Blues harmonica master Carey Bell died on May 6 of heart failure in his hometown of Chicago. He was 70. Bell – the 1998 winner of the Blues Music Award for Traditional Male Artist Of The Year – was a ...

My harmonica lesson is squeezed in between those for students far shorter and far younger than me, so waiting my turn is a weekly reminder not to aim for an octave I’m unlikely to reach. It’s not that ...

From a musical perspective, opposition to the status quo has been a driving force in Deborah Henson-Conant’s art and in her career. Though raised by musicians, she didn’t like taking lessons as a ...

In the mid-1800s, a German harmonica manufacturer named Hohner started exporting his product to North America. Being relatively inexpensive, relatively easy to play and extremely portable, the ...

When my music makes someone happy, helps them unwind, relax and have fun, it is a greater achievement and fulfillment than any award I can receive. Born and raised on the prairies in the small farm ...

ASPEN Several years ago, after meeting and jamming with DJ Logic at a San Francisco benefit concert, John Popper put together the John Popper Project. The quartet, a side gig from Popper’s day job as ...

Austin, Texas, September 24-- Gary Primich, considered by many to be one of the greatest harmonica players in the world, passed away suddenly on September 23rd. Not only is this the loss of a ...

Hear Brandon Bailey perform two songs live in the NPR studio. The harmonica is a staple of American blues, beginning with the Memphis jug bands of the 1920s. In the 1960s, blues-influenced artists ...

Since 2005 Plastic Crimewave (aka Steve Krakow) has used the Secret History of Chicago Music to shine a light on worthy artists with Chicago ties who’ve been forgotten, underrated, or never noticed in ...

Most musical instruments are not primarily associated with one particular style of music, especially in these days of cross-cultural collaborative adventures. Sure, notable harmonica artists can be ...

A recent Friday, 10:21 a.m.: Sitting on a 5-gallon bucket in front of tourists waiting to get on the Powell Street cable car, Vincente "Blue" Blupriest belted out his version of the blues with a ...