Ray Charles was one of the most iconic and influential artists in the annals of pop as a singer, songwriter and pianist, and while he is considered one of the godfathers and great innovators of soul... more

Hudson Whittaker, better known as Tampa Red, was a hugely prolific and influential blues guitarist, singer and songwriter, an innovative slide guitarist and the first black musician to play a... more

Bobby Bland, often known as Bobby "Blue" Bland, was one of the best blues, R&B and soul singers of the post-war era, recognised as one of the finest interpreters of blues-influenced songs, comparable... more

The guitar-playing right-hand man of Leroy Carr also recorded a lot under his own name, and that's the focus here: 43 tracks that take us from Blackwell's 1928–35 original prime on Vocalion, Gennett,... more

Himself a Chicago bootlegger during the Prohibition, this Georgia native made a name for himself as a Windy City bluesman after the Prohibition ended, making Decca recordings of his own songs that... more

After cutting his teeth with Howlin' Wolf, B.B. King and Bobby "Blue" Bland, Little Junior broke out on his own and developed his own signature style blending downhome blues and a smoother uptown... more

Armed with guitar, jug, kazoo, banjo, mandolin, harmonica, washboard and percussion, the Memphis Jug Band were a tremendously entertaining unit, mixing blues with infectious humor and an... more

T-Bone Walker was among the first to amplify his guitar, making him unquestionably one of the most important pioneers of the electric blues sound— specifically the style most closely associated with... more

Eugene "Buddy" Moss, one of 12 children of a family of sharecroppers, was a blues singer guitarist and harmonica player from Georgia, and was one of what became known as the Piedmont school of... more