A Month of Blues History
March
This is the history of the blues – one month at a time.
March 1
1912 – Blues pianist and singer Walter Davis was born March 1, 1912, in Grenada, Mississippi. A major prewar recording artist, he carried Mississippi roots into the St. Louis piano-blues tradition.
1932 – Saxophonist, drummer and producer Oliver Sain was born March 1, 1932, in Dundee, Mississippi. He worked with artists including Howlin’ Wolf and Little Milton before becoming a central figure in St. Louis blues and soul.
1938 – Chicago blues singer and drummer Johnny Drummer was born March 1, 1938, in Alligator, Mississippi. He became a longtime Chicago club musician and later recorded for Earwig.
March 2
1906 – St. Louis blues singer and guitarist Blind Teddy Darby was born March 2, 1906, in Henderson, Kentucky. His recordings preserve a polished urban-country blues style associated with St. Louis in the prewar era.
1924 – Blues harmonica player Papa George Lightfoot was born March 2, 1924, in Natchez, Mississippi. His fierce amplified harp and small recorded catalog made him a cult figure in postwar Mississippi blues.
1925 – Chicago street bluesman Maxwell Street Jimmy Davis was born March 2, 1925, in Tippo, Mississippi. His music carried Delta roots directly into Chicago’s Maxwell Street performance tradition.
March 3
1893 – Country blues guitarist Bill Moore was born March 3, 1893, in Dover, Georgia. His 1928 Paramount recordings are valued as strong examples of Piedmont and Georgia blues guitar.
1945 – Chicago blues guitarist and singer John Primer was born March 3, 1945, in Camden, Mississippi. He worked with Muddy Waters and Magic Slim before building a major career as a traditional Chicago blues bandleader.
March 4
1908 – Texas country blues guitarist Tom Shaw was born March 4, 1908, in Brenham, Texas. His later recordings preserve a rural Texas blues tradition that survived well beyond the prewar era.
1909 – Multi-instrumentalist Howard “Louie Bluie” Armstrong was born March 4, 1909, in Dayton, Tennessee. His repertoire mixed blues, string-band music, jazz and older Black popular traditions.
1923 – Guitarist Willie Johnson was born March 4, 1923, near Senatobia, Mississippi. His distorted guitar with Howlin’ Wolf’s early band helped create one of the rawest sounds to come out of Memphis blues.
March 5
1888 – Georgia blues singer and guitarist Peg Leg Howell was born March 5, 1888, in Eatonton, Georgia. His Columbia recordings helped document the Atlanta country-blues and string-band tradition of the 1920s.
1929 – Chicago blues singer and guitarist J.B. Lenoir was born March 5, 1929, in Monticello, Mississippi. His high voice, rhythmic guitar and socially conscious songwriting made him one of Chicago blues’ most distinctive figures.
1939 – Macon blues guitarist Johnny Jenkins was born March 5, 1939, in Macon, Georgia. His flamboyant guitar style influenced a young Otis Redding and helped shape Georgia’s electric blues and soul scene.
March 6
1893/1899 – Country blues singer and guitarist Furry Lewis was born March 6, but sources disagree on whether the year was 1893 or 1899. Raised in Memphis, he became one of the great surviving links to the city’s prewar blues tradition.
1909 – Record promoter and songwriter Dave Clark was born March 6, 1909. His behind-the-scenes work with Black artists and labels made him an important figure in the blues and R&B business.
1951 – Blues guitarist Walter Trout was born March 6, 1951, in Ocean City, New Jersey. His career included work with John Lee Hooker, Canned Heat and John Mayall before a long solo run.
March 7
1912 – Blues drummer James “Peck” Curtis was born March 7, 1912, in Benoit, Mississippi. He became a key drummer in the Helena, Arkansas, blues world and played on early King Biscuit Time broadcasts.
1940 – Bukka White recorded “Parchman Farm Blues” in Chicago on March 7, 1940. The session produced some of the most intense prewar Delta blues ever recorded.
1962 – Chicago blues guitarist Chico Banks was born March 7, 1962, in Chicago. He emerged from the West Side tradition and became a respected club performer and recording artist.
March 8
1893 – Mississippi John Hurt was born March 8, 1893, in Teoc, Mississippi. His gentle fingerpicking, subtle singing and songster repertoire became central to the 1960s folk-blues revival.
1935 – Lucille Bogan, recording as Bessie Jackson, cut “Skin Game Blues” in New York on March 8, 1935. The session belongs to the bold final phase of one of classic blues’ most fearless recording careers.
1940 – Bukka White recorded “Fixin’ to Die Blues” in Chicago on March 8, 1940. The performance captured his hammering guitar and urgent vocal style at full force.
March 9
1883 – Pianist and composer George W. Thomas Jr. was born March 9, 1883, in Plum Bayou, Arkansas. His family played a major role in the development of boogie-woogie and early blues piano.
1903 – Blues singer Georgia White was probably born March 9, 1903. She became one of the most prolific female blues recording artists of the 1930s and early 1940s.
1925 – Guitarist Mickey Baker was born March 9, 1925, in Louisville, Kentucky. His blues and R&B session work, instructional books and recordings with Mickey & Sylvia made him one of electric guitar’s important early stylists.
March 10
1884 – Classic blues singer Sara Martin was born March 10, 1884, in Louisville, Kentucky. Her 1920s Okeh recordings often featured top musicians and helped define the vaudeville and classic female blues era.
1938 – Texas blues pianist Dave Alexander, later known as Omar Shariff, was born March 10, 1938, in Shreveport, Louisiana. His music drew heavily from Texas and West Coast boogie-woogie traditions.
1943 – Blues pianist David Maxwell was born March 10, 1943, in Waltham, Massachusetts. He became a versatile accompanist for Freddie King, James Cotton, Otis Rush and many other major blues artists.
March 11
1897 – Sonny Boy Williamson II’s gravestone gives March 11, 1897, as his birth date, although his true birth year remains disputed. As a singer, songwriter and harmonica player, he became one of the defining voices of Delta and postwar electric blues.
1900 – Atlanta country blues guitarist Laughing Charley Lincoln was born March 11, 1900. The brother of Barbecue Bob, he recorded a small but distinctive body of prewar Georgia blues.
1929 – Chicago harmonica player Dusty Brown was born March 11, 1929, in Tralake, Mississippi. He became a respected West Side club musician and recorded for small labels.
March 12
1902 – Boogie-woogie pianist Romeo Nelson was born March 12, 1902, in Springfield, Tennessee. His small recorded catalog is prized for hard-driving Chicago piano blues.
1917 – Chess Records co-founder Leonard Chess was born March 12, 1917, in Motal, Poland. With his brother Phil, he built the label that recorded Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Little Walter and many of the central figures of Chicago blues.
1930 – Blues singer and drummer Mercy Baby, born Julius Mullins, was born March 12, 1930, in Fort Worth, Texas. His records are part of the lively Texas blues and R&B scene of the 1950s.
March 13
1894 – Classic blues singer Clara Smith was born March 13, 1894, in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Her Columbia records made her one of the most successful female blues singers of the 1920s.
1913 – Swamp-blues singer and guitarist Lightnin’ Slim was born March 13, 1913, near St. Louis, Missouri, and raised in Louisiana. His Excello recordings helped define the dark, spare sound of Louisiana swamp blues.
1959 – Chicago blues guitarist Melvin Taylor was born March 13, 1959, in Jackson, Mississippi. His fluid technique grew out of Chicago’s West Side clubs while drawing heavily from jazz and electric blues.
March 14
1914 – Louisiana blues singer and guitarist Robert Pete Williams was born March 14, 1914, in Zachary, Louisiana. His highly personal guitar rhythms and improvised songs made him one of the most original country blues artists discovered in the postwar era.
1927 – Blind Lemon Jefferson recorded “Black Snake Moan” in Atlanta on March 14, 1927, for Okeh. The record became one of the Texas blues master’s best-known performances.
1929 – Hambone Willie Newbern recorded “Roll and Tumble Blues” on March 14, 1929, in Atlanta. His recording became a foundation for later versions by Muddy Waters and many others.
March 15
1905 – Classic blues singer Bertha “Chippie” Hill was born March 15, 1905, in Charleston, South Carolina. Her 1920s recordings with Louis Armstrong and other Chicago musicians are highlights of the classic female blues era.
1911/1912 – Texas blues guitarist Lightnin’ Hopkins was born March 15 in Centerville, Texas, but documentary evidence conflicts between 1911 and the long-cited 1912. His conversational singing and endlessly inventive guitar made him one of Texas blues’ towering figures.
1955 – Fats Domino recorded “Ain’t That a Shame” in New Orleans on March 15, 1955. The record carried Crescent City piano blues and R&B onto the national pop charts.
March 16
1901 – Piedmont blues guitarist Alec Seward was born March 16, 1901, in Charles City County, Virginia. His later recordings preserve an East Coast acoustic blues tradition linked to Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry.
1909 – West Tennessee blues guitarist Son Bonds was born March 16, 1909, in Brownsville, Tennessee. His recordings belong to the same regional tradition as Sleepy John Estes and Hammie Nixon.
1903/1910 – Mandolinist and guitarist Yank Rachell is commonly celebrated on March 16, but sources disagree on his birth year. His long partnership with Sleepy John Estes made him one of blues mandolin’s most important figures.
March 17
1909 – Chicago blues pianist Lovie Lee was born March 17, 1909, in Chattanooga, Tennessee. A longtime club musician, he later recorded with Muddy Waters and under his own name.
1938 – Blues and soul singer Eddie Giles was born March 17, 1938, in Minden, Louisiana. His records blend Gulf Coast blues, Southern soul and deep R&B.
1954 – Los Angeles blues guitarist Hollywood Fats was born March 17, 1954. His deep command of 1940s and 1950s blues guitar made him a cult hero among musicians before his early death.
March 18
1927 – Chicago blues guitarist and singer Big Daddy Kinsey was born March 18, 1927, in Pleasant Grove, Mississippi. He led the Kinsey Report and became a respected elder connecting Delta roots with modern Chicago blues.
1943 – Mississippi blues singer and guitarist Willie King was born March 18, 1943, in Prairie Point, Mississippi. His juke-joint performances and socially conscious songs made him a major late-twentieth-century voice in Alabama and Mississippi blues.
1949 – Acoustic blues musician Lightnin’ Wells was born March 18, 1949, in West Virginia. His repertoire draws deeply from Piedmont blues, old-time music and Southern songster traditions.
March 19
1914 – Blues saxophonist and singer Buster Bennett was born March 19, 1914, in Pensacola, Florida. He became a prominent Chicago blues and R&B bandleader during the 1940s.
1919 – Boogie-woogie pianist Little Walter Mitchell was born March 19, 1919, in Pickens, Arkansas. His work belongs to the broader Southern-to-Chicago piano blues tradition.
1937 – New Orleans singer and pianist Clarence “Frogman” Henry was born March 19, 1937. His distinctive voice and Crescent City R&B hits grew directly from the region’s blues and piano traditions.
March 20
1911 – Memphis blues singer and guitarist Little Buddy Doyle was born March 20, 1911, in Cordova, Tennessee. His 1930s recordings are part of the deep prewar Memphis blues catalog.
1935 – Blues drummer Sam Lay was born March 20, 1935, in Birmingham, Alabama. His drumming powered Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and became a model for electric blues rhythm.
1949 – Texas and Louisiana pianist Marcia Ball was born March 20, 1949, in Orange, Texas. Her music blends Texas blues, New Orleans piano and Gulf Coast swamp rhythms.
March 21
1902 – Delta blues singer and guitarist Son House is commonly listed as being born March 21, 1902, near Lyon, Mississippi, although documentation is not absolute. His explosive singing and slide guitar became a foundation of Delta blues and profoundly influenced Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters.
1924 – Chicago blues pianist Otis Spann was born March 21, 1924, in Jackson, Mississippi, according to the commonly cited date. As Muddy Waters’ longtime pianist, he became the benchmark for postwar Chicago blues piano.
1929 – Chicago blues guitarist Otis “Big Smokey” Smothers was born March 21, 1929, in Lexington, Mississippi. He worked with Howlin’ Wolf and other major Chicago artists before recording under his own name.
March 22
1932 – Texas blues singer and guitarist Juke Boy Bonner was born March 22, 1932, in Bellville, Texas. His songs combined country-blues guitar with vivid commentary on modern Black life.
1932 – Mississippi blues singer and guitarist Leo “Bud” Welch was born March 22, 1932, near Sabougla, Mississippi. He spent decades playing locally before late-life recordings brought his hill-country and gospel-blues style to an international audience.
1967 – Skip James began sessions for his final studio album on March 22, 1967. Over three days he revisited the dark Bentonia repertoire that had made his 1931 Paramount recordings legendary.
March 23
1917/1918 – Blues guitarist Sticks McGhee was born March 23, but sources disagree on whether the year was 1917 or 1918. His “Drinkin’ Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee” became an important bridge between blues, R&B and early rock and roll.
1932 – Blues singer and guitarist Louisiana Red was born March 23, 1932, in Bessemer, Alabama. His intensely personal songs and rough-edged slide guitar made him a distinctive postwar blues voice.
1951 – Kansas City blues harmonica player and singer Lee McBee was born March 23, 1951, in Kansas City, Missouri. His work with Mike Morgan and the Crawl and other bands made him a respected modern traditionalist.
March 24
1924 – Mississippi blues guitarist Boogie Bill Webb was born March 24, 1924, in Jackson, Mississippi. His style blended Mississippi country blues with the New Orleans music he encountered after moving south.
1931 – West Coast blues pianist Gus Jenkins was born March 24, 1931, in Birmingham, Alabama. He recorded blues and R&B sides for several Los Angeles labels and became part of the postwar West Coast scene.
1956 – Bo Diddley recorded “Who Do You Love?” in Chicago on March 24, 1956, for Chess Records. Its pounding rhythm and blues-rooted guitar became one of the most influential grooves in American popular music.
March 25
1904 – Boogie-woogie pianist Pete Johnson was born March 25, 1904, in Kansas City, Missouri. His partnership with Big Joe Turner helped bring Kansas City blues and boogie-woogie to national attention.
1927 – Barbecue Bob recorded “Barbecue Blues” in Atlanta on March 25, 1927, for Columbia. His powerful twelve-string guitar and driving voice made the record a cornerstone of Atlanta blues.
1942 – Aretha Franklin was born March 25, 1942, in Memphis. Although celebrated as the Queen of Soul, her gospel phrasing, piano and deep blues vocabulary made her one of the greatest blues-rooted singers in American music.
March 26
1906 – Georgia blues guitarist Curley Weaver was born March 26, 1906, near Covington, Georgia. Earlier blues calendars sometimes place him on March 25, but March 26 is supported by stronger modern references.
1917 – Memphis singer and entertainer Rufus Thomas was born March 26, 1917, in Cayce, Mississippi. His career connected Beale Street blues, WDIA radio, Sun Records and Stax soul across several generations.
1964 – Willie Dixon recorded “Weak Brain, Narrow Mind” on March 26, 1964. The song shows Dixon the performer as well as the songwriter behind so much classic Chicago blues.
March 27
1905 – Blues pianist and singer Leroy Carr was born March 27, 1905, in Nashville, Tennessee. His smooth urban blues partnership with Scrapper Blackwell influenced generations of singers and pianists.
1915 – Blues guitarist Robert Lockwood Jr. was born March 27, 1915, in Turkey Scratch, Arkansas. The stepson and student of Robert Johnson later became an important session guitarist in Chicago and a major bandleader in Cleveland.
1932 – Blues singer and harmonica player Junior Parker was born March 27, 1932, near Bobo, Mississippi. His Sun and Duke recordings fused Delta blues, Memphis R&B and a remarkably smooth vocal style.
March 28
1887 – Boogie-woogie pianist Cripple Clarence Lofton was born March 28, 1887, in Kingsport, Tennessee. His athletic stage style and pounding Chicago piano made him one of early boogie-woogie’s great showmen.
1941 – Mississippi blues guitarist Robert Petway recorded his first Bluebird session in Chicago on March 28, 1941. The eight-title session included “Catfish Blues,” a song that became deeply embedded in Delta and Chicago blues.
1955 – Memphis singer Sammy Lewis recorded for Sun on March 28, 1955, with guitarist Willie Johnson’s combo. The session produced “I Feel So Worried” and “So Long Baby Goodbye.”.
March 29
1898/1900 – Classic blues singer Mary Johnson was born March 29, but sources disagree on whether the year was 1898 or 1900. Her recordings are part of the important St. Louis and classic female blues tradition.
1914 – Boogie pianist Camille Howard was born March 29, 1914, in Galveston, Texas. Her energetic piano and vocals made her a standout in Roy Milton’s band and on her own West Coast recordings.
1951 – Blues harmonica player William Clarke was born March 29, 1951, in Inglewood, California. His huge tone and chromatic technique made him one of the most influential modern West Coast harp players.
March 30
1914 – Blues harmonica pioneer John Lee “Sonny Boy” Williamson was born March 30, 1914, near Jackson, Tennessee. His Bluebird recordings established the template for Chicago blues harmonica before Little Walter electrified it further.
1931 – Chicago blues singer and pianist Harold Burrage was born March 30, 1931, in Chicago. His gospel-rooted vocals and work with Cobra and Vee-Jay connected blues with the emerging soul sound.
March 31
1905 – Chicago blues pianist Big Maceo Merriweather was born March 31, 1905, in Newnan, Georgia. His powerful piano style influenced Otis Spann, Henry Gray and generations of postwar blues pianists.
1913 – Piedmont guitarist Etta Baker was born March 31, 1913, in Caldwell County, North Carolina. Her elegant fingerstyle guitar preserved a family and regional tradition that reached far beyond the folk revival.
1921 – Blues guitarist and singer Lowell Fulson was born March 31, 1921, in Atoka, Oklahoma. His West Coast career produced enduring songs including “Reconsider Baby” and “Three O’Clock Blues.”.