This is the history of the blues – one month at a time.
November 1
1924 – Blues singer Little Johnny Jones was born November 1, 1924, in Jackson, Mississippi. In 40 short years on earth, Johnny Jones established himself as one of the greatest piano players ever to inhabit the Chicago blues scene.
1992 – On this day back in 1992 Blues City Cafe was born. Oh the stories that can be told over 30 years of sitting on the corner of Second and Beale Street.
1956 – Tommy Johnson on this day in 1956. Although Tommy Johnson left behind only a small body of recorded work, he was one of the most influential blues artists in Mississippi.
November 2
1966 – on this day. Mississippi John Hurt, blues singer and guitarist, died this day in 1966 at the age of 73. Born John Smith Hurt on March 8, 1893 he was raised in Avalon, Mississippi.
1948 – Blues harmonica player and vocalist Mark Wenner was born November 2, 1948, in Washington, D.C. Best known as founder and longtime leader of The Nighthawks, Wenner has spent more than five decades mixing Chicago blues with R&B, rockabilly, country and roots rock.
1955 – Blues and jazz guitarist Danny Caron was born November 2, 1955, in Washington, D.C., and grew up in nearby Silver Spring, Maryland. He began with accordion at age seven, switched to guitar around 11 and absorbed folk, rock, blues and jazz before studying English and music at Oberlin College and later attending the Guitar Institute of Technology in Los Angeles.
November 3
1959 – On Nov 3rd or the 4th in 1959, Elmore James records “The Sky Is Crying” a song he wrote and what would later become a blues standard. It’s called one of his most durable compositions and became a R&B record chart hit and has been interpreted and recorded by numerous artists. It’s a bit of an impromptu song that was inspired by a Chicago downpour during the recording session.
1940 – LOCO FANS – Sonny Rhodes, born Clarence Edward Mauldin in Smithville, Texas, in 1940, lived up to his self-given title as a “Disciple of the Blues. ” Orphaned as a baby and adopted by sharecroppers Leroy and Julia Smith, he received his first guitar at age eight and quickly developed a passion for the blues, inspired by his uncle and early influences like T-Bone Walker, L.C.
1964 – Barbee returned to the United States and used the money from the tour to purchase his first automobile. Ten days after buying the car, he accidentally ran over and killed a man. He was taken to a Chicago jail and died there of a heart attack a few days later, on November 3, 1964, 11 days before his 59th birthday.
1940 – Clarence Smith, born Clarence Edward Mauldin; November 3, 1940 – December 14, 2021, known as Sonny Rhodes, was an American blues singer and lap steel guitar player. He recorded over two hundred songs. “I’m what you call a self-proclaimed Disciple of the Blues.” said Rhodes about his years playing and singing for fans of blues around the world.
November 4
1906 – Delta blues pianist Willie Love was born this day way back on November 4, 1906. Love spent most of his active music career in Greenville, MS which at the time was the center of music in the area.
1911 – Memphis Willie B. was born on November 4 in 1911. He was known for his work with Jack Kelly’s Jug Busters and the Memphis Jug Band; His career was revived in the 1960s after years away from the music industry.
1940 – Blues singer and guitarist Delbert McClinton was born November 4, 1940. He’s also a songwriter, guitarist, harmonica player, and pianist.
November 5
1952 – John Grimaldi. Wait – don’t know that name? Well, you sure know his stage name Studebaker John; This blues guitarist and harmonica player was born in Chicago on this day back in 1952.
1931 – Musician, songwriter, producer, bandleader, and talent scout “Ike” Turner Jr. was born on November 5, 1931 in Clarksdale, Mississippi. His career spanned over five decades and began playing piano and guitar as a child and formed the Kings of Rhythm while still a teenager. In 1951, his group recorded “Rocket 88,” released under Jackie Brenston’s name, a track widely regarded as one of the first rock and roll records.
November 6
1924 – I want to shine a light on an underappreciated blues men by the name of Claude “Blue Smitty” Smith. Who was born November 6, 1924.
1943 – Boston Blackie was born November 6, 1943. This Chicago blues guitarist and singer was born Benjamin Joe “Bennie” Houston in the town of Panola, Sumter County, Alabama.
1949 – Blues singer and guitarist Aurora “Rory” Block was born November 6, 1949. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.
November 7
1934 – Clarence Sims, born November 7, 1934, best known by his stage name, Fillmore Slim, is an American blues vocalist and guitarist with five albums to his credit. During the 1960s and 1970s, he was also a known pimp in San Francisco, referred to several times as “The West Coast Godfather of the Game” and “The Pope of Pimping”.
1938 – Dee Clark’s career was a mix of dazzling highs and frustrating lows, a reminder of how fleeting pop stardom can be. Born Delectus Clark Jr. In Blytheville, Arkansas, in 1938, he grew up in Chicago, where his gospel-singing mother, Essie Mae, encouraged his musical ambitions.
1942 – Johnny Rivers, born John Henry Ramistella; November 7, 1942 is an American musician. He achieved commercial success and popularity throughout the 1960s and 1970s as a singer and guitarist, characterized as a versatile and influential artist.
November 8
1949 – Born in Burbank, California, on November 8, 1949, After picking up the guitar at the age of 12, Raitt felt an immediate affinity for the blues, and after 2 years at Radcliffe in 1967, she had dropped out to begin playing the Boston folk and blues club circuit. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.
1949 – blues legend Bonnie Raitt born November 8, 1949. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.
1913 – Arnold “Gatemouth” Moore lived a life that moved with the rhythm of American music itself,blues to gospel, nightclub stage to pulpit. Born in Topeka in 1913 and raised in Memphis, he came of age with a voice so commanding that, by his own telling, a heckler in Atlanta dubbed him “Gatemouth.”.
November 9
1887 – Blues and ragtime pianist and composer Euday L. Bowman who was born November 9, 1887. He is mostly remembered as the composer of “Twelfth Street Rag”, a popular ragtime composition from 1914 out of a series of rags that Bowman wrote during or after a period in which he worked as a pianist in some bordellos of Kansas City.
1887 – He is best remembered as the composer of “Twelfth Street Rag”. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.
1972 – Carolyn Wonderland, born Carolyn Bradford, November 9, 1972 is an American blues singer-songwriter and musician. She is married to comedian and writer A. Whitney Brown; Carolyn Wonderland was born Carolyn Bradford in 1972 in Houston, Texas, United States; Wonderland dropped out of Houston’s Langham Creek High School to pursue her music ambitions.
1970 – Blues guitarist /Singer/Songwriter Susan Tedeschi was born November 9, 1970 in Boston, Massachusetts. She is a multiple Grammy Award nominee, and is a member of the Tedeschi Trucks Band, a conglomeration of her band, her husband Derek Trucks’s the Derek Trucks Band, and other musicians.
November 10
1938 – Texas blues guitarist James “Thunderbird” Davis was born on November 10, 1938. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.
1936 – Chicago blues guitarist Hip Linkchain was born November 10, 1936. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.
1914 – Self taught blues pianist and singer Wilbert Thirkield “Big Chief” Ellis was born November 10, 1914 in Birmingham, Alabama. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.
November 11
1941 – The song is a moderately slow-tempo twelve-bar blues, notated in 4 4 or common time in the key of B. Oden, as St. Louis Jimmy, recorded it in Chicago on November 11, 1941. It was released as a single by Bluebird Records and featured Oden’s vocal with accompaniment by Roosevelt Sykes on piano and Alfred Elkins on “imitation” bass.
1927 – Jazz-blues piano maestro Mose Allison was born November 11, 1927. This jazz and blues pianist, singer, and songwriter became notable for playing a unique mix of blues and modern jazz, both singing and playing piano.
1927 – Stop and wish a big Happy B’Day to jazz-blues maestro Mose Allison born November 11, 1927. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.
1929 – R&B singer LaVern Baker was born on November 11, 1929 in Chicago. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.
November 12
1906 – Delta blues legend Bukka White was born November 12 in 1906 in Houston, Mississippi. He was a first cousin of B.B. King’s mother.
1944 – The frontman of the band Booker T. & the M.G.’s is none other than Booker T. Jones who was born November 12 in 1944.
1942 – Jim Schwall was an American musician, singer-songwriter, and photographer. He was best known as a co-founder and member of the Siegel-Schwall Band. The artist died June 19, 2022.
November 13
1913 – Jazz and blues singer Louisa “Blue Lu” Barker was born November 13, 1913. Her better-known recordings include “Don’t You Feel My Leg”, 1938. Which she wrote with her husband, “Georgia Grind” and “Look What Baby’s Got for You.”.
1945 – Stax studio guitarist mainstay and legend Bobby Manuel was born November 13, 1945. In the early 1960s he was the lead guitarist for the local band, The Memphis Blazers. He was hired by Stax Records in the late 1960s as an engineer and also quickly began doing studio work as a guitarist, becoming one of the company’s most dependable and oft-used session players.
November 14
1959 – The VERY versatile Valerie Wellington was born November 14, 1959. She was a singer who, in her short career, switched from singing opera to singing Chicago blues and electric blues.
1954 – One of my favorite blues guitarists, Anson Funderburgh was born November 14, 1954 in Plano, TX. He started Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets in 1977 and it’s a sound that incorporates both Chicago blues and Texas blues.
1936 – The Chicago blues harp player Carey Bell was born November 14, 1936. While most often known for his harmonica playing in the Chicago area, he also played bass. Bell played harmonica and bass guitar for other blues musicians from the late 1950s to the early 1970s before embarking on a solo career.
1908 – Country blues singer and guitar player Geeshie Wiley was born November 14, 1908. Some blues historians claim she may well have been the rural South’s greatest female blues singer and musician. Little is known of her life, and there are no known photographs of her; Little is known about Wiley, and the few details of her life provided by various sources are inconsistent.
November 15
1915 – Johnson, Conrad O. [Prof] .Conrad O. “Prof” Johnson, celebrated bandleader, educator, music producer, and musician, was born on November 15, 1915, in Victoria, Texas; The family moved to San Antonio and then settled in Houston when Johnson was nine years old.
1932 – Blues and soul singer Clyde McPhatter was one of those rare voices that that shaped the sound of rhythm and blues, doo-wop, and early rock and roll. Born in Durham, North Carolina, on November 15, 1932 into a Baptist preacher’s family, he grew up singing gospel with his siblings in church, already a soloist by age ten.
1926 – Bo Weavil Jackson remains one of the great mysteries of early country blues. His birthplace and dates of birth and death are unknown. He was among the earliest male country blues singer-guitarists to record, leaving behind a remarkable body of work made during 1926.
1968 – Memphis soul singer Johnnie Taylor. Who replaced Sam Cooke in the Soul Stirrers before starting his solo career, earned his first gold record with “Who’s Making Love.”.
November 16
1924 – Chicago blues guitarist Brewer Phillips who was born November 16, 1924. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.
1931 – The outstanding Chicago blues guitarist Hubert Sumlin was born November 16, 1931. As a member of Howlin’ Wolf’s band, his guitar playing has been called “wrenched, shattering bursts of notes, sudden cliff-hanger silences and daring rhythmic suspensions”.
1873 – The “Father of the Blues” – none other than William Christopher Handy, was born November 16, 1873. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.
November 17
1967 – Louisiana native and cajun blues guitar maestro Tab Benoit was born November 17, 1967. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.
1904 – Blues singer and guitarist L.F. “Jack” Owens was born November 17, 1904 in Bentonia, Mississippi.
November 18
1971 – Sad day back in 1971 when we lost the sweet voice of blues singer and musician Junior Parker who died during brain operation at 39. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.
1874 – Here’s another “Mississippi Ghosts Story”, although this one is from Texas. Henry Thomas is thought to have been born in 1874 and died in 1930.
1928 – Dennis “Long Man” Binder was born November 18, 1928, in Rosedale, Mississippi, and his career reads like a road map of the blues. He sang gospel with his mother and aunts, then got an unforgettable introduction to piano in St. Louis from a female impersonator called “Toots,” who sat Dennis on his knee while playing St. Louis blues.
November 19
1955 – The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.
1970 – Guitarist, singer, record producer, and songwriter Mike Zito was born in St. Louis on November 19, 1970.
1933 – Chicago blues harmonica player Big Leon Brooks was born November 19, 1933, near Sunflower, Mississippi. Inspired first by Sonny Boy Williamson and later coached by Little Walter, Brooks worked with Jimmy Rogers, Otis Rush and Robert Nighthawk before returning to the Chicago scene in the 1970s.
1947 – Amos Milburn recorded ‘Chicken Shack Boogie’ on November 19, 1947, at Universal Studios in Los Angeles. With Milburn on piano and vocals and Maxwell Davis on tenor saxophone, the Aladdin recording became a No. 1 R&B hit and a cornerstone of postwar jump blues.
November 20
1946 – Duane Allman, the blues and rock guitarist, session musician, and founder and original leader of the Allman Brothers Band was born November 20, 1946. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.
1941 – the Voodoo man himself, New Orleans own Dr. John born November 20, 1941. Malcolm John Rebennack Jr. Became “Dr. John” on stage and took the sounds and traditions of New Orleans blues, jazz, and R&B and twisted them into new forms.
1901 – Piedmont blues musician Julius Daniels was born on November 20, 1901. His song “99 Year Blues” appeared on the box set Anthology of American Folk Music and has been covered by Jim Kweskin, Chris Smither, Johnny Winter, Charlie Parr and Hot Tuna on their album Burgers.
November 21
1909 – R&B pianist, bandleader and arranger, and pioneer of the “West Coast” blues style Lloyd Glenn was born November 21, 1909. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.
1923 – blues tenor saxophonist and vocalist John Marshall “Big John” Greer was born November 21, 1923 in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He is best known for his recordings from 1948 to 1956, which included “Got You on My Mind” and “Bottle It Up and Go”.
1913 – K. C. Douglas was an American rural blues singer and guitarist; The artist died October 18, 1975.
November 22
1982 – On November 22, 1982, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble started recording their debut album “Texas Flood” which was released on June 13, 1983 by Epic Records. The album was named after a cover featured on the album, “Texas Flood”, which was first recorded by blues singer Larry Davis in 1958. The LP was produced by the band and recording engineer Richard Mullen.
1899 – Blues piano player, singer and whistler Whistlin’ Alex Moore was born November 22, 1899 in Dallas, Texas. He is best remembered for his recordings of “Across the Atlantic Ocean” and “Black Eyed Peas and Hog Jowls”.
1988 – On November 22, 1988, the state of Texas designated his birthday Alex Moore Day. Moore died of a heart attack on January 20, 1989 in Dallas, aged 89.
November 23
1963 – my friend and an extraordinary blues guitarist and humanitarian, Daniel Ivankovich born this day in 1963. He’s also known as Chicago Slim, and the Right Reverend Doctor D.
1926 – Blues legend R.L. Burnside was born November 23, 1926. He once asked me “what’s the food in the jail like?” when I was helping with sound at one of his shows in Iowa.
1936 – On November 23, 1936, Room 414 of the Gunter Hotel in San Antonio, Texas was the scene of a historic recording session by blues artist Robert Johnson. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.
November 24
1941 – Legendary Stax bass maestro Duck Dunn was born November 24, 1941. If you only know him from the Blues Brothers, read on.
1969 – Chicago blues saxophonist John Thomas “J. T.” Brown on this day in 1969. This ultimate side man recorded with some of the biggest names in the blues.
1896 – Jazz and blues singer Rosa Henderson was born Rosa Deschamps on November 24, 1896, in Henderson, Kentucky. From the moment she stepped onto a stage, she was destined to be heard. With a voice that could fill a hall and a presence that could stop conversation mid-sentence, she became one of the most popular female blues and vaudeville singers of the Harlem Renaissance.
1923 – Earlee “Earl” Payton was born November 24, 1923, in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and became one of those Chicago bluesmen whose fingerprints are easier to hear than his name is to find. He took up harmonica at 15, drawing inspiration from both Sonny Boy Williamsons, John Lee Williamson and Rice Miller, along with Memphis Slim, Yank Rachell and Memphis Minnie.
November 25
1914 – Blues great Eddie Boyd born November 25, 1914, This blues pianist/singer/songwriter was best known for his recordings in the early 1950s, including the number one R&B chart hit “Five Long Years”. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.
1928 – Chicago blues guitarist Jimmy Johnson was born November 25, 1928 in Marshall County, Mississippi. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.
1943 – Blues harp player Jerry Portnoy was born November 25, 1943 in Evanston, Illinois. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.
November 26
1907 – Jazz and blues pianist “Kansas City” Frank born November 26, 1907. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.
1965 – Blues guitarist Bernard Allison was born November 26, 1965 in Chicago. He is the son of blues guitarist Luther Allison.
1941 – Amos Garrett, born November 26, 1941 is an American-Canadian blues and blues-rock musician, guitarist, singer, composer, and musical arranger. He has written instructional books about music and guitar. Garrett holds dual citizenship and was raised in Toronto and Montreal.
1941 – Garrett was born in Detroit, Michigan on November 26, 1941. When he was five, his family moved to Toronto, Ontario. He studied piano and trombone at the Royal Conservatory of Music of Toronto.
November 27
1935 – Albert J. Jackson Jr. was an American drummer, producer, and songwriter. He was a founding member of Booker T; & the M.G.’s, a group of session musicians who worked for Stax Records and produced their own instrumentals; Jackson was affectionately dubbed “The Human Timekeeper” for his drumming ability; The artist died October 1, 1975.
1913 – Mr. Q was born November 27, 1913. He is an old hep-cat whose music just makes you have to smile; A self-taught pianist, he has fashioned his own sound by mixing the piano styles of Art Tatum, Earl Hines and Oscar Peterson interspersed with songs by the Ink Spots; How We Helped: Since connecting with Music Maker in 1991, Mr.
1972 – I want to tell you about Trix Records. Which was an American independent record label set up in 1972 by the folklorist Peter B. Lowry.
November 28
1978 – Briefcase Full of Blues, the debut album by The Blues Brothers, Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi, released on November 28, 1978, by Atlantic Records. It is among the highest-selling blues albums of all time.
1928 – Blues musician Little Sammy Davis was born November 28, 1928. His music career began in the 1940s, but he was not widely known until the mid-1990s, when he began working in radio, singing, performing on tour, and recording studio albums.
1946 – Soul blues singer Blues Boy Willie was born November 28, 1946 in Memphis, Texas and released ten albums and a string of singles in a long career. His real name was William McFall and was influenced jointly by his grounding in gospel and Junior Parker’s recordings.
November 29
1933 – The Godfather of British Blues, John Mayall, was born November 29, 1933. He was an early proponent of promoting the blues in England.
1894 – Early blues diva and recording artist Lucille Hegamin was born November 29, 1894. The entry documents a date-specific milestone in the subject’s blues career and biography.
1925 – “Sunshine” Sonny Payne was born on November 29, 1925 in Helena, Arkansas. Payne was the host of the King Biscuit Time radio show on KFFA in Helena, Arkansas from 1951 until his death. In 2010 he was nominated for induction into the Blues Hall of Fame.
1914 – Albennie Jones, also credited as Albinia Jones, was an American blues and jazz singer who recorded in the mid and late 1940s. Biography. The artist died June 24, 1989.
November 30
1909 – Bluesman Robert Lee McCollum who you may know better as Robert Nighthawk was born November 30, 1909. He was the father of the blues musician Sam Carr. Nighthawk was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1983.
1915 – Piedmont-style blues singer and guitarist Brownie McGhee was born November 30, 1915. He’s best known for his collaboration with the harmonica player Sonny Terry.
1956 – Texas blues guitarist Smokin’ Joe Kubek was born November 30, 1956, in Grove City, Pennsylvania, and grew up around Dallas. He was playing the Texas circuit as a teenager, worked around Freddie King, and later built a long-running partnership with singer-guitarist Bnois King.