In anybody else’s hands, this new Mavis Staples album would have been a museum piece, interesting but ultimately dust-covered and remote. Not that “We’ll Never Turn Back” (to be issued on Tuesday by Anti- records) doesn’t have plenty of right things to say, and certainly plenty of righteous things, inRead More

The lead-off track from Anders Osbourne’s Grammy-nominated ‘Living Room’ is a rootsy jam and a helluva good time.

NICK DERISO: Guitarist Buddy Guy, a Baton Rouge-area native, has a presence hardly in need of defining. From bar-walking solos (thanks to that old 150-foot amp chord), to his clean, percussive style on a polka-dot guitar, Guy has since the 1960s cut a wide swath, image-wise. Yet “Southern Blues” illuminatesRead More

Many is the legend with a forgotten sideman who helped make him great. Count among them Johnnie Johnson, the sleeper pick’s sleeper. See, you’ve been listening to him for years, as the barreling bar-room pianist in those old Chuck Berry records. Do yourself a favor, if you love that earlyRead More

by Pico Writing about underpublicized blueswoman Rory Block has got me thinking about another blues lady who needs no introduction at all. Everyone knows and respects Bonnie Raitt so much that her gender has long ago ceased to raise questions as to whether she can play with the big boys.Read More

by Pico Several years ago I read an article interviewing Robert Cray. In it he was asked about which up and coming blues artists he was listening to and he mentioned Eric Bibb and Corey Harris. Being a fan of Mr. Cray, I naturally had to check out these aspiringRead More

by Pico When you look at the blues scene today, some of the best out there can do one or two things well. Studebaker John, however, is a quadruple threat. He can compose, sing, play guitar and play blues harp, and do all of these things better than most. TheRead More

Much like jazz, most young people get introduced to the blues from artists who mix it with a more mainstream type of music, which usually means rock. Twenty years ago Stevie Ray Vaughan’s music was the gateway to the straight blues while the young Jonny Lang led the way thereRead More

“Lovin’ Cup” illustrated a passion for Paul Butterfield long before Robben Ford released a celebrated album in tribute to the late bluesman.

by S. Victor Aaron With so many women blues singers patterning themselves after Bessie Smith or Koko Taylor, Rory Block is one of the rare ones in modern times (aside from the late Jo-Ann Kelly) who is more inspired by the bluesmen of pre-War blues, like Charley Patton, Robert JohnsonRead More