Blues harmonica master Carey Bell died on May 6 of heart failure in his hometown of Chicago. He was 70. Bell – the 1998 winner of the Blues Music Award for Traditional Male Artist Of The Year – was a ...

Among the harmonica’s many wonderful and unique traits, there is this: You have to really suck to be good at it. As one of America’s finest and busiest harmonica players, Denver’s Ronnie Shellist ...

When it comes to blues harmonica, it’s all or nothing at all. In the wrong hands, the harp becomes a weapon of mass distraction, a screeching annoyance that can completely destroy any song. But, as ...

One of the major transitions in the blues took place after thousands of Mississippians moved to Chicago, and drew upon the acoustic sounds of the Delta to create electrified Chicago blues. One of the ...

Harmonica Shah has been a fixture on the Detroit blues circuit for at least 20 years and has been featured on a number of recordings with other local blues artists such as Hastings Street Grease. Shaw ...

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John Popper recalls the moments after he received his first harmonica for his 14th birthday. “It was a Hohner and I read the little poem that came with it that said, ‘Take a Hohner with pride … it ...

Blues harmonica legend James Cotton died Thursday at St. David’s Medical Center in Austin, Texas. He was 81. The cause of death was pneumonia, according to Alligator Records, the Chicago label for ...

I’m not an especially fervent advocate of blues harmonica, but I do love the greats—both the Sonny Boy Williamsons, Big Walter Horton, much of Charlie Musselwhite‘s innovative output. But for me no ...

For the past few months, the great Chicago blues harmonica player Sugar Blue has been on the run – from the coronavirus. His flight has taken him from Shanghai to Milan to the mountains of Italy to ...

NEW YORK — James Cotton, a pioneering harmonica player who worked with Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf and helped establish his instrument as an integral part of modern blues, died Thursday in Austin, ...