African-American History Month "Takes a rockin' chair to rock"
What do you call a rewrite of a cover of a great original blues song? One of the best known early blues songs in history. Somewhere in...
African-American History Month - "he's my man"
Here’s a tribute to Valentine’s Day from the past. The story of Frankie and Albert (or Johnny) tells of love, betrayal and murder. That...
African-American History Month - muted history
Johnny Dunn was a Memphis original, a hard working musician playing the Metropolitan on Beale Street (where the New Daisy now sits) and...
African-American history month - "to keep, love and to hold"
The young man had a string of hits and the support of two 1950’s rhythm and blues giants. He started life in Memphis as the son of a...
African-American History Month - "shake it up"
On this day in 1963, the Beatles recorded ten of fourteen tracks for their first album. Wait, I thought we were talking about...
African-American History Month - Besting the best
Louis Jordan, Cootie Williams and Johnny Hodges all worked for him at some point. He gave teenaged Ella Fitzgerald her start. Bandleaders...
African-American History Month - Infinite infamy?
I can imagine them facing off on a rainy night just like this, blood in the gutter. They were gambling and drinking, these two men on the...
African-American History Month - Next time you hear a guitar solo..
Creator, groundbreaker, innovator. He was a multi-instrumentalist but focused on the guitar. He affected the music of every city or...