McKinley Morganfield, known professionally as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer and musician who was an important figure in the post-World War II blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago blues". His style of playing has been described as "raining down Delta beatitude".
Paul Vaughn Butterfield was an American blues harmonica player, singer, and bandleader. After early training as a classical flautist, he developed an interest in blues harmonica. He explored the blues scene in his native Chicago, where he met Muddy Waters and other blues greats, who provided encouragement and opportunities for him to join in jam sessions. He soon began performing with fellow blues enthusiasts Nick Gravenites and Elvin Bishop.
Marion Walter Jacobs, known as Little Walter, was an American blues musician, singer, and songwriter, whose revolutionary approach to the harmonica had a strong impact on succeeding generations, earning him comparisons to such seminal artists as Django Reinhardt, Charlie Parker and Jimi Hendrix. His virtuosity and musical innovations fundamentally altered many listeners' expectations of what was possible on blues harmonica. He was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008, the first and, to date, only artist to be inducted specifically as a harmonica player.
Jerry Portnoy is an American harmonica blues musician, who has toured with Muddy Waters and Eric Clapton.
James Henry Cotton was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, who performed and recorded with many fellow blues artists and with his own band. He also played drums early in his career.
Charles Douglas Musselwhite is an American blues harmonica player and bandleader who came to prominence, along with Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield, and Elvin Bishop, as a pivotal figure in helping to revive the Chicago Blues movement of the 1960s. He has often been identified as a "white bluesman".
Notodden Blues Festival (NBF) is one of the largest blues music festivals in Europe and the largest in Scandinavia. The festival is held in Notodden, Norway, usually the first weekend August. It has been running annually since 1988.
Carey Bell Harrington was an American blues musician who played harmonica in the Chicago blues style. Bell played harmonica and bass guitar for other blues musicians from the late 1950s to the early 1970s before embarking on a solo career. Besides his own albums, he recorded as an accompanist or duo artist with Earl Hooker, Robert Nighthawk, Lowell Fulson, Eddie Taylor, Louisiana Red and Jimmy Dawkins and was a frequent partner with his son, the guitarist Lurrie Bell. Blues Revue called Bell "one of Chicago's finest harpists." The Chicago Tribune said Bell was "a terrific talent in the tradition of Sonny Boy Williamson and Little Walter." In 2023, he was inducted in the Blues Hall of Fame.
Curtis Salgado is a Portland, Oregon-based blues, blues rock, and blue-eyed soul singer-songwriter. He plays harmonica and fronts his own band as lead vocalist.
JW-Jones is a Canadian blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and band leader. He is a Juno Award nominee (2015), Billboard magazine Top 10 Selling artist, and winner of the International Blues Challenge for "Best Self-Produced CD Award" for his release 'High Temperature' in 2017 and Best Guitarist in 2020.
William "Billy Boy" Arnold is an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter. Arnold is a self-taught harmonica player and has worked with blues legends such as Bo Diddley, Johnny Shines, Otis Rush, Earl Hooker, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters and others.
Little Charlie & the Nightcats was an American electric blues and swing revival combo, active from 1976-2008. Several members reformed as Rick Estrin & The Nightcats.
Christoffer "Kid" Andersen is a blues guitarist from Herre, Norway.
Nick Moss is an American Chicago blues and electric blues musician. He has released thirteen albums to date, all on his own label, Blue Bella Records label. He has played with Buddy Scott, Jimmy Dawkins, Jimmy Rogers and the Legendary Blues Band. More recently he has performed fronting his own group, Nick Moss and the Flip Tops until 2008 and then shortening the name in 2009 to Nick Moss Band. The music journalist Bill Dahl stated that Moss possesses "mastery of the classic Chicago sound."
Mark Hummel is an American blues harmonica player, vocalist, songwriter, and long-time bandleader of the Blues Survivors. Since 1991, Hummel has produced the Blues Harmonica Blowout tour, of which he is also a featured performer. The shows have featured blues harmonica players such as James Cotton, Carey Bell, John Mayall and Charlie Musselwhite. Although he is typically identified as performing West Coast blues, Hummel is also proficient in Delta blues, Chicago blues, swing and jazz styles. Hummel also played with the Golden State Lone Star Revue, a rock blues side group the FlashBacks, as well as the current edition of the Blues Survivors. Since 2021, Hummel and documentary film maker Jeff Vargen have collaborated on a video podcast, 'Mark Hummel's Harmonica Party' with both interviews and live performances of 50 blues and rock musicians including Charlie Musselwhite, Elvin Bishop, Barbara Dane, Nick Gravenites, Duke Robillard, Country Joe MacDonald, Barry Goldberg, Magic Dick, Lee Oskar, Willie Chambers, Anson Funderburgh, Angela Strehli, Chris Cain and others.
Johnny Mars is an American electric blues harmonica player, singer, and songwriter. Over a long career, he has worked with Magic Sam, Earl Hooker, B.B. King, Jimi Hendrix, Jesse Fuller, Spencer Davis, Ian Gillan, Do-Re-Mi, Bananarama and Michael Roach.
Steve Guyger is an American Chicago blues harmonica player, singer, and songwriter. He has recorded five albums since 1997, having previously backed Jimmy Rogers for almost fifteen years.
Steve Marriner is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter and record producer based in Toronto, Ontario. He first garnered attention in the Ottawa blues scene in his early teens as a prodigy blues harp (harmonica) player. He also plays baritone guitar, electric guitar, piano, Hammond organ, upright bass and electric bass. Since 2008, he has been the frontman, singer, one of two guitarists and harmonica player for the Canadian rock'n'roll-blues group MonkeyJunk. The band's album To Behold won the 2012 Juno Award for Blues Album of the Year.
Terry Hanck is an American electric blues saxophonist, singer, songwriter and record producer, who won a Blues Music Award in 2016 in the 'Instrumentalist – Horn' category. Previously Hanck earned both a Blues Music Award and a Living Blues Award for 'Best Horn' in 2012, and was nominated for the latter prize in the 'Best Song' category. In May 2015, he won the International Songwriting Competition for his soul ballad, "I Keep On Holding On." Born in Chicago, Hanck was influenced by the blues, soul and jazz of the 1950s and early 1960s. After moving to California in 1965, Hanck later toured with Elvin Bishop for over a decade, before leaving to tour and record with his own band for now almost 30 years.
Christone "Kingfish" Ingram is an American blues guitarist and singer from Clarksdale, Mississippi, United States, who became a well-known performer as a teenager. His debut album, Kingfish, was released in May 2019. In addition to his own albums, musicians he has recorded with include Eric Gales, Buddy Guy and Keb Mo. He has shared the stage with well-known blues artists and younger blues musicians such as the Tedeschi Trucks Band, Samantha Fish, Bob Margolin, Eric Gales, Mr. Sipp, Rick Derringer, Guitar Shorty and Buddy Guy.
