Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, a former sideman with Muddy Waters who became a Grammy-winning performer in his own right, has died. You May Also Like: How Muddy Waters Came Roaring Back With ‘Hard Again’

An unexpected valedictory on a gone-too-soon talent, Rory Gallagher’s blues-rocking 1990 release Fresh Evidence reemerges today as part of a sweeping reissue project by Eagle Records that focuses on Gallagher’s late-period work. You May Also Like: Liam Gallagher – As You Were vs. Noel Gallagher – Who Built the Moon?Read More

by Tom Johnson When Tool’s Lateralus came out a few years back, there was much talk about how intense it was going to be, how it was going to be all about building tension and sudden release. I ran out and scarfed up a copy You May Also Like: HowRead More

This remarkable lost classic was not released until 2000 — because the tapes were thought to have been destroyed … until they were found in a warehouse in 1999. Done just three weeks before Otis Spann’s death from liver cancer, Muddy Waters‘ most sympathetic pianist is featured primarily with hisRead More

Bob Margolin discusses his role in Muddy Waters’ final sessions, takes on an early side from Chuck Berry, and then disagrees on one of our favorite solo deep cuts.

Bob Margolin has spent his life around blues music’s most recognizable figures, and he’s now a respected band leader in his own right.

Pinetop Perkins, a rollicking piano player who performed with bluesman Muddy Waters for more than a decade, has passed at 97. Perkins, born in Honey Island near the Delta town of Belzoni, Mississippi, died on Monday at his home in Austin, Texas, reportedly after suffering cardiac arrest. You May AlsoRead More

by Nick DeRiso With “Grinding Man,” a rollicking rapscallion highlight from his Grammy nominated album with Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, we get a winking glimpse into how 97-year-old Pinetop Perkins has kept himself going all these years. You May Also Like: How Muddy Waters Came Roaring Back With ‘Hard Again’

by S. Victor Aaron I know no one will believe it, but a couple of weeks ago I heard Muddy Waters’ 1948 classic recording of his first hit “I Can’t Be Satisfied” for the first time in a while and decided then and there that it needed the One TrackRead More

by Nick DeRiso Several of Muddy Waters‘ great sidemen — Junior Wells, Buddy Guy and Otis Spann — appear on the loose and funky “Southside Blues Jam,” originally issued by Chicago’s Delmark Records. Funny, for all their marquee value, Wells and Guy — Buddy was born in Lettsworth, Louisiana —Read More