he haunting quality of Nehemiah “Skip” James’s music earned him a reputation as one of the great early Mississippi bluesmen. James (1902-1969) grew up at the Woodbine Plantation and as a youth learned ...

Layton “Skip” James is the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra’s chameleon-in-residence. While most other members of the group concentrate on one instrument, he handles whatever keyboard instrument is called ...

These recently recovered sides constitute an addition to the blues vernacular tantamount to the discovery of a hitherto unknown late Beethoven string quartet. Prior to the release of Studio Sessions: ...

The transformation is complete. Dion DiMucci, once doo-wop king of the New York streets, is a get-down, for-real bluesman. Or don't you think an ex-junkie from the Bronx knows about the blues?

This is the second in what I hope will be a fairly extensive series highlighting some of the terrific performances by old-school blues musicians that can be found online, begun last week with Sister ...

The blues captured me initially by its directness of impact. I have never known a more searing expression of emotion. “The blues is a lowdown shaking chill.” It meant a great deal to me personally and ...

Casual listeners, most of whom don’t normally delve deeply into the Delta blues, are almost always convinced, like so many blues “scholars,” that Robert Johnson was the be-all and end-all when it came ...