Blues History – May

A Month of Blues History
May

This is the history of the blues – one month at a time.

May 1

1936 – Lacy Gibson was an American Chicago blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He notably recorded the songs “My Love Is Real” and “Switchy Titchy” and in a long and varied career worked with Buddy Guy and Son Seals.

1930 – Little Walter was born on May 1, 1930, in Marksville, Louisiana, and few could have foreseen how Marion Walter Jacobs would redefine the blues harmonica forever. Arriving in Chicago as a teenager in 1946, Walter quickly immersed himself in the electric blues scene.

1890 – Ada Scott Brown was born on May 1, 1890 in Kansas City, Kansas. And she would grow into one of the most dynamic and internationally touring blues and jazz vocalists of her era. Billed in her day as the “Queen of Blues,” Brown began singing in church as a child before launching her professional career around 1910 at Bob Mott’s Pekin Theatre in Chicago.

May 2

1931 – Connie Mack Booker, born on May 2, 1931 in Edinburg, Texas and raised in Houston, became a vital but under-documented figure in post-World War II rhythm & blues and blues music. By his late teens he was playing clubs in Houston, a city that was emerging as a major incubator of electric blues and R&B in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

1941 – Big Bill Broonzy recorded “Key To The Highway” and “When I Been Drinking,” along with Jazz Gillum on harmonica, and Washboard Sam on washboard, in Chicago, Illinois. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.

1925 – May 2, 1925 marked the birth of Bob Myers, a Chicago blues guitarist and singer whose name may not headline festival posters, but whose work threads quietly through the postwar electric blues story. Emerging during the 1940s and 1950s as Chicago became the epicenter of amplified blues, Myers built his reputation in neighborhood clubs and on small-label recordings that captured the city’s raw, after-hours sound.

May 3

1939 – Electric blues lap steel guitarist and singer Freddie Roulette carved out one of the most distinctive sounds in modern blues by blending Hawaiian steel guitar traditions with Chicago-style electric blues. His story began on May 3, 1939, in Evanston, Illinois, where a childhood encounter with a steel guitar at St.

1946 – Sacramento blues singer Bobby “Blues” Ray earned a reputation across Northern California for a soulful voice rooted in gospel and traditional blues. His journey began on May 3, 1946, in Crossett, Arkansas, where church music shaped his earliest influences.

1914 – Homesick James Williamson was born on May 3, 1914, in Tennessee. The slide guitarist became a durable Chicago blues figure, worked closely with Elmore James, and carried the amplified bottleneck tradition through decades of recordings and touring.

May 4

1938 – Soul-blues great Tyrone Davis was born May 4, 1938, in the Greenville, Mississippi, area, according to his funeral program, his own 2000 oral-history interview and the Mississippi Encyclopedia. October 3, 1937 circulates widely, but the primary evidence favors May 4, so this birthday belongs in May.

1923 – Gladys Brown recorded “Beale Street Mama” and “Tired O’ Waitin’ Blues.”. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.

May 5

1937 – The blues standard “Good Morning, School Girl” was recorded on May 5, 1937, by pioneering blues vocalist and harmonica player John Lee “Sonny Boy” Williamson. The session took place in Aurora, Illinois, during Williamson’s first recording date for Bluebird Records, a label that would document many of the era’s influential blues artists.

1959 – Born May 5, 1959, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Michael Frank has played a unique role in modern blues, not just as a harmonica player, but as a producer, manager, and tireless advocate for traditional artists. Drawn to the blues as a teenager, he began collecting records and learning harmonica, building a foundation rooted in classic Delta and Chicago styles.

1918 – Born May 5, 1918, in Davila, Texas, Erbie Bowser became a cornerstone of Texas blues, jazz, and boogie-woogie piano, known for a style that blended church roots with deep blues feeling. Raised in Palestine, Texas, in a musical family, Bowser learned piano early and sang in church, developing an ear-driven approach that stayed with him throughout his career.

May 6

1916 – Homer Harris, Drew, MS – Homer Harris remains one of the more elusive figures in postwar blues, a singer whose brief recording career offers a fascinating glimpse into Chicago’s transition from Delta roots to electric sound. Born in Drew, Mississippi, in 1916, Harris came of age in the same fertile Delta environment that shaped a generation of future blues innovators before eventually relocating north to Chicago.

1927 – Sippie Wallace recorded “Dead Drunk Blues”, “Have You Ever Been Down”, Lazy Man Blues”, and “The Flood Blues” while in Chicago, for the Okeh label. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.

1952 – Sunny Blair recorded “Please Send My Baby Back.”. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.

May 7

1926 – Chicago blues drummer and vocalist Kansas City Red, born Arthur Lee Stevenson on May 7, 1926, in Drew, Mississippi, helped shape the transition from Delta roots to the hard-driving urban blues sound. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.

1966 – Lazer Lloyd, born Lloyd Paul Blumen on May 7, 1966, is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist whose music blends blues, Americana, rock, folk, and psychedelic influences with heartfelt lyrics about life and struggle. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.

1905 – Piedmont blues singer and guitarist Admirl Amos Easton, better known as Bumble Bee Slim, entered the world on May 7, 1905, in Brunswick, Georgia, and went on to become one of the most prolific recording artists of the 1930s. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.

May 8

1977 – Blues-rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter Joe Bonamassa was born May 8, 1977, in New Hartford, New York, and raised in nearby Utica. He picked up guitar at age four, guided by his father’s record collection. Which leaned heavily on British blues icons like Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck.

1910 – Mary Lou Williams, born Mary Elfrieda Scruggs. May 8, 1910 – May 28, 1981 was an American jazz pianist, arranger, and composer. She wrote hundreds of compositions and arrangements and recorded more than one hundred records, in 78, 45, and LP versions.

1893 – Time for another Mississippi Ghost story, although this one may be from Alabama. Barrelhouse pianist and singer Charlie Spand remains one of the most elusive figures in early blues.

May 9

1949 – Bob Margolin, known as “Steady Rollin’,” was born May 9, 1949, in Boston, Massachusetts, and became one of the most respected torchbearers of Chicago electric blues. Deeply influenced by Muddy Waters, he joined Waters’ band in 1973, remaining a key guitarist through 1980 and appearing on landmark tours and recordings during the blues revival era.

1938 – Henry Ford Thompson, a Memphis-born blues guitarist and singer, built a reputation as a passionate, grassroots performer whose life reflected the working roots of the music. His story begins in Memphis, Tennessee, where a childhood fascination with sound led him, by age eight, to fashion homemade one-string instruments and experiment with rhythm and tone.

1926 – A.C. Reed, born May 9, 1926, in Wardell, Missouri, became one of the defining sax voices of postwar Chicago blues.

May 10

1935 – Born May 10, 1935, in New Orleans, Louisiana, Larry Williams emerged as one of the most electrifying figures of 1950s rhythm and blues and early rock and roll, combining pounding piano, sharp songwriting, and a swagger that helped define the era. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.

1952 – Born May 10, 1952, in Chicago, Illinois, Maurice John Vaughn built a versatile career as a guitarist, saxophonist, keyboardist, and singer, becoming a respected figure in the city’s modern blues scene. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.

1909 – Blues guitarist Theodore “Ted” Bogan was born on May 10, 1909 in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.

May 11

1905 – Blues guitarist Kansas Joe McCoy was born May 11, 1905 in Raymond, Mississippi. He was the older brother of the blues accompanist Papa Charlie McCoy.

1908 – Lewis Anderson “Rabbit” Muse was a Virginia-born blues singer, guitarist, and ukulele player whose life bridged early rural traditions and the later folk-blues revival. His story begins May 11, 1908, in Rocky Mount, Virginia, where he grew up in a deeply musical family, his father playing guitar and banjo and his mother accordion.

1965 – Clifton Chenier recorded “Haricorts Et Pas Sale” and “Louisiana Blues.”. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.

May 12

1936 – Blues singer Georgia White recorded her version of “Trouble in Mind” in Chicago on May 12, 1936, during a prolific run of sessions for Decca Records. Backed by piano, guitar, and bass, the recording reflects the polished, urban blues sound that defined much of her work in the mid-1930s.

1951 – Floyd Dixon recorded “Tired, Broke, And Busted,” a track that captures the shifting sound of early 1950s rhythm and blues as it edged toward rock ’n’ roll. Born February 8, 1929, in Marshall, Texas, Dixon had already built a reputation on the West Coast for blending blues, jump rhythms, and a smooth, piano-driven vocal style.

1952 – On May 12, 1952, Little Walter stepped into a Chicago studio and cut a track that would change the sound of the blues forever. Backed by Muddy Waters on guitar, along with Jimmy Rogers and Elga Edmonds, Walter recorded the instrumental “Juke,” released later that year on Checker Records.

May 13

1930 – On May 13, 1930, Sleepy John Estes recorded “Street Car Blues” in Memphis, Tennessee, during one of his earliest and most important sessions. Backed by longtime collaborators Yank Rachell on mandolin and Jab Jones on piano, the recording captures the intimate, small-combo sound that defined the Brownsville blues style.

1945 – Richard Salwitz, better known as Magic Dick, carved out a singular place in modern blues harmonica. Born May 13, 1945, in New London, Connecticut, he first trained on trumpet and saxophone before finding his voice on the harmonica, an instrument he would help redefine in rock and blues.

1938 – Louis Armstrong recorded “When The Saints Go Marching In” for Decca. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.

May 14

1934 – Grady Gaines, born May 14, 1934, in Waskom, Texas, grew into one of the most electrifying saxophonists in postwar R&B and blues, a horn man whose sound could cut through any bandstand. Raised in Houston’s Fifth Ward after his family relocated in 1943, he came up in a vibrant but segregated scene that helped shape his grit and style.

1902 – Here’s another of Mississippi Ghost story, except this one is from Louisiana. Willard “Ramblin’” Thomas, a shadowy but influential figure in early country blues, was born in 1902 in Logansport, Louisiana.

1951 – On May 14, 1951, Howlin’ Wolf stepped into Sam Phillips’ Memphis Recording Service and cut what would become one of the most important early electric blues records, “Moanin’ at Midnight. ” Backed by a small but powerful band that included Ike Turner on piano, Willie Johnson on guitar, and Willie Steele on drums, Wolf delivered a performance that sounded unlike anything else on record at the time.

May 15

1924 – On May 15, 1924, “Trouble in Mind” was first recorded by singer Thelma La Vizzo with composer Richard M. Jones at the piano, introducing a song that would become one of the most enduring standards in blues history.

1938 – Larry Johnson, born May 15, 1938, in Wrightsville, Georgia, developed into a distinctive voice in country blues, blending Piedmont picking with a modern, urban edge. The son of a traveling preacher, he grew up hearing records by Blind Boy Fuller, whose style helped shape Johnson’s early approach to guitar.

1944 – Napoleon Robert “Iron Jaw” Harris, born May 15, 1944, in Marianna, Arkansas, was a little-documented but compelling figure in postwar blues, a singer whose nickname hinted at both toughness and a commanding vocal presence. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.

May 16

1948 – Johnny Nicholas, born May 16, 1948, in Providence, Rhode Island, built a career rooted in traditional blues, boogie-woogie, and Gulf Coast sounds, blending authenticity with restless curiosity. As a teenager he formed early bands before co-founding the Black Cat Blues Band with Duke Robillard, Fran Christina, and Steve Nardella, cutting their teeth on Chicago-style blues and British R&B influences.

1932 – Born May 16, 1932 in Grenada, Mississippi, Big George Brock lived a life that reads like a rolling blues lyric, part sharecropper, part fighter, and all music. By age eight he was picking cotton, growing up in a world where, as he put it, “the blues grew like grass out of the ground. ” His father taught him harmonica early, planting the seeds for a lifelong connection to the instrument.

1961 – Mose Allison recorded six titles on May 16, 1961, with bassist Aaron Bell and drummer Osie Johnson. The material later appeared on Takes to the Hills, also reissued as V-8 Ford Blues, linking Allison’s jazz piano language directly to blues standards and originals.

May 17

1967 – American blues singer and guitarist Albert King recorded his classic “Born Under a Bad Sign” on May 17, 1967. The song became an R&B chart hit for King, and numerous blues and other musicians have made it perhaps the most recorded Albert King song.

1962 – Sam “Lightnin’ Hopkins” recorded eight songs live at The Second Fret in Philadelphia, PA, including the humorous “Ain’t It Crazy”. The recordings were released on an album as “Hootin’ The Blues”.

1942 – Blues master Taj Mahal, born May 17, 1942, has spent more than half a century stretching the boundaries of what blues can be, and making it feel right at home everywhere from the Mississippi Delta to the South Pacific. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.

May 18

1900 – Blues guitarist Little Son Joe was born on May 18, 1900. His birth name is Ernest Lawlars in Hughes, Arkansas, and not much is known of his early life.

1911 – Big Joe Turner was born May 18, 1911. The premier blues shouter of the postwar era, Big Joe Turner’s roar could rattle the very foundation of any gin joint he sang within, and that’s without a microphone.

1985 – Texas blues and boogie-woogie pianist Robert Shaw died in Austin on May 18, 1985. Shaw, born in Stafford, Texas, preserved the barrelhouse piano tradition associated with Texas roadhouses and was documented by Arhoolie Records.

May 19

1936 – “Dust My Broom” traces its roots to the Delta, first recorded as “I Believe I’ll Dust My Broom” in 1936 by Robert Johnson. Cut in San Antonio during his brief but legendary recording career, the track featured Johnson’s driving acoustic guitar, built around a hypnotic boogie rhythm and repeating triplet figure that pushed beyond earlier blues patterns.

1902 – Monette Moore, born May 19, 1902, in Gainesville, Texas, emerged as a versatile voice bridging classic female blues and early jazz. Raised in Kansas City, she taught herself piano and began working as a theater musician before moving into recording during the early 1920s.

1939 – Monroe Jones Jr., born May 19, 1939, in Skene, Mississippi, carried the Delta blues tradition north to Chicago. Where he earned the nickname “Little Monroe” for his deep command of the B.B. King style.

May 20

1896 – Country blues harmonica and guitar player and singer Burl C. “Jaybird” Coleman was born May 20.

1901 – Jimmy Blythe, born May 20, 1901, in South Keene, Kentucky, helped shape the early sound of boogie-woogie before most people even knew what to call it. The son of former sharecroppers, he picked up piano by ear after hearing ragtime players, then headed to Chicago in 1917, where the city’s nightlife and recording industry gave him room to grow.

1931 – Bentonia harmonica player Benjamin “Bud” Spires was born in Anding, Mississippi, on May 20, 1931. A longtime musical partner of Jack Owens, Spires helped preserve the distinctive Bentonia blues tradition later carried forward by Jimmy “Duck” Holmes.

May 21

1955 – On this day in 1955 Chuck Berry recorded ‘Maybellene’ at Universal Recording Studios, Chicago, Illinois. The song adapted in part from the Western swing fiddle tune ‘Ida Red’.

1952 – Vernon Harrington, born in 1953, grew up in a deeply musical Chicago family rooted in the city’s West Side blues tradition. His father, Houston Harrington, founded the Atomic H label, recording blues and gospel acts, including cousin Eddy Clearwater.

1969 – Lil’ Dave Thompson, born May 21, 1969, in Jackson, Mississippi, carried the raw pulse of hill country blues into a modern era. Raised in a musical family, his father Sam Thompson played alongside legends like Asie Payton and James “Son” Thomas, and by age nine, Thompson was already working out his own guitar voice.

May 22

1940 – Gerald Lawrence “Philadelphia” Jerry Ricks was born on May 22, 1940, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and grew into one of the most well-traveled ambassadors of country blues. He first picked up the trumpet as a child, but by the late 1950s had switched to guitar, performing in local coffeehouses during the height of the folk and blues revival.

1910 – Blues pianist Aaron “Pinetop” Sparks was born May 22, 1910 in Corona, Mississippi and was active in St. Louis in the early 1930s.

1930 – Otha Lee Moore entered the world on May 22, 1930, in Chicago, and under the name Tiny Topsy built a reputation as one of the most powerful, underrated voices in 1950s R&B. Raised in Robbins, Illinois, she began singing in the mid-1940s, fronting Al Smith’s band, where her booming delivery quickly set her apart.

May 23

2021 – Blues harmonica player James Harman was born May 23, 2021, on June 8, 1946, in Anniston, Alabama He grew into one of the most respected blues harmonica players on the West Coast. Music journalist Tony Russell described him as “an amusing songwriter and an excellent, unfussy blues harp player,” a reputation he backed up night after night onstage.

1918 – Blues and jazz pianist Abie “Boogaloo” Ames was born May 23, 1918 on the Big Egypt Plantation in Cruger, Mississippi. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.

2002 – On May 23, 2002, Buddy Guy was among the standout winners at the W. C. Handy Awards, presented by the Blues Foundation in Memphis, Tennessee, an event widely regarded as the highest honor in blues music;

May 24

1915 – John Arthur Lee was born on May 24, 1915, in Mount Willing, Alabama, into a family where music was part of daily life. He developed his slide guitar technique early, influenced by his uncle Ellie Lee. Who used a knife as a slide, and by recordings from artists like Blind Blake, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and Leroy Carr.

1944 – Patricia Louise Holte, born May 24, 1944, known professionally as Patti LaBelle, is an American R&B singer and actress. She has been referred to as the “Godmother of Soul”.

1935 – John Sandifer, born May 24, 1935, in Jackson, Mississippi, carved out his place in blues history under the name Mississippi Johnny Waters, a tribute to his deep admiration for Muddy Waters. Drawn to the electric blues sound that was reshaping the genre, he carried that influence with him when he relocated to Oakland, California, in 1956, becoming part of the growing West Coast blues scene.

May 25

1905 – Time for another “Ghosts of Mississippi” story. This one is about the Delta blues singer Mattie Delaney. Who was born sometime in 1905 and died sometime after 1930.

1915 – Gene Phillips was a pioneering jump blues guitarist and singer whose work helped bridge swing, rhythm and blues, and early electric blues. Born May 25, 1915, in St.

1907 – Creole George Guesnon was a New Orleans jazz and blues banjoist, guitarist, and singer whose career connected early jazz traditions with mid-century revival scenes. Born May 25, 1907, in New Orleans, Louisiana, he picked up the ukulele as a boy before turning to banjo and guitar, developing a rhythmic style rooted in the city’s Creole musical culture.

May 26

1921 – Richard Leslie Henry, known as Big Boy Henry, was a Piedmont blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter whose life bridged coastal labor and traditional blues. Born May 26, 1921, in Beaufort, North Carolina, he grew up in nearby New Bern. Where he learned from local guitarist Fred Miller, first as an apprentice and later as a performing partner at juke joints and fish suppers along the coast.

1891 – Blues Diva Mamie Smith was born May 26 in 1891. In 1920, she entered blues history as the first African American artist to make vocal blues recordings.

1909 – Blues guitarist and mandolin player Papa Charlie McCoy was born May 26, 1909. He was one of the major blues accompanists of his time.

May 27

1927 – Brother John Sellers was born on May 27, 1924, in Clarksdale, Mississippi, and grew up immersed in the sounds of gospel tent shows, where his powerful voice first took shape. Discovered by Mahalia Jackson, he was brought to Chicago and toured with her in the 1940s, gaining national exposure through the gospel circuit.

2017 – Gregg Allman this day in 2017. A founding member of The Allman Brothers Band, they fused blues, rock, and country together in a unique sound.

May 28

1930 – On May 28, 1930 Delta blues musician Son House recorded “Walkin’ Blues” or “Walking Blues” in Grafton Wisconsin back in 1930. Although unissued at the time, it was part of House’s repertoire and other musicians, including Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters, adapted the song and recorded their own versions.

1930 – Country Jim Bledsoe was a Louisiana blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist who recorded for several independent labels in the late 1940s and early 1950s while based in Shreveport, Louisiana. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.

1917 – Blues violinist Papa John Creech was born May 28, 1917. In addition to blues, he also played classical, jazz, R&B, pop and acid rock music.

May 29

1918 – Blues guitarist Lazy Bill Lucas was born May 29, 1918. He was part of the birth of the Chicago blues scene during the 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s, later moving to Minneapolis, becoming an important part of that city’s blues history.

1962 – Ray Charles won the “Best R&B Recording” Grammy for his “Hit The Road Jack”, written by Percy Mayfiled. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.

May 30

1939 – Born on May 30, 1939, King Ernest Baker came out of Natchez, Mississippi, steeped in a family where music ran as deep as the river mud. His father played slide guitar in Southern honky-tonks, and young Ernest learned early, sometimes sitting on his father’s knee, sometimes passing a cup for tips.

1965 – Rick Holmstrom, born May 30, 1965, in Fairbanks, Alaska, built a career blending traditional blues with modern experimentation. Raised in a musically aware household, he moved to Southern California. Where he immersed himself in the blues scene, performing with players like Smokey Wilson and Junior Watson.

1930 – Here’s a little info about the early years of Howlin’ Wolf…aka Chester Burnett. In 1930, Burnett met Charley Patton, the most popular bluesman in the Mississippi Delta at the time.

May 31

1923 – On May 31, 1923, blues vocalist Callie Vassar recorded “All Night Blues,” part of a small but historically important body of work from the early race record era. Cut during a single session that also produced titles like “Maybe Someday,” the recording featured accompaniment associated with pianist and bandleader Richard M.

1927 – Jazz saxophonist James Wesley “Red” Holloway was born on May 31, 1927 in Helena, Arkansas. He started playing banjo and harmonica, switching to tenor saxophone when he was 12 years old.

1945 – Bobby Allen Hodge, born May 31, 1945, better known as Catfish Hodge, is an American blues musician. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.