffs. Drawing on the single-note playing of T-Bone Walker, King's style has influenced several of the greatest rock, blues and jazz artists of the latter half of the twentieth century, including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan, among others. Most important is the fact that, with one note, B.B. King can tell a story that touches the deepest roots of your soul. - Jessy Terry

Etta James
Submitted: 03/08/2010 09:39 AM

From the mid-1950s to the present, Etta James' powerful, soul-charged voice has become deeper and rougher, with a rich texture and heartfelt inflections. It goes without saying that the woman known as "Mama" is aging like California wine, and she can still open wounds in her songs and come out standing strong. When she was five years old, Jamesetta Hawkins amazed the congregation of her church choir. When she belted out Gospel songs with absolute spiritual fervor, it was clear that the child was a musical prodigy. Her career as a singer began when she recorded "The Wallflower" with Johnny Otis in 1954 for Modern Records. A year later, the song topped the charts. In 1960, she moved to Chess Records and soon began cranking out hits such as the driving, jiving, southern soul smash "Tell Mama," which Janis Joplin covered later that decade. Since then, she has recorded for Island and Elektra, experimenting with rock and jazz, but always returning to her Gospel-soaked roots and southern soul. - Eric Shea

Leo Dyer
Submitted: 02/22/2010 02:21 PM

Taj Mahal
Submitted: 03/11/2010 02:05 PM

Here is a man who has closely studied and preserved the roots music of African Americans since he began playing the Boston folk scene in the 1960s. He studied the history and formulas of Caribbean, West African, Zydeco, rock, jazz, and R&B. In fact, it was always the music of Country Blues that has influenced most of his own music. After learning how to play a multitude of instruments, Taj Mahal moved to Los Angeles and teamed up with Ry Cooder to form the Rising Sons, who split after one single was released (more songs from these sessions were released in the 1990s). Taj Mahal finally recorded his first solo album in 1968, shortly before playing an incredible performance of the Banks/Parker hit, "Ain't That a Lot of Love" on the Rolling Stones' Rock & Roll Circus with the late, great Jessie Ed Davis on lead guitar. Following what his fans believe to be his prime years, Taj Mahal went on to experiment with whatever music genre he was infatuated with at the time, and also wrote some scores for the stage as well as television and film. Those who know his music well can testify that when he played Country Blues, the Taj was at his best. His rich soulful singing has an ultra-deep dynamic range that fits perfectly with the driving shuffle-beats and bass bounce of this particular blues subgenre. - Eric Shea

Muddy Waters
Submitted: 03/10/2010 01:20 PM

Muddy Waters was one of the few key players of the postwar Chicago Blues scene who actually influenced the music that influenced him. His swollen, grandiloquent vocals were an instrument unto themselves and his beefy electric slide playing breathed new life into music heavily influenced by the Delta Blues. Waters, who grew up on the Mississippi Delta in Clarksdale listening to the music of Son House, moved to Chicago in 1943. In 1948, he recorded "I Can't Be Satisfied" and "I Feel like Going Home." The former became his first national R&B chart topper, and influenced the Rolling Stones' "I Can't Get No Satisfaction," and his 1950 song "Rollin' Stone" inspired the band's name. Waters assembled one of the meanest bands in blues history, the Headhunters, comprised of Little Walter, Baby Face Leroy Foste, and Jimmy Rogers. In 1951, Waters cranked out four hits, "Louisiana Blues," "Long Distance Call," "Honey Bee," and "Still a Fool" which rapidly climbed the charts and prompted Leonard Chess (founder of Chess Records) to play on the 1952 hit, "She Moves Me." Waters' renditions of "You Shook Me" and "I Just Wanna Make Love To You" turned on a sea of blues-obsessed British musicians who made him their new God. The Stones couldn't believe their eyes when they went to visit the legendary Sun Studio in Memphis only to find their God painting the ceiling. They put together an intimate gig and jammed with Waters on "I Just Wanna Make Love to You." By his death in 1983, Waters was already a legend in music. He had influenced the sound of Chicago Blues, as well as anyone who ever picked up on the music to which he lent his King Midas touch. - Eric Shea

John Lee Hooker
Submitted: 03/12/2010 01:36 PM

Blues musician John Lee Hooker helped define the post-World War II electric blues with his one-chord boogie compositions and his rhythmic electric guitar work. His deep voice was inimitable. Historically, he was one of the great links between the blues and rock & roll.

Hooker was one of 11 children. He sang at church in Clarksdale, Mississippi. His first musical instrument was an inner tube stretched across a barn door. In his adolescence he was taught rudimentary guitar technique by his stepfather, William Moore, who often performed at local fish fries, dances, and other social occasions in the late '20s; another early influence was Blind Lemon Jefferson. In 1931 Hooker went to Memphis, where he worked as an usher at the Daisy Theater on Beale Street. He moved to Cincinnati in 1933 and sang with gospel groups like the Big Six, the Delta Big Four, and the Fairfield Four.

His career eventually took root in Detroit in the late '30s. He began recording in the late '40s. Hooker was exclusively a singles artist for his first few very prolific years. His first release, "Boogie Chillen," issued on the Modern label, was an instant million-seller and a jukebox hit. "I'm in the Mood" sold a million copies in 1951; the blues-record market was soon saturated with Hooker material on myriad labels, often released under such pseudonyms as Birmingham Sam, John Lee Booker, Boogie Man, John Lee Cooker, Delta John, Johnny Lee, Texas Slim, and Johnny Williams. His only pop chart entry was with "Boom Boom" (Number 60, 1962), later recorded by the Animals. In 1959 he cut his first album for Riverside Records and made his debut performance at the Newport Folk Festival. He toured Europe extensively in the early '60s. In the mid-'60s he toured and recorded frequently with Britain's Groundhogs.

By 1970, Hooker was living in Oakland, California. He teamed up with Canned Heat for Hooker 'n' Heat (Liberty), which made inroads on the American charts (Number 73) and abroad. Charlie Musselwhite and Van Morrison joined Hooker in 1972 for Never Get Out of These Blues Alive, the release of which roughly coincided with Fantasy's double-LP Boogie Chillen, a compilation of early material and previously unreleased tapes from 1962. Hooker continued to tour and record in the '70s and '80s, often opening for rock acts like Canned Heat and Foghat. In 1980 he appeared in The Blues Brothers film.

The late '80s brought a renewal of interest in Hooker. British and American rockers, including the Spencer Davis Group, the J. Geils Band, Canned Heat, and George Thorogood, had covered his songs. He sang the title role on Pete Townshend's 1989 album The Iron Man, which was based on a children's book. The same year he joined the Rolling Stones for their concerts in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The Healer (Number 62, 1989), which featured guest appearances by Carlos Santana, Robert Cray, Los Lobos, George Thorogood, Canned Heat, and others, was his biggest commercial success. The album spent 38 weeks on the chart. Hooker earned his first Grammy Award for "I'm in the Mood," the album's duet with Bonnie Raitt. In October 1990 New York's Madison Square Garden hosted an all-star concert celebrating Hooker's music. Raitt, Joe Cocker, Huey Lewis, Ry Cooder, Gregg Allman, Willie Dixon, and others joined the bluesman for the occasion. That year he also joined Miles Davis on the Grammy-nominated movie soundtrack The Hot Spot. (Davis reportedly called Hooker "the funkiest man alive, buried up to his neck in mud.")

In 1991 Hooker was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; he was nominated for another Grammy for 1991's Mr. Lucky, which featured tracks recorded with the Robert Cray Band, Keith Richards, Ry Cooder, Tom Waits, Van Morrison, Johnny Winter, Carlos Santana, and others. His 1992 release Boom Boom featured guest guitar work by ex–Fabulous Thunderbird Jimmie Vaughan and blues great Albert Collins.

In early 1995 Hooker announced that he would lighten his touring schedule. Van Morrison, who played on 1995's Chill Out, produced 1997's Don't Look Back, which features appearances by both Morrison and Los Lobos. The Best of Friends rounds up Hooker's numerous superstar collaborations. The first biography about the bluesman, Boogie Man, was published in Europe in 1999, and in America the following year. In 2000 Hooker won a Grammy for lifetime achievement. He died in his sleep at the age of 83.

from The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001)

Dinah Washington
Submitted: 03/06/2010 01:47 PM

A great jazz and pop vocalist who excelled at the blues, Dinah Washington had a sharp, powerful voice that she wielded with knife-like precision. Washington's open and direct (yet smartly controlled) style was extremely popular throughout the 1950s with black audiences, and by the late-'50s she had crossed over to the white pop market with big hits such as "What A Diff'rence A Day Makes," which combined a jazz and blues feel with Nashville-style arrangements. Washington loved after hour jam sessions, and also released a stellar series of jazz albums on Mercury (now Verve Records) that included many of the greatest musicians of the day. Known for her full figure, strong personality, hard-living lifestyle, and multiple marriages, Washington was something of an Elisabeth Taylor/Marilyn Monroe for the African-American community: always in the news, she was almost as famous for newspaper headlines, funny quips, and her fun fashion sense as she was for her music. She died of an accidental overdose while going on a crash diet in December 1963. Washington rightly remains extremely popular in jazz and vocal circles, and she's a major influence on R&B in general and artists such as Ray Charles, Etta James and Aretha Franklin in particular. - Nick Dedina

Buddy Guy
Submitted: 03/06/2010 01:47 PM

Eric Clapton calls Buddy Guy his favorite blues guitarist. Put his amazing guitar playing together with a singing voice that is its equal and you have pure blues heaven. Guy went to Chicago in 1957 and hung out with legends such as B.B. King. He put out a series of impressive records on the Cobra label but it is his '60s work that still knocks your socks off to this day. His guitar jams and tortured vocals are so dynamic it makes one wonder why anybody ever bothered with Blues Rock. Guy's career went through a hard stretch in the '70s and '80s, but it came back with a vengeance in the '90s. Buddy Guy's music is as strong as ever and his wild, onstage energy has earned him capacity crowds at venues all over the world. - Eric Shea

Keb' Mo'
Submitted: 02/24/2010 06:08 PM

Keb' Mo's unique style lies somewhere between the soul of Delta Blues and the melodic feel of contemporary folk, bundled in a story-like framework. Whether delivering a sparse solo song or fully arranged bluesy pop, Mo's rich vocals and earthy acoustic plucking attract both newer and older blues audiences, as evidenced on his stunning self-titled debut Keb' Mo'. His songwriting style occasionally disturbs purists; like Robert Cray, Keb' Mo' has found ways to write a blues tune without remaining in the traditional twelve-bar format. Nonetheless Keb' Mo' has made quite a niche for himself on many adult alternative radio stations, due in part to the polished, warm sound of his compositions. - Jessy Terry

Fats Domino
Submitted: 03/12/2010 01:35 PM

With more than 65 million record sales to his credit, New Orleans singer and pianist Fats Domino out sold every 1950s rock & roll pioneer except Elvis Presley leaving an indelible and profound impact on subsequent generations of musicians.

Born into a musical family, Antoine Domino began playing piano at nine and a year later was playing for pennies in honky-tonks like the Hideaway Club, where bandleader Bill Diamond accurately nicknamed him Fats. At 14 Domino quit school to work in a bedspring factory so he could play the bars at night. Soon he was playing alongside such New Orleans legends as Professor Longhair and Amos Milburn. He also heard the stride and boogie-woogie piano techniques of Fats Waller and Albert Ammons. He mastered the classic New Orleans R&B piano style — easy-rolling left-hand patterns anchoring right-hand arpeggios. By age 20 he was married and a father, had survived a near-fatal car crash, and had almost lost his hand in a factory accident.

In the mid-1940s Domino joined trumpeter Dave Bartholomew's band. It was soon apparent, however, that Domino was more than a sideman, and Bartholomew helped arrange his contract with Imperial and became his producer. Their first session in 1949 produced "The Fat Man," which eventually sold a million and whetted the national appetite for the "New Orleans sound." Bartholomew and Domino co-wrote most of Domino's material.

By the time the rock & roll boom began in the mid-1950s, Fats was already an established R&B hitmaker ("Goin' Home," 1952; "Going to the River," 1953), his records regularly selling between half a million and a million copies apiece. His pounding piano style was easily adapted to the nascent rock sound, although he proved less personally magnetic than contemporaries like Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, or Jerry Lee Lewis, all of whom recorded Domino material.

Domino's big breakthrough came in mid-1955, when the Top 10 "Ain't That a Shame" (quickly covered by Pat Boone and revived in the late-1970s by Cheap Trick) established his identity with white teenagers. For the next five years Domino struck solid gold with "I'm in Love Again" (Number Three), "Blueberry Hill" (Number Two), and "Blue Monday" (Number Five) in 1956; "I'm Walkin'" (Number Four, 1957); "Whole Lotta Loving" (Number Six, 1958); and many others. He eventually collected 23 gold singles. His last million-seller came in 1960 with "Walkin' to New Orleans." He left Imperial for ABC in 1963 and subsequently switched to Mercury, Warner Bros., Atlantic, and Broadmoor, all with less success.

In 1968 Domino revived public interest in his ongoing career with a rollicking cover of the Beatles' "Lady Madonna. The Beatles consistently sang the Fat Man's praises, noting that "Birthday" on The Beatles did little more than sort through the old Domino-Bartholomew bag of riffs and tricks. Through the mid-1970s Fats played six to eight months a year. In 1980 he performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival. Domino continues to tour sporadically. In 1993 he released his first major-label album in 25 years, Christmas Is a Special Day, to critical acclaim but middling sales. Domino was feared to be dead in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 (his mansion was in the middle of the devastated Ninth Ward), but he had been rescued by the Coast Guard via helicopter; the family had lost nearly everything in the storm. In early 2006 Domino released Alive and Kickin', a benefit CD for the local Tipitina's Foundation.

Joe Bonamassa
Submitted: 03/15/2010 12:53 PM

A blues guitarist first but also a lover of great rock riffs, Joe Bonamassa is liable to pull out just about anything in live performances. Sections from Yes' "Starship Trooper" are well documented but Bonamassa also tosses in the "mosh" part from Deep Purple's "Perfect Strangers" at times, a riff any rock fan hears in his or her sleep. Often cited as the best guitarist of his generation, Bonamassa tends toward the chorded lead asides of Billy Gibbons and bears an almost uncanny resemblance to Cream-era Clapton more than Stevie Ray Vaughan or B.B. King, although those two influences are still very much present in Bonamassa's playing. They're just not the first names that come to mind when he takes a solo. Like many of his peers -- Kenny Wayne Shepherd, "Monster" Mike Welch, etc. -- Bonamassa was sitting in with bands and playing live shows before he was a teenager, and his first album, A New Day Yesterday, came out when he was just 23 years old, in 2000. Subsequently Bonamassa steadily toured and released records, with eight under his belt thus far, Live From No Place In Particular being the most recent.

Howlin' Wolf
Submitted: 03/12/2010 01:35 PM

Delta bluesman Howlin' Wolf was one of the most influential musicians of the post-World War II era, and his electric Chicago blues — featuring his deep, lupine voice — shaped rock & roll.

Chester Arthur Burnett, named after the 21st president, was raised on a cotton plantation in Ruleville, Mississippi, and learned guitar as a child. In the Mississippi Delta area he began studying with the rural masters, notably guitarist and vocalist Charley Patton, his biggest single influence, and his half sister's husband, harmonica player Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller).

As Howlin' Wolf, he played his first gig in the South on January 15, 1928, and throughout the '30s frequently performed on street corners. He formed his first band, the House Rockers, in Memphis in 1948 with pianist Bill Johnson, lead guitarist Willie Johnson, and drummer Willie Steele. Later personnel included at various times harmonica players James Cotton and Little Junior Parker, pianist Ike Turner, and guitarist Willie Johnson.

In 1951 Turner, a freelance talent scout, had Wolf record for Sam Phillips' Memphis-based Sun Records. Those masters were then leased to Chess Records, and in 1957 one of them, "Moanin' at Midnight," became his first R&B hit. In 1952 Wolf moved to Chicago, where his music was well received. Some consider the recordings he made for Chess during the '50s and '60s his best. Among them were the 1957 R&B hit "Sitting on Top of the World," "Spoonful," "Smokestack Lightnin'," "Little Red Rooster," "I Ain't Superstitious," "Back Door Man," "Killing Floor," and "How Many More Years." His songs, many of them written by Willie Dixon, have been covered by American and English rock acts like the Rolling Stones (with whom Wolf appeared on the Shindig! TV show in 1965), Grateful Dead, the Yardbirds, Jeff Beck, the Doors, Cream, the Electric Flag, Little Feat, and Led Zeppelin. Wolf, who stood an imposing 6-foot-3 and weighed nearly 300 pounds, frequently appeared at blues and rock festivals in the late '60s and early '70s. His 1971 album, The London Sessions, featured backup support from Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Steve Winwood, and Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones. That same year Wolf received an honorary doctorate from Columbia College in Chicago. He lived the last years of his life in Chicago's crumbling South Side ghetto. He suffered several heart attacks in the early '70s and received kidney dialysis treatment, but he continued to play occasionally; one of his last concerts was in November 1975 at the Chicago Amphitheatre with B.B. King, Bobby "Blue" Bland, and Little Milton. He entered a hospital in mid-December and died at age 65 of complications from kidney disease. Howlin' Wolf was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991.

from The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001)

Susan Tedeschi
Submitted: 01/15/2010 02:57 PM

Billboard Magazine has called Susan Tedeschi "honest-to-God great." She spins out steaming, cinematic blues with her smoking hot guitar. Think of a passionate and sultry mix of Etta James and Bonnie Raitt. - Nick Dedina

Jonny Lang
Submitted: 03/14/2010 01:39 PM

Jonny Lang rocketed out of his adopted hometown of Minneapolis at the age of 13, astonishing the world with his splashy guitar playing and a grizzled bluesman's voice that seemed to belong to someone five times his age. The tow-headed boy had dreamed big, obsessively learning how to play guitar, then convincing his parents that he should forgo school and take to the road. "My mom eventually was okay with it, and just told me to 'Be safe and call home a lot.'"

The risk paid off, and Lang quickly shot to the top of the blues charts, earning his first platinum record by the time he was sixteen for Lie To Me. He picked up his second platinum album for Wander This World in 1998 -- the same year he opened for the Rolling Stones. In 1999, he performed at Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura's inauguration, then traveled to the White House to perform for Clinton (where he presented the president with an autographed Fender Guitar). The next month he was personally invited to perform at Mick Jagger's 56th birthday party at the musician's estate in the South of France, where he jammed with Jagger, Bono, Elton John and Ron Wood. But then the wunderkind seemed to drop off the face of the earth, not releasing any more albums for five years.

Lang was not idle during that time. He gigged sporadically with the likes of B.B. King, Aerosmith, and Jeff Beck; got married to actress Haylie Johnson; quit his two-pack a day cigarette habit; gave up drinking; moved to Los Angeles; and all but turned his back on his beloved blues. When his third album, Long Time Coming, appeared in mid-2004, the musician was not only sampling Eminem, but had also cut down on his trademark guitar pyrotechnics and eliminated any blues laments. Instead, his songs now explored the space between rock and seductive soul.

"I'm not a blues singer," he explained unapologetically, "and I'm not really a blues writer either, or anything. I just feel like I love singing things that take a journey melodically." The journey this still-young musician is currently taking seems to follow a much more spiritual path. He not only became a committed Christian, but began penning lyrics for many of his own songs -- something he hadn't previously done, and something that made Long Time Coming a more coherent and fully-realized effort than his earlier albums. - Jaan Uhelszki

Dr. John
Submitted: 01/15/2010 02:57 PM

Before making his name as a major New Orleans pianist, Dr. John was known as Mac Rebennack, a successful session guitarist who was forced to find a new instrument after being accidentally shot in the hand. As Dr. John, he garnered a reputation for performing in all-out Mardi Gras regalia, bringing a theatrical aspect to his shows that surprisingly never detracted from his soulful music. His hearty vocals have a thick Louisiana twang filtered through deep, earthy grit, while his rollicking keyboard and piano playing travel from home-style New Orleans R&B and jazz to spaced-out psychedelia, mixed into a secret musical gumbo that no one has quite figured out. He's probably best known for his '70s classic "Right Place, Wrong Time," a song that reached new levels of stripped-down voodoo Funk and was boosted by the help of supreme Cajun groovers, the Meters. - Jessy Terry

Kenny Wayne Shepherd
Submitted: 01/21/2010 02:21 PM

Picking up a guitar at age seven and mastering Stevie Ray's moves by the time he was 13, Kenny Wayne Shepherd was hyped, pushed and packaged for mass consumption on a major league scale in the early 1990s. His arrival came almost simultaneously with fellow youngster guitar hotshots Jonny Lang and Zakk Wylde. The result was total over exposure and widespread dismissal by the majority of blues purists. Shepherd's debut album, Ledbetter Heights, however, was surprisingly genuine, forcing folks to take a closer look at the kid. Through the next several albums, Shepherd's once-ubiquitous TV appearances petered out, and he was allowed an opportunity to grow both physically and musically. After a trio of heavy duty blues rock LPs, where he played more like Jimi than Muddy, Shepherd returned to Delta blues (as well as jump and good ol' electric blues) with 2007's 10 Days Out (Blues From the Backroad), a refreshingly under-polished collection of live cuts featuring all sorts of guest appearances, from Hubert Sumlin to B.B. King. - Mike McGuirk

Derek Trucks
Submitted: 01/19/2010 11:49 AM

Child prodigy Derek Trucks is a fiery guitar slinger whose slow-burn slide style owes a lot to the legends of the blues. Like a younger version of Stevie Ray Vaughan (sans the been-at-the-bottle-too-long growl), Trucks' jams duplicate the dips and twists of Buddy Guy and Al King. A kid no more, Trucks now fronts his own band, a formidable blues unit deeply rooted in Southern Rock soil. - Chad Driscoll

Bobby "Blue" Bland
Submitted: 01/21/2010 02:21 PM

One of the few bluesmen who's solely known for his singing, Bobby "Blue" Bland has been a major player in blues since the mid-1950s. Often working with B.B. King, and always showcasing a voice that can be as smooth a silk one minute and deeply tortured the next, Bland had a string of hits in the '50s and '60s. Early on, his work was straight-up Texas country, but as he aged his music and singing style laid much of the groundwork for what's called "soul blues" today. - Mike McGuirk

Robert Cray
Submitted: 02/28/2010 06:20 PM

Finding a modern audience has earned Cray some criticism he wouldn't get if he was a struggling club performer. He has a clean, singing guitar, strong songwriting abilities, and a soul voice more Sam Cooke than Muddy Waters. His unique mix of blues, rock, and soul has taken another turn of late: Cray's latest album celebrates that glorious Stax Records sound of the '60s. While their styles are different, Cray could arguably be compared to Ray Charles, another performer who ably crossed blues, soul and pop barriers. - Eric Shea

Albert King
Submitted: 02/19/2010 03:57 PM

Albert King's 6'4" stature was dwarfed only by the massive sound he made when he wrapped his huge hands around a Flying V guitar, pulling rather than pushing on the strings due to his left-handed, upside-down approach. King's trademark wailing blues guitar complemented his deep, heavy vocals, either one of which could touch your soul. Among his greatest admirers were Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix and especially Stevie Ray Vaughan, each of whom pilfered many of King's famous licks and passed them on to new generations. The imitation didn't faze King, who confidently reassured his followers that he could outplay any one of them on any given night. On his classic hit "Born Under a Bad Sign," King was backed by Booker T. and the MG's, who provided a Stax Soul foundation that he drew upon for many of his later hits. Though King is somewhat underappreciated, the majority of rock and blues guitar players know the man's riffs, if not his name. - Jessy Terry

Johnny Winter
Submitted: 03/15/2010 12:53 PM

Texas guitar legend Johnny Winter became a seeming overnight star in 1968 with the release of his first album on Columbia records. Winter was and remains an incendiary guitar player and a gruff, authoritative vocalist. An exceptionally fluid and dynamic soloist on both standard and slide guitar, his records in the 70's tended towards rock excess, but by the end of that decade he had returned to a much more pure blues approach which continues today. Along the way Winter was instrumental in helping the career resurgence of Muddy Waters, producing and playing on a number of acclaimed records. Winter was an important influence on a whole generation of musicians, including Chris Whitley and Stevie Ray Vaughn - Tom Heyman

Blues Brothers
Submitted: 01/30/2010 04:24 PM

Anyone who has ever craved plain white toast and four fried chickens understands that the Blues Brothers were on a mission from god. Joliet Jake and his brother Elwood were created by the late, great John Belushi and his partner Dan Aykroyd. The duo began as a way to warm up the audience before Saturday Night Live broadcasts, but soon became a semi-regular act on the show, and later graduated to a legitimate touring band with hit albums and a feature film. Their trademark look was inspired by the modernists of English subcultural yore, blues enthusiasts who donned three-button black suits, skinny black ties, porkpie hats and Wayfarer sunglasses. Backed by the likes of guitarist Steve Cropper and bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn (legends from the Stax studio's house band), as well as other well-known session players, the Blues Brothers covered standards from the Stax-Volt vaults with genuine affection. Although they began as a sketch, the two turned a new generation onto classic blues and soul. - Eric Shea

Marc Broussard
Submitted: 03/15/2010 12:53 PM

When you grow up in Lafayette, La., you pretty much have to go out of your way to find bad food or bad music, as Marc Broussard can attest to. The son of Ted Broussard (guitar player for the Boogie Kings) never had to go far to be surrounded by a myriad of musicians of all styles (albeit mostly Cajun or roots-related). Perhaps that's why traces of Dr. John, a young Lee Dorsey and various other soulful singers can be heard in his voice. His sound is more twangy than tangy, but not as full-blown "alt country" as someone like Jay Farrar. - Eric Shea

Z.Z. Hill
Submitted: 02/01/2010 01:06 PM

Louis Prima
Submitted: 03/11/2010 02:04 PM

Every generation seems to re-discover Louis Prima. Disney fittingly turned him into a jovial primate for The Jungle Book in 1967, David Lee Roth did a note-for-note cover of "Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody" in 1985 and most recently, Brian Setzer and other Swing revivalists have used his sound as a template. Prima was a longtime veteran of the jazz scene who struck gold in the 1950s by mixing his Louis Armstrong influences with swinging jazz, throbbing Jump Blues, early R&B and Neapolitan zaniness. Just by itself, his music was unforgettable; but when combined with his hilariously brash sense of showmanship, Prima became unstoppable. Backed by saxophonist Sam Butera's band and a succession of straight-faced female foils (the finest being the angelic Keely Smith, who went on to achieve major success as a solo artist), Prima literally had "the wildest show in town" while also penning such standards as "Sing Sing Sing," and "A Sunday Kind of Love." His bawdy act excited the sex-starved masses of the Eisenhower era, earned respect from jazz hepcats, and was studied and appreciated by greasy-haired teenagers growing up on rock 'n' roll. While Prima's recorded output suffered when he left Capitol Records for supposedly greener pastures, he remained a very popular live act well into the '60s. - Nick Dedina

Elvin Bishop
Submitted: 03/02/2010 03:50 PM

Elvin Bishop dropped out of his second year at the University of Chicago to dive head first in the local blues scene. Fascinated by what he was hearing around him, he met up with Paul Butterfield and joined the Butterfield Blues band. He split from the outfit in 1968 to experience the crazy musical melting pot that once was San Francisco, where the sonic diversity crept into his sound in the form of a gospel, country, and blues hybrid. On the famous Fillmore stage, Bishop often sat in with the likes of B.B. King, Eric Clapton, and even the late, great Jimi Hendrix. He soon formed the Elvin Bishop Group and recorded the notorious "Fooled Around and Fell in Love." Bishop currently resides in San Francisco where he enjoys gardening and the occasional gig. - Eric Shea

Lightnin' Hopkins
Submitted: 03/10/2010 01:20 PM

Instantly recognizable with his wandering acoustic style and coarse, emotive singing, Lightnin' Hopkins remains one of the giants of country blues. His career as a bluesman started as far back as the 1920s, jamming with Blind Lemon Jefferson and eventually working as his personal guide, but it wasn't until the big folk blues boom of the '60s that he enjoyed any real recognition, cutting hundreds of songs for as many labels and selling-out college coffeehouses all over the country. A nimble craftsman with language, Lightnin's deeply personal lyrics could be both hilariously funny and starkly harrowing depending on his mood. He was famous for making words up on the spot to fit the occasion, making his live recordings unpredictable and of particular interest. With a staggering body of work that spans from the '60s right up to his death in the '80s and includes such classic narrative blues as "Bald Headed Woman" and the eerie "Black Ghost Blues," Lightnin' Hopkins is an essential figure in the history and appreciation of the blues. - Mike McGuirk

Otis Taylor
Submitted: 11/26/2009 02:27 PM

Gary Moore
Submitted: 03/12/2010 01:36 PM

Moore has always enjoyed a devout following among guitarists, from his early swashbuckling days as Thin Lizzy's lead guitarist to his many rock, Fusion, and blues solo projects. Moore's balance of technically savvy licks and raw, emotional soul keeps the fans rabid. It was Still Got the Blues (1990) that finally solidified Gary Moore's reputation as a top-flight guitarist, achieving critical and commercial success with a back to the basics approach that put Moore's fiery Blues Rock guitar front and center. Later albums continue with that approach, including After Hours (1992), which featured heavy-hitting guests including B.B. King and Albert Collins. - Jessy Terry

Leadbelly
Submitted: 03/10/2010 01:20 PM

Leadbelly, born Huddie William Ledbetter, is one of the most influential voices in American music. Though widely thought of as a blues musician (which, in part, he was), a direct line can be drawn from him to the folk protest music of the '60s, and from there to Bruce Springsteen and Billy Bragg. In the '40s, Leadbelly brought obscure American folk songs to white, urban audiences and helped spread the word about injustices in America. Like Woody Guthrie, he could do love or comedic songs, and he had a real knack for children's songs. He died a decade before his true impact was felt. It's never to late to pay your respects. - Nick Dedina

Little Walter
Submitted: 03/06/2010 01:47 PM

Before Little Walter, the harmonica was just an instrument for accompaniment on the back porch. Little Walter changed the instrument's role by hooking it up to a microphone and plugging into an amplifier. His tone was thick and fierce, covered in rich distortion and with enough balls to send guitarists and sax players scurrying to the back of the stage. His many recordings with Muddy Waters are some of the best the blues has to offer, not to mention his excellent collaborations with Jimmy Rogers and Otis Rush. In the 1950s he topped the R&B charts numerous times with instrumentals such as "Juke" and scowling Chicago blues like "You Better Watch Yourself." Unfortunately, his personality was as fiery as his playing; shortly after a tour with the Rolling Stones in the late '60s, he died in a street brawl. - Jessy Terry

Sonny Boy Williamson
Submitted: 03/07/2010 10:53 AM

Sonny Boy Williamson is thought by many American music enthusiasts to be one of the end-all, be-all blues legends. He was one of the few crooners to have played with Robert Johnson, the man who allegedly sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads. Williamson bummed around the U.S., drank heavily (whiskey was his poison), and eventually landed a posh job hosting a radio show for about fifteen years. KFFA's King Biscuit Time was the first blues-focused radio show to ever juice through a radio transmitter onto the public airwaves. His dark, autobiographical recorded material personifies the blues. Williamson's songs were marinated in an unaffected, melancholic paranoia and delivered with gritty, sinister wit. His phenomenal harmonica playing was celebrated most in Europe, where he would dazzle the crowds with passionate bursts of tuneful blues harp honks and passionate wailing. His vocals were deep and breathy accounts of hard living. In 1955, he first recorded "Don't Start Me to Talkin'" for Chess Records, a song that did well on the R&B charts. Williamson later fell in love with England, where he would play with the Yardbirds and Eric Burdon's band the Animals (who he called "de Mammimals"). One of his final recorded songs, "I'm Trying to Make London My Home," was played with Jimmy Page on guitar. Sonny Boy Williamson was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in 1980, fifteen years after the heart attack that took his life in 1965. - Eric Shea

Freddie King
Submitted: 01/04/2010 12:31 PM

One of the three Kings of electric guitar, Freddy (or Freddie) co-owned many of the most classic blues riffs with B.B. and Albert. He got a slightly rawer sound than his fellow Kings, playing bright, snappy licks plucked with thumb and fingers on his Fender Stratocaster. Although he was born in Texas, King had more of a Chicago Blues sound, drawing influence from artists such as Robert Lockwood Jr. and Jimmy Rogers. Defining his style early, King had initial success with instrumentals like "Hideaway." His rough, loud, powerful vocals came later, when he started belting out songs like "Big Legged Woman." Eric Clapton was one of the most notable performers influenced by King, basing his entire sound on a love for King's music. Live in concert was the best way to experience the original, who tore up the stage with his large and slashing guitar presence.

Albert Collins
Submitted: 01/04/2010 12:31 PM

The late Albert Collins was an important and influential blues artist with an unmistakable sound. Playing a Fender Telecaster with his fingers through a hundred-watt amplifier, Collins produced a lead guitar sound that was brittle, biting, and funkily syncopated. His cool tone, and a number of early instrumentals he cut with titles like "Frosty" and "Sno-Cone," earned him the title "The Iceman." In the early 1960s Collins led big horn bands, but played with smaller bands and bounced from label to label after that. He signed with Chicago's Alligator records in the '70s, became a star attraction on the international blues circuit, and was a bona fide blues superstar by the time of his death in 1993. He was an important influence on a whole generation of guitarists, from Billy Gibbons to Stevie Ray Vaughn and Robert Cray. - Tom Heyman

Robert Randolph
Submitted: 01/07/2010 03:21 PM

Only a few years new to the scene, Robert Randolph (most often joined by "the Family Band) is the single most funkadelic rock-gospel player in the industry. The urgency in his musical passion is born of a life balanced between the torment of the streets and the haven of the soulful sounds surrounding his childhood home. Randolph started playing the pedal steel in his Orange, N.J., House of God Church, an African Pentecostal denomination where the pedal steel has become known as "sacred steel" based on a musical history dating back to the 1930s. He praised the Lord, stomped his feet, and shook the rafters all the way to venues like New York City's Beacon Theater and the long-revered Wetlands. When the Wetlands closed their famous doors for the last time, Randolph and the Family Band were asked by the owners to rock the walls one final time on that propitious night, oddly enough to the beat of a wailing gospel groove. Fire extinguishers are definitely required when Randolph plays his number one most requested, "I Don't Know What You Came to Do." - Amy Bartlett

The Jeff Healey Band
Submitted: 02/15/2010 02:27 PM

With the hit "Angel Eyes," this blind Blues Rock guitarist is known for playing his Fender flat on his lap. - Robert Leaver

R.L. Burnside
Submitted: 01/23/2010 02:20 PM

Forget those dolled-up, pentagram-sportin', tattooed rock 'n' rollers that comprise his audience of late -- the bona fide bad-ass is up onstage. You wanna talk hard livin'-- nothing beats the real life rigmarole of old bluesmen like R.L. Burnside. Coming out of the deep South in the 1930s, Burnside was one of the artists featured in Richard Grant's article on the wild lives of elder bluesmen on Fat Possum Records in the March 27, 1999, edition of British daily The Daily Telegraph. It said that Burnside went to prison in the 1940s for murder. He allegedly shot a man in the back of the head, but only served three months thanks to a plantation owner who needed Burnside to work the next planting season. A grimly practical Burnside told his label, "I didn't mean to kill nobody. I just meant to shoot the sonofabitch in the head. Him dying was between him and the Lord." As rugged and rowdy as his reputation, Burnside's overdriven Delta Blues slide guitar playing is fierce and blistering. His singing is heartfelt, though often mumbled and slurred. Live shows chug along like a steam engine overheating. His massive cult following comes in all shapes and sizes. - Dennise Lite

Robert Johnson
Submitted: 02/24/2010 06:08 PM

The story of Robert Johnson meeting the devil at the crossroads has been told so many times that we are all in danger of becoming honorary Ralph Macchios. Luckily, this legend is backed up with incredible music. The truth is that Johnson became the undisputed master of Delta Blues so quickly after taking up the guitar that fellow musicians joked that ol' Scratch must have had something to do with it. Johnson was a deeply troubled man who poured his mental anguish into intoxicating music and vivid lyrics. His style, songs, tortured life and murder at the hands of a jealous woman have made him an American icon. Robert Johnson only recorded a handful of songs but has left a vast musical legacy. - Jon Pruett

JJ Grey & Mofro
Submitted: 12/05/2009 01:34 PM

Mike Bloomfield
Submitted: 12/25/2009 02:17 PM

One of the first instrumentalists of the 1960s and '70s rock era to became a bona fide star, Michael Bloomfield is the classic tragic music business figure. Growing up in Chicago in the late '50s, he haunted the city's Southside blues clubs as a teen, befriending and sitting in with giants such as Howlin' Wolf and Big Joe Williams. He became an expert guitarist and a virtual walking encyclopedia of all blues idioms, electric and acoustic, standard and slide. He found acclaim as a founder and guitarist in the Butterfield Blues Band, and was a featured player on Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited. After leaving Butterfield, he helped form the influential, horn-laden Blues Rock band Electric Flag, as well as appearing on the chart-topping Super Session record with Al Kooper and Stephen Stills. Despite the fact that he influenced a generation of guitarists and was a revered player, his output from the latter part of his career is spotty at best. He spent most of his time at home shooting heroin and occasionally writing scores for porn films. He died of an overdose at 38. - Tom Heyman

T-Bone Walker
Submitted: 03/03/2010 02:17 PM

As one of the first Electric Blues guitarists, Texas-born T-Bone Walker influenced the course of blues history with his direct, emotional, single-note lead guitar. Along with a few other players (such as jazz pioneer Charlie Christian), Walker plugged his guitar in to make it stand out among the other instruments of his band. Sustaining bends, stinging yet elegant licks, fast-picked single notes -- each has their roots in Walker's fluid playing. His singing was powerful and versatile as well, effortlessly delivering a soft ballad as easily as leading some steamy Jump Blues. Among the artists who have cited him as a primary influence are none other than B.B. King, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown and Albert King. These three musicians -- and basically every rock and blues artist -- exhibit elements of Walker's style, elaborating on his pioneering runs. The song "They Call it Stormy Monday (But Tuesday's Just as Bad)" is a certified classic, while many of Walker's other songs are regularly covered as well. - Jessy Terry

Etta Baker
Submitted: 03/10/2010 01:20 PM

Etta Baker is considered one of the foremost purveyors of Piedmont blues, an acoustic blues style that emerged in the Mid-Atlantic region combining, ragtime, delta blues, country string bands and bluegrass. Baker learned the style from her father, and although she has only been recorded a handful of times, she has spent her life (80 years so far) practicing and perfecting the unique fingerpicking style. After appearing at various festivals throughout her life, Baker has been approached by record companies to go for a larger slice of the music industry pie, but time and again the absolutely fantastic guitar player has opted to devote herself to her family and personal life rather than enter a studio or go out on the road. - Mike McGuirk

Marvin Sease
Submitted: 02/12/2010 05:49 PM

The Blind Boys Of Alabama
Submitted: 02/22/2010 02:21 PM

Considered "Hard Gospel" in the 1960s, this vocal quintet was one of the many groups combining traditional Gospel structures with dynamic soul and R&B instrumentation. Unlike many of their peers, however, the Five Blind Boys of Alabama added a stronger blues flavor, often favoring slow, soulful songs over the more energetic workouts performed by everyone else. Coupling these ingredients with close harmonies and impassioned leads, they were extremely popular and influenced a generation of secular musicians. A decades-spanning catalogue provides exciting interpretations of many old standards, to which they lend their time-honed expertise. - Mike McGuirk

Charlie Musselwhite
Submitted: 12/02/2009 02:07 PM

Along with Paul Butterfield, Charlie Musselwhite was one of the first white bluesmen to make a name for himself, earning praise from heavyweights such as Big Joe Turner. His harmonica playing has always been simple and direct -- he certainly has the skills to play whatever he wants, but Musselwhite chooses not to overplay, electing to emote instead. The same goes for his warm and almost casual vocal style. Though a player of hard driving electric Chicago Blues for most of his life, you can almost hear a gritty country influence in his harp style. This is further reflected when he picks up a guitar as he's occasionaly known to do -- his playing has a raw Delta feel to it, sounding especially sweet when he overdubs harmonica. - Jessy Terry

Little Milton
Submitted: 02/12/2010 05:49 PM

Known as both a stinging blues guitarist and a powerful Soul singer, this Mississippi native has long made a name for himself by combining the best of those two worlds. Since the 1950s, he's recorded for top-notch labels like Sun, Chess, Stax, and Malaco, alternating between straight Electric Blues (most of his Sun catalog), horn-driven, Funk-tinged Soul Blues ("That's What Love Will Make You Do"), and pure Memphis soul ("Grits Ain't Groceries (All Around the World)"). Throughout his career, he's proven able to adapt his blues-rooted sensibilities to a variety of settings, without losing that all-important visceral quality. - Will York

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