A Month of Blues History
June
This is the history of the blues – one month at a time.
June 1
1905 – Delta blues singer, guitarist and songwriter Boyd Gilmore was born June 1, 1905. Some sources instead give June 12, 1910.
2018 – In 2018, Eddy Clearwater earned a reputation early in his career as a colorful and versatile entertainer, one whose onstage flamboyance belied his soft-spoken nature. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.
June 2
1905 – Roosevelt Baby Brooks was born on June 2, 1905, and remains one of the more elusive figures in early country blues, a player whose story survives mostly through fragments and associations rather than a large recorded legacy. He was active in the Carolinas during the late 1920s and early 1930s, working the same regional circuits that nurtured Piedmont blues.
1907 – Othar “Otha” Turner was born on June 2, 1907. He stands as one of the last great masters of the North Mississippi fife and drum tradition, a deep-rooted African American musical form tied to 19th-century hill country culture.
1917 – Blues pianist and guitarist Leonard “Baby Doo” Caston was born June 2, 1917. He is best noted for the tracks “Blues at Midnight” and “I’m Gonna Walk Your Log”.
June 3
1924 – Chicago blues guitarist Jimmy Rogers was born June 3, 1924. He was best known for his work as a member of Muddy Waters’s band in the early 1950s.
1941 – Tony Hollins recorded “Crosscut Saw Blues” in Chicago, Okeh C-3845-1. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.
1897 – Memphis Minnie was born June 3, 1897. She’s the most popular and prolific blueswoman outside the vaudeville tradition.
June 4
1931 – On June 4, 1931, Delta blues master Bo Carter recorded “I Love That Thing” in New York City, adding another sly and suggestive entry to the catalog that made him one of the most colorful figures in prewar blues. Released on OKeh Records as the flip side of “Pin in Your Cushion,” the song showcased Carter’s trademark mix of smooth guitar playing, double-entendre lyrics, and relaxed vocal delivery.
1940 – On June 4, 1940, blues singer Gene Gilmore recorded “The Natchez Fire” in Chicago, one of the earliest musical responses to the horrific Rhythm Club fire in Natchez, Mississippi. The tragedy had occurred just weeks earlier on April 23, 1940, when a packed dance hall burst into flames during a performance by Walter Barnes and His Royal Creolians.
1963 – On June 4, 1963, Texas blues giant Lightnin’ Hopkins entered Rudy Van Gelder’s famed Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey studio to record the album Goin’ Away for the Bluesville label. Backed only by bassist Leonard Gaskin and drummer Herbie Lovelle, Hopkins delivered one of the most intimate and atmospheric recordings of his long career.
June 5
1883 – Country blues singer and guitarist Lil McClintock was born on June 5, 1883. Not much is known about McClintock’s personal life, before or after he recorded four sides for Columbia Records.
1940 – Big Jack Johnson was a celebrated Mississippi blues guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter known for his intense live performances and gritty, Delta-rooted music. Born in Lambert, Mississippi, in 1940, he rose to prominence with The Jelly Roll Kings and had a long solo career, earning acclaim from Living Blues magazine and appearing in the influential documentary Deep Blues.
June 6
1936 – Born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on June 6, 1936, Raful Neal became one of the most respected voices in Louisiana swamp blues, known for his gritty singing and soulful harmonica playing. Raised on a tenant farm in Chamberlin in West Baton Rouge Parish, Neal grew up surrounded by gospel, field songs, and country blues traditions that shaped his raw, emotional sound.
1930 – Born in Carthage, Texas, on June 6, 1930, Samuel Payne “S. P.” Leary became one of the most respected drummers in Chicago blues, known for his steady grooves, tasteful backing, and ability to drive a band without overpowering the music. Though rarely a household name, Leary played behind some of the greatest blues artists of the twentieth century and helped shape the sound of classic postwar electric blues recordings.
1954 – Born in Stonington, Connecticut, on June 6, 1954, Sugar Ray Norcia became one of the leading voices in modern electric blues and soul blues, celebrated for his rich vocals, expressive harmonica playing, and decades of work with Sugar Ray & the Bluetones. Influenced by classic Chicago blues artists and jump blues performers, Norcia developed a style that blended gritty harmonica with smooth, soulful phrasing rooted in tradition but polished for contemporary audiences.
June 7
2009 – President Jimmy Carter decrees June as Black Music Month. Which Barack Obama changes to African American Music Month in 2009. #Blues #BluesMusic #BluesGuitar #BLM #BlackLivesMatter.
1949 – Chicago blues singer Shirley Johnson was born June 7, 1949, in Franklin, Virginia. After moving to Chicago, she developed a gritty soul-blues style influenced by Koko Taylor, Etta James and Ruth Brown.
June 8
1946 – Born on June 8, 1946, James Harman grew up in Anniston, Alabama, where music surrounded him from the start. He began piano lessons at four and sang in his local church choir, but it was the harmonicas tucked inside his father’s piano bench that changed everything.
1979 – Slide guitar master Derek Trucks was born June 8, 1979. He displays a command of slide guitar styles running the gamut from blues to classic R&B and early rock & roll to classic jazz.
1906 – Born in Bolton, Mississippi, on June 8, 1906, Willie Morris was a country blues singer and guitarist whose music reflected the raw, deeply personal sound of rural Mississippi blues traditions. Though he never achieved widespread commercial fame, Morris became part of the generation of Delta and hill country musicians whose performances preserved older styles of acoustic blues long after popular music trends had shifted toward electric instruments and urban sounds.
June 9
1934 – Born into a sharecropping family in Fayetteville, North Carolina, on June 9, 1934, guitarist James Edgar “Wild Jimmy” Spruill became one of the great unsung heroes of rhythm and blues guitar. Though rarely a headline performer, his explosive playing appeared on many major R&B and early rock recordings during the 1950s and 1960s.
1929 – Born John Marshall Alexander Jr. On June 9, 1929, in Memphis, Tennessee, Johnny Ace became one of the biggest rhythm-and-blues stars of the early 1950s.
1917 – Born in Waxahachie, Texas, on June 9, in either 1913 or 1917, blues musician and producer Carl Jones became an important behind-the-scenes figure in Chicago blues. Though never a major star himself, Jones played a key role in recording and promoting many influential blues artists during the postwar era through his independent record labels and deep involvement in Chicago’s South Side music scene.
June 10
1928 – Schoolboy Cleve, born Cleveland White on June 10, 1925, in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, was a hard-driving blues harmonica player closely tied to the Louisiana swamp blues scene. Best known for his work with Lightnin’ Slim, he also performed and recorded with legends including Sonny Boy Williamson II, Muddy Waters, and Buddy Guy.
1924 – Born in Tchula, Mississippi, on June 10, 1924, Arlean Brown, sometimes billed as Arelean or Arlene Brown, became one of Chicago blues’ most overlooked but powerful female vocalists. Raised in a large musical family, she was related to blues and soul singer Lee Shot Williams, while her brother George Brown played guitar with Howlin’ Wolf for several years.
1943 – John “Broadway” Tucker is an American blues and soul singer known for his powerful, heartfelt vocal style rooted in the traditions of the Mississippi Delta and Memphis. He was born on June 10, 1943, in Dermott, Arkansas, a region deeply connected to the early development of blues music.
June 11
1949 – Born in Frankston, Texas, on June 11, 1949, Frank Beard became one of the most recognizable drummers in blues-rock history as the rhythmic backbone of ZZ Top. Ironically, Beard spent decades as the only member of the legendary Texas trio without a long beard, though his powerful groove and understated style helped define the band’s sound.
1928 – On June 11, 1928, Joe “King” Oliver and his Dixie Syncopators recorded “West End Blues” for Brunswick Records, creating one of the most influential compositions in early jazz and blues history. Written by Oliver, the tune was rooted in the New Orleans tradition but quickly became a standard that reshaped jazz improvisation and trumpet playing for generations.
1979 – Blues guitarist Monster Mike Welch was born June 11, 1979. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.
June 12
1934 – Born in Aberdeen, Mississippi, on June 12, 1934, George W. Robinson, better known as “Harmonica George” Robinson, remains one of the more mysterious figures connected to Chicago blues history.
1977 – Born in Shreveport, Louisiana, on June 12, 1977, Kenny Wayne Shepherd became one of the biggest blues-rock guitar stars of the modern era. Inspired by Muddy Waters and other blues legends from his father’s record collection, Shepherd taught himself guitar at age seven and never took a formal lesson.
1983 – J.B. Hutto on this day in 1983.
June 13
1928 – On June 13, 1928, itinerant street musician Henry “Ragtime Texas” Thomas recorded “Fishing Blues,” one of the most enduring songs of the prewar country blues era. The session took place in Chicago for Vocalion Records during Thomas’ second series of recordings.
1928 – Henry “Ragtime Texas” Thomas recorded “Fishing Blues.”. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.
1928 – Blues singer and guitar player Lafayette Thomas was born June 13, 1928. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.
June 14
1929 – “Forty-Four” or “44 Blues” is a blues standard whose origins have been traced back to early 1920s Louisiana. However, it was Roosevelt Sykes. Who provided the lyrics and first recorded it in 1929, that helped popularize the song.
1941 – Chicago bass player “Queen Sylvia” Embry was born June 14, 1941 in Wabbeska, Arkansas. For a period of time in the ‘70s and ‘80s, it appeared that Queen Sylvia was going to emerge as one of Chicago’s leading blues women.
1931 – Autry DeWalt Mixon Jr. , known professionally as Junior Walker, was an American multi-instrumentalist, primarily saxophonist and vocalist who recorded for Motown during the 1960s.
June 15
1938 – Chicago blues singer and bass guitarist Aron Burton was born on June 15, 1938. In a long career as a sideman he played with Freddie King, Albert Collins and Junior Wells and released a number of solo albums.
1943 – David Raskin, who performed as Kal David, was an American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter, whose 50-year musical career in Illinois, New York, and California extended through various phases, including a highly regarded stint with Columbia Records in the early 1970s. Born in Chicago, Illinois, United States, Raskin began using the performing name “Kal David” in his late teens as the frontman of his neighborhood band, Kal David.
1923 – Bessie Smith recorded “Midnight Blues” in New York City for Columbia Records. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.
June 16
1938 – The song blues standard “Love with a Feeling” was first recorded by Tampa Red in on this day in 1938 in Chicago. Numerous blues artists have interpreted and recorded the song, and when Freddie King adapted it in 1961, it became his first single to appear in the record charts.
1904 – Born on June 16, 1904, Joe Brown emerged from Wagoner, Oklahoma, of African American and Cherokee heritage, and became a key behind-the-scenes figure in postwar Chicago blues. Though not widely known as a performer, Brown played a crucial role in shaping the recorded sound of urban blues during its formative years, helping bring raw, club-based music into the studio.
1980 – “The Blues Brothers”, starring Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi, and directed by John Landis, premieres in Chicago, Illinois. It was released nationally 4 days later.
June 17
1934 – HEY LOGO FANS – Born on June 17, 1934, in Inola, Oklahoma, Flash Terry, born Verbie Gene Terry, became a foundational figure in the development of blues and early blues rock in Oklahoma. Growing up in a region where rural traditions met emerging electric sounds, he developed a tough, expressive guitar style and a voice shaped by both Delta influence and postwar urban blues.
1985 – Blues singer, guitarist, and songwriter Matt Hill was born on June 17, 1985, in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Inspired by his uncle’s records, especially Creedence Clearwater Revival, Hill taught himself guitar as a teenager and quickly developed a passion for blues and roots music.
1944 – Ezra Charles, born June 17, 1944, in Texarkana, Texas, United States is the stage name of Charles Helpinstill Jr, founder of the company of the same name which makes portable amplified pianos for stage performance. A singer, pianist, songwriter, and bandleader, Charles had his start performing with Johnny Winter and Edgar Winter in Beaumont, Texas.
June 18
1929 – A bit of blues history for you. On June 18, 1929, Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie recorded “When the Levee Breaks” for Columbia Records in New York City.
1925 – A pioneer of the St. Louis blues scene, Herman “Ace” Wallace was born on June 18, 1925, in St. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.
1884 – Blues singer Sara Martin was born on June 18, 1884, in Louisville, Kentucky, and became one of the most successful classic female blues singers of the 1920s. Known as “The Famous Moanin’ Mama” and sometimes called “The Colored Sophie Tucker,” she built a strong reputation on the African American vaudeville circuit with her powerful voice, dramatic stage presence, and elaborate costumes.
June 19
1956 – Blues singer, guitarist, and songwriter Bill Morganfield was born on June 19, 1956, in Chicago, Illinois. He is the eldest son of blues legend Muddy Waters, but he was raised primarily in southern Florida by his grandmother and had limited contact with his famous father while growing up.
1945 – marked the birth of Robert Palmer, born Robert Franklin Palmer Jr. In Little Rock, Arkansas, a figure who would become one of the most influential interpreters of blues and American popular music.
1926 – Henryette Davis recorded “Jazzaphobia Blues.”. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.
June 20
1933 – Swamp blues great Lazy Lester was born Leslie Johnson on June 20, 1933, near Torras, Louisiana, just outside Baton Rouge. One of the defining voices of Louisiana swamp blues, Lester became known for his relaxed vocals, expressive harmonica playing, and a string of influential recordings for Excello Records during the 1950s and 1960s.
1934 – Louis “Kid Thomas” Watts was born on June 20, 1934, in Sturgis, Mississippi, and became one of the most energetic performers in early rock and blues. After moving to Chicago as a child, he learned harmonica and immersed himself in the city’s thriving blues scene.
June 21
1931 – Joe Medwick, probably born Medwick N. Veasey though some sources suggest Joe Medwick Masters or Joe Medwick Veasey, was an American rhythm and blues singer and songwriter.
1956 – Nora Jean Bruso, born June 21, 1956 is an American Chicago and electric blues singer and songwriter. She has penned over 700 songs, and worked with Carl Weathersby and Dave Specter.
1941 – After moving to Chicago at age 18, Jones became heavily influenced by gospel artists including O.V. Wright, Johnnie Taylor, and the Spirit of Memphis Quartet.
June 22
1949 – On this day in 1937 Leadbelly recorded “Rock Island Line” in Washington, D.C. It was one of many recordings he made during his career, the last being live at the University of Texas at Austin on June 15, 1949.
1909 – Elga Speed Edmonds was born on June 22, 1909, in Urbana, Illinois, and became one of the most important yet often overlooked drummers in Chicago blues history. Although some early discographies incorrectly listed him as “Elgin Evans,” he never used that name professionally.
1928 – Turner Foddrell was an American Piedmont blues and folk acoustic guitarist, singer and songwriter. He performed locally, nationally, and in Europe, both as a solo artist and with his brother, Marvin.
June 23
1913 – Born June 23, 1913, in Louisville, Kentucky, Helen Humes became one of the most versatile vocalists in American music, moving effortlessly between blues, jazz, swing, and pop standards. Raised in a musical household by educator Emma Johnson and attorney John Henry Humes, she began singing in church and performing locally as a child before recording her first blues sides for Okeh Records at age 14 with encouragement from guitarist Sylvester Weaver.
1938 – Born on June 23, 1938, in Bolton, Mississippi, Lucille Spann, born Mahalia Lucille Jenkins, rose from a gospel-rooted upbringing into a respected voice in Chicago’s blues community during the 1960s and 1970s. The ninth child in her family, she endured early hardship after losing her mother before age five, and was raised by her father and sisters.
1941 – John “Deacon John” Moore, born June 23, 1941 is a blues, rhythm and blues and rock and roll musician, singer, actor, and bandleader. Moore was given the name “Deacon” by one of his band members.
June 24
1956 – Chicago blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter Michael Coleman was born on June 24, 1956. He was voted one of the top 50 bluesmen in the world by Guitar World magazine.
1920 – Texas blues guitarist Lester Williams was born June 24, 1920. He is best known for his song “Winter Time Blues” and “I Can’t Lose with the Stuff I Use”.
1941 – The blues classic “Worried Life Blues” was recorded on June 24, 1941. Big Maceo recorded it in Chicago and it later became a blues standard.
June 25
1948 – Peggy Scott-Adams, born Peggy Stoutmeyer on June 25, 1948, in Opp, Alabama, became one of the most distinctive voices in Southern soul and blues. Raised in Pensacola, Florida, she began performing as a teenager and toured with Ben E.
1949 – Billboard trade magazine substitutes “Race Records” with “Rhythm and Blues.”. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.
1949 – Billboard changed the name of its “Race Records” chart to “Rhythm & Blues Records” on June 25, 1949, reflecting a major shift in the music industry’s terminology for the market that included blues, jump blues and emerging R&B. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.
June 26
1942 – Samuel Lawrence “Larry” Taylor was born on June 26, 1942, in New York City and became one of the most respected bass players in blues and rock. Best known as a member of Canned Heat, he earned the nickname “The Mole” and helped drive the band’s signature sound during the height of the blues-rock era.
1903 – Blues singer, pianist, and songwriter James Burke “St. Louis” Jimmy Oden was born on June 26, 1903, in Nashville, Tennessee.
1893 – Big Bill Broonzy was one of the most influential blues musicians of the twentieth century. His career began in the 1920s and evolved from rural country blues to the urban Chicago sound before he became an international star during the folk-blues revival of the 1950s.
June 27
1927 – Chicago blues pianist and organist Johnny “Big Moose” Walker was born on June 27, 1927, in Stoneville, Mississippi. A highly respected sideman, Walker was known for his powerful piano style, soulful organ playing, and ability to perform on several instruments, including bass guitar.
1940 – Memphis Minnie recorded “Ma Rainey” in Chicago for OKeh, 05811. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.
June 28
1919 – Born on June 28, 1919, in Shoal Creek, Arkansas, Bonnie Jefferson was a country blues singer and guitarist whose career remained largely under the radar despite her talent and deep roots in traditional Southern blues. Often referred to as the “Arkansas Blues Lady,” Jefferson developed a style grounded in the rural blues traditions of the Mississippi Delta and Arkansas, performing both acoustic and electric blues with a repertoire that blended older standards and contemporary material.
1928 – Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five recorded “West End Blues.”, OKeh, 8597. 1928-06-28 Louis Armstrong makes 78 recording of “West End Blues”.
1915 – David Honeyboy Edwards was one of the final living links to the original Delta blues era and among the last musicians known to have traveled and played with Robert Johnson. Born June 28, 1915, in Shaw, Mississippi, Edwards developed a raw, deeply authentic blues style shaped by hard living and years spent roaming the South.
June 29
1952 – Born on June 29, 1952, in New York City, Michael Hill emerged as one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary blues. Unlike many blues artists whose roots traced directly to the Mississippi Delta or Chicago, Hill developed his sound in the South Bronx, blending traditional blues with rock, funk, reggae, R&B, and socially conscious songwriting.
1934 – Thomas “Little Junior” Kennedy – Very little verified information survives about Thomas Little Junior Kennedy, one of many shadowy figures who drift through early blues history like a late-night radio signal fading in and out of the Delta air. Sources indicate Kennedy was born on June 29, 1934, though details about his birthplace, family, and early life remain largely undocumented.
June 30
1908 – Born June 30, 1908, in Sealy, Texas, Jewell Long was a little-known but deeply expressive Texas blues musician whose surviving recordings captured the raw spirit of rural blues. Equally skilled on piano and guitar, Long spent most of his life working as a laborer rather than a professional musician, part of a generation of blues artists whose music lived mainly in local gatherings, front porches, and community dances rather than commercial studios.
1914 – “Uncle” Joe Cooper was a Mississippi Delta blues guitarist and singer whose life and work exemplified the persistence of rural blues traditions into the late 20th century. He was probably born on June 30, 1914 in Yazoo County, Mississippi, part of a region deeply rooted in the development of Delta blues.