(ThyBlackMan.com) Few figures in American music loom as large as Muddy Waters. A transformative force in the evolution of modern blues, Waters bridged the acoustic traditions of the Mississippi Delta ...

One of the biggest misconceptions about blues music is that the genre is all about doom and gloom. Naturally, many blues songs feature lyrics about being down in the dumps, love lost, and heartbreak.

(ThyBlackMan.com) When I think about the roots of blues music—the raw honesty, the pain wrapped in poetry, the joy carved out of hardship—I think of Ma Rainey. Her voice was more than a sound; it was ...

You don’t get the nickname “Lightnin’” for no reason, especially when you’re a blues artist. Born March 15, 1912, in Centerville, Texas, Samuel John “Lightnin’” Hopkins became one of the most ...

This isn’t a book for the fainthearted. It’s certainly not for the puritanical. This magnificent, raunchy exploration of early blues lyrics contains references so scabrous they would make a pirate ...