NICK DERISO: To put it bluntly, you need to get hip to Linkchain — a player/singer gone too soon, but not before leaving one final blast of brilliance. “Airbusters,” which included his final recordings, jumped off with a rocking barrelhouse number. (Of course, it did: That was ‘Barrelhouse Chuck’ onRead More

They grew up, practically, as neighbors in Louisiana. But strangers, all the same. Here’s how they became the country blues duo Po’ Henry and Tookie.

Koko Taylor marked her 20th year on Alligator Records with an album reminds you she’s still got it. A lot of it.

NICK DERISO: One of those all-star dates that bridges genres, even generations, “The Trumpet Kings” is an amalgamation of so many concurrent joys that it’s a wonder this Pablo release ever got made. We have out front one Big Joe Turner, a 6-2, 300-something pound Kansas City belter known asRead More

Charlie Musselwhite, who once played with Muddy Waters, has just gotten better in his absence. A fine example is this Grammy-nominated release, which includes a deft cover of Sleepy John Estes’ fine “Brownsville Blues.” It’s a career highpoint, and (funny thing) Musselwhite hasn’t even put harmonica to mouth yet atRead More

This marked the North Mississippi Allstars’ first offering in three years and the first since mentor R.L. Burnside passed away in 2005. The NMA’s station in life has been to provide a heavily-amped version of Junior Kimbrough, and you have to wonder if success will cause them to stray fromRead More

by Pico It was hardly a month ago when I was on this space talking up this brand new release by blues wunderkind Sean Costello called We Can Get Together. Costello really impressed me as the former guitar prodigy who was poised to take up a long-term residency at theRead More

by S. Victor Aaron Like Bonnie Raitt, Chris Smither is a blues-folk-rock singer who emerged from the Boston coffehouse scene of the sixties. Unlike Raitt, though, he never enjoyed the widespread success his colleague did, even when they both began recording careers in the early seventies. As a matter ofRead More

NICK DERISO: John Lee Hooker, a hypnotically transfixing figure in the blues, made a series of money- and headline-making splashes beginning in 1989 by collaborating with younger artists, beginning with his celebrated record “The Healer.” That one, for instance, included turns with Carlos Santana, Bonnie Raitt, the Rolling Stones’ KeithRead More

To call this the most successful melding of New Orleans-style rag with hard Chicago blues presupposes that there ever was one before. Eurreal “Little Brother” Montgomery, as was his way, tills up new earth here, and with remarkable results. A stride pianist of great wit and power, Montgomery had theRead More