MY Baby Plays the Harmonica

Send us a textThe great living player, protege of George Smith and perhaps the greatest master of double cross harp.

Send us a textThe precision, the tone, and the underlying swing! Out of Chicago, also sitting that Muddy Waters harp chair.

Send us a textRichard Salwitz of the J. Geils Band, the inventor of rock n roll harmonica. My all-time harpgod.

Send us a textThe great living master and creative force of the blues harmonica, Paul Butterfield's non-evil twin.

Send us a textWe have reached our rendezvous with blues harp racial destiny! The two documentaries mentioned are "Horn from the Heart" and "Born in Chicago"

Send us a textThe great player and mentor of masters (Rod Piazza, William Clarke, James Harman) George 'Harmonica' Smith, never quite adequately recorded. And his astonishing friend the criminally underappreciated Big Mama Thornton. "Me and him have been scuffling a long time."Gunsmoke Blueshttps://youtu.be/_ATwmyuhmeY?si=-T_By5lQJvJKeqwBBig Mama Thornton and Big Walter! (and John Lee Hooker!)https://youtu.be/GX8f70FW3lU?si=_G--_fYYjF6yfSQa

Send us a textThe greatest of blues improvisers, as he showed on the London Muddy Waters Sessions.

Send us a textThe furiously rocking god of blues harmonica!

Send us a textThe incredibly right player and maybe the greatest blues singer I ever experienced.

Send us a textThe fine rack players, born mid-1920s, with classic songs galore. Big Boss Man. Baby Scratch My Back. Sorry about audible incoming emails. I can do better.

Send us a textThe great Big Walter Horton, also known as "Shaky" and "Mumbles". Perhaps Little and Big Walter are the two greatest "classic" blues harp players

Send us a textRice or Alex or Alec Miller, Little Boy Blue, or SBW2: A real asshole, seemingly. But one of the handful of greatest music artists of the 20th century. Help me, baby!I screwed up when I said that his band included Jimmy Rogers. Robert Junior Lockwood!

Send us a textEpisode 4: The great Piedmont/country/acoustic/folk blues master Sonny Terry.

Send us a textThe very different but related country/blues styles of Opry star Deford Bailey (1899-1982), an incomparable virtuoso, and incomparable influence John Lee Williamson (1914-1948), known as Sonny Boy 1 (Rice Miller, Sonny Boy Williamson 2, swiped the name, but was an even better player).

Send us a textbonus episode on why the diatonic harp is ideal for blues. country and other folk or roots genres, and a bit about how i learned to play circa 1971.

Send us a textBy acclamation, the greatest blues player ever to blow a harmonica. Here are likely future episodes:Sonny Boy Williamson 1 and 2James CottonJunior WellsSonny TerryMagic DickPaul ButterfieldCarey BellJason RicciCharlie McCoyMickey RaphaelDeford BaileyGeorge SmithRod PiazzaKim WilsonWilliam ClarkeCharlie Musselwhite Jerry PortnoyLee Oskar