Steve Knopper

As anybody who ever heard his 1961 hit "Quarter to Three" can verify, Gary U.S. Bonds always sounds like the happiest man at the house party. His first release in...

Guitar Shorty Watch Your Back (Alligator) Had Guitar Shorty been a bigger name in this heavy, grooving style in the '50s and '60s, he might be remembered as a forefather...

Since the great Luther Allison died in 1997, no blues guitarist has stepped in to fill the space. But here's a vote for Chicagoan Jody Williams, Allison's fast-fingered equal, a...

It's not enough to say Otis Taylor, a Chicago-born singer and guitarist who grew up in Denver, takes an unconventional approach to the blues. He all but reinvents it. The...

Jessie Mae Hemphill Get Right Blues (High Water/Inside Sounds) An electric guitarist with rhythmic instincts on par with John Lee Hooker and Bo Diddley, Jessie Mae Hemphill of Como, Miss.,...

Kenny Neal and Billy Branch Double Take (Alligator) Any blues fan's first stop at the CD store for "My Babe" should be Little Walter's version. Same with Muddy Waters and...

Fat Possum Records, which has scared up unknown Mississippi blues talent for more than a decade, is in a rough period. "Everything in this business [is] in short supply: our...

The original "Dirty Dancing" movie left many questions unanswered: Why didn't this 1987 megasmash turn Jennifer "Baby" Grey into a mega-star? Who in God's name convinced Swayze to sing "She's...

Big Bill Morganfield Blues in the Blood (Blind Pig) If Big Bill Morganfield were a lounge singer, say, or a rapper, blues fans wouldn't rush to compare him to his...

Corey Harris Mississippi to Mali (Rounder) Although Martin Scorsese's recent PBS series "The Blues" wasn't as consistently powerful as blues fans had hoped, the "GoodFellas" director's personal installment was an...