A Month of Blues History
February
This is the history of the blues – one month at a time.
February 1
1923 – Chicago blues singer, drummer and guitarist Baby Face Leroy Foster was born February 1, 1923, in Algoma, Mississippi. A formative member of Muddy Waters’ early Chicago circle, he recorded with Waters and Little Walter and helped push the city’s blues toward a harder electric sound.
1939 – Blues singer Rosetta Crawford recorded “My Man Jumped Salty on Me” on February 1, 1939. The record belongs to the late prewar classic-blues tradition and preserves one of the many strong female voices working outside the biggest-name blues catalogs.
1960 – Four Black college students began the Greensboro sit-in on February 1, 1960, at a segregated Woolworth’s lunch counter in North Carolina. The protest helped ignite a national sit-in movement that reshaped the civil-rights landscape surrounding Southern Black music and culture.
February 2
1901 – Mississippi Sheiks guitarist Walter Vinson was born February 2, 1901, in Bolton, Mississippi. His singing and guitar work helped define the Sheiks’ blend of blues, fiddle music and string-band traditions.
1929 – Chicago blues singer Andrew Tibbs was born February 2, 1929, in Columbus, Ohio. Raised in Chicago, he became one of the most striking early postwar blues vocalists on Aristocrat Records, the label that soon became Chess.
1952 – B.B. King’s “3 O’Clock Blues” reached No. 1 on Billboard’s R&B chart in early February 1952. The breakthrough transformed King from a promising Memphis performer into a national blues star.
February 3
1911 – Texas and Louisiana blues guitarist Jesse “Babyface” Thomas was born February 3, 1911, in Logansport, Louisiana. His career stretched from prewar country blues into later electric and revival-era recordings.
1928 – Tommy Johnson recorded “Big Road Blues” in Memphis on February 3, 1928. With Charlie McCoy accompanying, Johnson cut one of the defining records of early Mississippi blues.
1935 – Chicago blues guitarist Jody Williams was born February 3, 1935, in Mobile, Alabama. His precise, inventive guitar work appeared on records by Bo Diddley, Howlin’ Wolf and other Chess-era artists.
February 4
1883 – Alabama street bluesman Rufus “Tee Tot” Payne was born February 4, 1883, in Lowndes County, Alabama. He is remembered as an important early musical mentor to Hank Williams, teaching him blues guitar, rhythm and improvisation.
1910 – Texas blues guitarist Tom Shaw was born February 4, 1910, in Brenham, Texas. His country-blues repertoire and later field recordings preserved an older Texas guitar tradition well into the revival era.
1938 – Blues singer and guitarist Joe Beard was born February 4, 1938, in Ashland, Mississippi. After settling in Rochester, New York, he became a respected working bluesman closely associated with Son House during House’s rediscovery years.
February 5
1898 – Memphis Jug Band leader Will Shade was born February 5, 1898, in Memphis, Tennessee. Earlier sources often gave 1893, but National Park Service and other research support 1898. Shade’s harmonica, guitar and organizational skill made the Memphis Jug Band a cornerstone of early Memphis blues.
1934 – Chicago blues harmonica player Little Arthur Duncan was born February 5, 1934, in Indianola, Mississippi. He became a longtime club musician on Chicago’s West Side and later recorded strong traditional electric blues for Delmark.
February 6
1913 – West Coast blues producer and pianist Bob Geddins was born February 6, 1913, in Highbank, Texas. After settling in Oakland, he became a key architect of postwar Bay Area blues as a songwriter, producer and independent label owner.
1934 – Mandolinist Yank Rachell recorded blues material on February 6, 1934, during the prewar era when mandolin still had a place in Southern blues. His long career later connected Sleepy John Estes’ generation to the 1960s revival.
1936 – Blues singer Bumble Bee Slim recorded on February 6, 1936, during his prolific Chicago period. Slim was one of the most frequently recorded blues artists of the mid-1930s.
February 7
1929 – Clarinetist Johnny Dodds led a Hot Six recording session in Chicago on February 7, 1929. Though rooted in jazz, Dodds’ work remained tightly connected to the blues language and Chicago’s early Black recording scene.
1934 – New Orleans guitarist, singer and songwriter Earl King was born February 7, 1934. His songs and records linked New Orleans blues and R&B with later artists including Professor Longhair, Fats Domino and Stevie Ray Vaughan.
1934 – Tenor saxophonist King Curtis was born February 7, 1934, in Fort Worth, Texas. His muscular R&B and blues phrasing made him a first-call session player and an important bridge between blues, soul and early rock and roll.
February 8
1899 – Blues guitarist and singer Lonnie Johnson was born February 8, 1899, in New Orleans. His sophisticated single-string guitar work transformed blues accompaniment and influenced generations of jazz and blues guitarists.
1928 – Detroit blues guitarist Eddie Burns was born February 8, 1928, in Belzoni, Mississippi. After moving north he worked with John Lee Hooker and became a durable representative of Detroit electric blues.
1929 – Texas blues and R&B pianist Floyd Dixon was born February 8, 1929, in Marshall, Texas. His West Coast recordings blended jump blues, Texas piano and early rhythm and blues.
February 9
1917 – Blues singer and saxophonist Arbee Stidham was born February 9, 1917, in De Valls Bluff, Arkansas. His smooth urban blues style brought him national R&B-chart success in the late 1940s.
1936 – Multi-instrumentalist Johnny Heartsman was born February 9, 1936, in San Fernando, California. He became an important West Coast blues musician, working as a guitarist, keyboardist, flutist and bandleader.
February 10
1908 – Piedmont blues guitarist Willie Trice was born February 10, 1908, in Hillsborough, North Carolina. His music belongs to the same Carolina blues tradition associated with Blind Boy Fuller and Reverend Gary Davis.
1915 – Mississippi Delta broadcaster Early Wright was born February 10, 1915, near Clarksdale. His decades on WROX made him one of the most important Black radio voices in the Delta and a vital promoter of blues and gospel.
1916 – Blues and R&B singer Oscar “T.V. Slim” Wills was born February 10, 1916, near Bethany, Louisiana. His regional hit “Flat Foot Sam” became a Gulf Coast favorite and a durable piece of swamp-blues history.
February 11
1914 – Blues singer and guitarist Josh White was born February 11, 1914, in Greenville, South Carolina. His career carried Piedmont blues, spirituals and protest songs from Southern streets to major concert halls.
1937 – Texas blues guitarist Phillip Walker was born February 11, 1937, in Welsh, Louisiana. His clean, cutting guitar style connected Gulf Coast, Texas and West Coast blues traditions.
1940 – Mississippi blues singer and guitarist Big Bad Smitty was born February 11, 1940, in Vicksburg. After moving north, he developed a hard-edged electric style rooted in Delta and Chicago blues.
February 12
1900 – Piedmont blues singer and guitarist Pink Anderson was born February 12, 1900, in Laurens, South Carolina. His street, medicine-show and country-blues repertoire became one of the best-known examples of the Carolina tradition.
1920 – Record producer Bob Shad was born February 12, 1920, in New York City. Through labels and production work, he recorded blues and R&B artists including Lightnin’ Hopkins and helped preserve important postwar sessions.
1935 – New Orleans drummer Charles “Hungry” Williams was born February 12, 1935. His powerful backbeat drove classic Crescent City R&B sessions and helped shape a rhythm style closely tied to blues and early rock and roll.
February 13
1919 – Blues guitarist John Lee Henley was born February 13, 1919, in Mississippi. His small recorded legacy is valued by collectors of down-home Southern blues.
1954 – Guitar Slim’s “The Things That I Used to Do” reached No. 1 on Billboard’s R&B chart on February 13, 1954. Recorded with Ray Charles arranging and playing piano, it became one of the biggest blues hits of the decade.
1964 – Mississippi Fred McDowell recorded “Kokomo Blues” on February 13, 1964. The performance preserved his hypnotic North Mississippi slide style during the height of the folk-blues revival.
February 14
1893 – Songwriter and producer Perry Bradford was born February 14, 1893, in Montgomery, Alabama. He helped persuade Okeh to record Mamie Smith in 1920, a breakthrough that opened the commercial race-record market to blues singers.
1911 – Mississippi blues guitarist Belton Sutherland was born February 14, 1911, near Camden, Mississippi. Alan Lomax later filmed and recorded him, preserving a powerful example of local country-blues tradition.
1937 – West Side Chicago guitarist Magic Sam was born February 14, 1937, in Grenada, Mississippi. His stinging guitar, urgent vocals and Cobra and Delmark recordings helped define the modern West Side blues sound.
February 15
1896/1901 – Blues slide guitarist Kokomo Arnold is commonly listed as being born February 15, but reliable sources disagree on whether the year was 1896 or 1901. His rapid bottleneck style made him one of the most prolific Chicago-based country blues recording artists of the 1930s.
1954 – Big Joe Turner recorded “Shake, Rattle and Roll” in New York on February 15, 1954, for Atlantic Records. The record became a major R&B hit and one of the clearest bridges from jump blues into rock and roll.
1965 – Fenton Robinson recorded “Somebody Loan Me a Dime” on February 15, 1965, in Chicago. His original version established the song as one of modern blues’ great slow-burning standards.
February 16
1915 – Detroit blues guitarist Calvin Frazier was born February 16, 1915, in Osceola, Arkansas. A onetime associate of Robert Johnson, he carried Delta-rooted blues north and recorded for labels including Chess.
1951 – Mississippi blues guitarist and singer Super Chikan was born February 16, 1951, in Darling, Mississippi. His handmade guitars, humor and deeply local style made him one of the Delta’s most recognizable contemporary performers.
1963 – Texas blues-rock guitarist Chris Duarte was born February 16, 1963, in San Antonio. His style draws heavily from Texas blues guitar traditions, especially Stevie Ray Vaughan and the Austin scene.
February 17
1926 – Jump-blues saxophonist Noble “Thin Man” Watts was born February 17, 1926, in DeLand, Florida. His driving tenor sound became a fixture of R&B revues and later blues-festival stages.
1930 – The Mississippi Sheiks recorded “Sitting on Top of the World” on February 17, 1930, in Shreveport, Louisiana. The song became one of the most enduring blues standards ever recorded.
1949 – Texas drummer, singer and songwriter Doyle Bramhall was born February 17, 1949, in Dallas. His career intertwined with Jimmie and Stevie Ray Vaughan and the modern Texas blues revival.
February 18
1922 – Blues singer and drummer Thomas “Sunnyland” Charles was born February 18, 1922, in Tennessee. He became part of the Chicago blues club and session world after moving north.
1941 – Soul and blues singer Irma Thomas was born February 18, 1941, in Ponchatoula, Louisiana. The “Soul Queen of New Orleans” built a career on church-rooted vocals, blues feeling and classic Crescent City R&B.
1958 – Big Joe Williams recorded “Baby Please Don’t Go” for Delmark on February 18, 1958, in Chicago. The session brought his raw nine-string guitar and Delta-country blues to a new generation of listeners.
February 19
1917 – Piedmont blues guitarist Bull City Red was born February 19, 1917, in Durham, North Carolina. He recorded and performed in the same regional world as Blind Boy Fuller and Sonny Terry.
1936 – Blues harmonica player Sam Myers was born February 19, 1936, in Laurel, Mississippi. He became a respected singer, drummer and harp player and later fronted Anson Funderburgh & the Rockets.
February 20
1895/1898 – Boogie-woogie pianist Jimmy Yancey was born February 20, but sources disagree on the year, most often giving 1895 or 1898. His deceptively simple, rolling piano style became a foundation of Chicago boogie-woogie.
1918 – Blues singer Beulah Bryant was born February 20, 1918. Her recorded work belongs to the lesser-known but important stream of women’s blues and R&B in the mid-twentieth century.
1962 – Lightnin’ Hopkins recorded the topical “Happy Blues for John Glenn” on February 20, 1962, the day astronaut John Glenn orbited the Earth. Hopkins turned breaking news into Texas blues almost immediately.
February 21
1903 – Piedmont blues guitarist Scrapper Blackwell was born February 21, 1903, in Syracuse, South Carolina. His elegant guitar partnership with pianist Leroy Carr produced some of the most influential urban blues records of the 1920s and 1930s.
1928 – Blues guitarist Palmer McAbee was born February 21, 1928. His work belongs to the underdocumented regional blues tradition preserved through later research and collecting.
1938 – Blues singer and guitarist Jimmy Hicks Riley was born February 21, 1938. His career connected Southern blues traditions with later electric performance.
February 22
1906 – Blues singer and guitarist Bill Jackson was born February 22, 1906. His surviving recordings form part of the deeper prewar blues catalog beyond the best-known names.
1928 – Texas blues guitarist and singer Texas Johnny Brown was born February 22, 1928, in Ackerman, Mississippi. After moving to Houston, he became a major sideman for Amos Milburn, Ruth Brown and Bobby “Blue” Bland.
1932 – Blind Willie McTell recorded “Searchin’ the Desert for the Blues” in Atlanta on February 22, 1932. The session captured McTell’s ringing twelve-string guitar and sophisticated Piedmont-Georgia style.
February 23
1926 – Chicago blues guitarist Jimmy Johnson was born February 23, 1926, in Holly Springs, Mississippi. His fluid guitar and sophisticated vocals made him one of the strongest modern representatives of Chicago’s postwar tradition.
1926 – Louis Armstrong recorded “Trouble in Mind” on February 23, 1926. Though Armstrong was a jazz giant, his blues phrasing and repertoire were central to the development of recorded Black popular music.
February 24
1919 – Blues harmonica player Driftin’ Slim was born February 24, 1919, in Arkansas. He became part of the electric blues world that developed around West Helena, Memphis and later California.
1924 – Piedmont blues guitarist John Jackson was born February 24, 1924, in Woodville, Virginia. His fingerpicked blues, ballads and dance tunes preserved an older Virginia country-blues tradition.
1936 – Chicago blues bassist Willie Kent was born February 24, 1936, in Inverness, Mississippi. A longtime club musician, he became one of the city’s most respected traditional blues bandleaders.
February 25
1912 – Blues singer and guitarist Big Boy Spires was born February 25, 1912, in Natchez, Mississippi. After moving to Chicago, he recorded tough electric blues for Chance and other small labels.
1937 – Chicago blues guitarist Andrew Brown was born February 25, 1937, in Jackson, Mississippi. His precise guitar work and recordings for small labels made him a favorite among serious blues collectors.
1945 – Big Maceo Merriweather recorded in Chicago on February 25, 1945, during his influential Bluebird period. His heavy left hand and rolling piano style shaped postwar Chicago blues pianists including Otis Spann.
February 26
1923 – Bessie Smith recorded “Gulf Coast Blues” on February 26, 1923, in New York City. The session helped launch her Columbia recording career and introduced one of the greatest voices in classic blues to a mass audience.
1928 – New Orleans pianist and singer Fats Domino was born February 26, 1928. His rolling piano and relaxed vocals carried New Orleans blues and R&B into the center of early rock and roll.
1947 – Blues harmonica player Paul Oscher was born February 26, 1947, in Brooklyn. He joined Muddy Waters’ band in the late 1960s and became one of the few white musicians to live and work inside Waters’ South Side blues world.
February 27
1911 – Louisiana blues guitarist Clarence Garlow was born February 27, 1911, in Welsh, Louisiana. His “Bon Ton Roula” fused blues, Creole rhythm and Gulf Coast dance music into a regional classic.
1928 – New Orleans guitarist Roy Montrell was born February 27, 1928. His session work and touring with artists such as Roy Milton made him an important rhythm guitarist in early R&B and blues.
1943 – Chicago blues guitarist Jimmy Burns was born February 27, 1943, in Dublin, Mississippi. His music connects Delta roots, doo-wop, soul and traditional Chicago blues.
February 28
1930 – Blues singer Jesse Fortune was born February 28, 1930, in Macon, Mississippi. In Chicago he became a powerful club singer associated with Buddy Guy and the city’s West Side blues scene.
1941 – Blues guitarist Bobby Foster was born February 28, 1941. His work belongs to the wider postwar electric blues tradition preserved on regional recordings.
1958 – Chuck Berry recorded “Johnny B. Goode” in Chicago on February 28, 1958, for Chess Records. Though a rock-and-roll landmark, the record grew directly from Berry’s blues guitar vocabulary and the Chess studio culture shared with Chicago blues artists.