blues

The Grammy winner and former Late Show bandleader unravels the crisscrossing threads of musical lineage from Beethoven's own personal blues to the musical art form that undergirds Batiste's Louisiana roots.

NPR's Scott Simon speaks with the son of the co-founder of the legendary blues label Chess Records. Marshall Chess has released a new album, "The Chess Project."

A massive and closely held collection of blues music and research from the 1950s and 60s is seeing the light of day.

Shemekia Copeland just won the Critics Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album of 2022 by Living Blues magazine, as well as the magazine's female Blues Artist Of The Year.

NPR's Scott Detrow talks with Smithsonian curator John Troutman and blues musician Dom Flemons about the new folk music album, Playing for the Man at the Door.

Bessie Smith, also known as "Empress of the Blues," recorded her first record on Feb. 15, 1923: Down Hearted Blues.

Big Mama Thornton was a big name in R&B. She's one of the many Black musicians we credit for what we today call rock & roll.

Retro Cowgirl — an up and coming alternative rock band — just released their single "Honey," which plays with Latin rhythms and rock. They've also landed a sponsorship with Topo Chico.

One-third of the Texas blues-rock mainstay ZZ Top has died. Dusty Hill, the band's bassist and one of its vocalists, was 72 years old, and according to his bandmates died at his home in Houston.

Annye Anderson, the stepsister of Robert Johnson, whose life became a founding myth of American music, has written a memoir about the real life behind the legend.