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 ...

My harmonica lesson is squeezed in between those for students far shorter and far younger than me, so waiting my turn is a weekly reminder not to aim for an octave I’m unlikely to reach. It’s not that ...

IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more. This harmonica was made by M. Hohner ...

In the mid-1800s, a German harmonica manufacturer named Hohner started exporting his product to North America. Being relatively inexpensive, relatively easy to play and extremely portable, the ...

Every once in a while, the mail brings a CD that sparks a small revelation. A few months back, a two-disc anthology arrived called “Blues Harp Women,” and until that moment I didn’t realize that my ...

Why are we asking for donations? Why are we asking for donations? This site is free thanks to our community of supporters. Voluntary donations from readers like you keep our news accessible for ...

Mississippi blues harp player James Cotton was certainly considered lucky for the break he got joining Muddy Waters’ band in the late 1950s, taking over a spot previously held by such venerated ...

ASPEN Several years ago, after meeting and jamming with DJ Logic at a San Francisco benefit concert, John Popper put together the John Popper Project. The quartet, a side gig from Popper’s day job as ...

No one know when the harmonica first got the blues, but WC Handy reported hearing train imitations being played on the instrument in the 1870s, and by the 1920s, after Mamie Smith hit with Crazy Blues ...