Journey through the heart of the blues with profiles of legendary artists. Uncover the techniques of masters like Muddy Waters, the fiery passion of Stevie Ray Vaughan, and the soulful depth of John Lee Hooker. Explore their signature guitar styles, delve into their gear setups, and discover essential album recommendations that shaped the genre.
When discussing the complex, rolling syncopation of Piedmont blues, the conversation often turns to the style’s commercial giants. But to hear the music in its most honest, hard-earned, and celebratory form, one must look to Algia Mae Hinton. Born in Johnston County, North Carolina, Hinton didn’t just play the blues; she lived them through decades … Read more
Discover how multi-instrumentalist Kenny Neal preserves and modernizes the Baton Rouge legacy, blending raw harmonica phrasing with the heavy, slow-burn pocket of traditional Louisiana swamp blues.
Smokey Hogg was the commercial king of post-war country blues, famous for his loose relationship with music theory and his infectious, foot-stomping grooves. Rejecting rigid 12-bar structures in favor of instinctual, erratic rhythms and sharp staccato fills, Hogg delivered a masterclass in pure emotional honesty. His prolific catalog remains a vital blueprint of beautiful imperfection for roots guitarists worldwide.
Thorbjørn Risager is the roaring, deep-voiced engine driving the modern European blues revival. By pairing an aggressive, fingerstyle electric guitar attack with a massive, 7-piece horn-driven band, Risager delivers a masterclass in dynamic rhythm and big-band pocke
While the Delta blues is often celebrated as a historical relic preserved on scratchy vinyl, Jimmy “Duck” Holmes” stands as a living, breathing defiance against time. Operating out of the tiny town of Bentonia, Mississippi, Holmes is the absolute last practicing practitioner of the “Bentonia Style”—a haunting, minor-key offshoot of the blues that sounds less … Read more
Mississippi Fred McDowell is the definitive voice of North Mississippi Hill Country blues. Rejecting the commercial polish of his era, McDowell used a raw bottleneck slide and an ironclad thumb-thump rhythm to create a hypnotic, trance-like groove
The musical footprint of Clyde “Judas” Maxwell exists almost entirely within a single afternoon: September 3, 1978. On his farm in Madison County, Mississippi, folklorists Alan Lomax, John Bishop, and Worth Long captured a vanishing world of raw country blues. These three tracks represent the core of those historic field recordings. 1. “Way Down In … Read more
Discover the incredible journey of Jonny Lang, from his 15-year-old platinum debut Lie to Me to becoming a Grammy-winning force in modern R&B and soul.
If Jackie Venson is the “Electric Queen of Austin,” then Ally Venable is the reigning heiress of Texas Blues. Hailing from Kilgore, Texas, Venable has spent her 20s proving that the grit and swagger of Stevie Ray Vaughan are in good hands. In 2026, she is no longer just a “rising star”—she is a powerhouse … Read more
Jackie Venson is the future of blues-rock. By combining Berklee-trained musicality with a “tech-addicted” approach to gear and looping, she has created a sound that is entirely her own. In 2026, as she headlines major festivals across the globe, Venson remains the definitive example of a modern guitar hero who isn’t afraid to break the rules.
