John Smith Hurt, better known as Mississippi John Hurt, was an American country blues singer and guitarist.
Edward James "Son" House Jr. was an American Delta blues singer and guitarist, noted for his highly emotional style of singing and slide guitar playing.
Chester Arthur Burnett, better known by his stage name Howlin' Wolf, was an American blues singer and guitarist. He was at the forefront of transforming acoustic Delta blues into electric Chicago blues, and over a four-decade career, recorded blues, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and psychedelic rock. He is regarded as one of the most influential blues musicians of all time.
Delta blues is one of the earliest-known styles of blues. It originated in the Mississippi Delta and is regarded as a regional variant of country blues. Guitar and harmonica are its dominant instruments; slide guitar is a hallmark of the style. Vocal styles in Delta blues range from introspective and soulful to passionate and fiery.
The 45th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 23, 2003, at Madison Square Garden in New York City honoring the best in music for the recording of the year beginning from October 1, 2001, through September 30, 2002. Musicians' accomplishments from the previous year were recognized. Norah Jones and her song "Don't Know Why" were the main recipients of the night, garnering six Grammys, including four major awards: Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist, plus Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Best Pop Vocal Album. Songwriter Jesse Harris received the Song of the Year award for his work on "Don't Know Why." Simon and Garfunkel reunited to open the show performing "The Sound of Silence".
Paramount Records was an American record label known for its recordings of jazz and blues in the 1920s and early 1930s, including such artists as Ma Rainey, Tommy Johnson and Blind Lemon Jefferson.
Charlie Patton, more often spelled Charley Patton, was an American Delta blues musician and songwriter. Considered by many to be the "Father of the Delta Blues", he created an enduring body of American music and inspired most Delta blues musicians. The musicologist Robert Palmer considered him one of the most important American musicians of the twentieth century.
Revenant Records is an American independent record label based in Austin, Texas, which concentrates on folk and blues. Revenant was formed in 1996 by John Fahey and Dean Blackwood. Revenant's 2001 box set, Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues: The Worlds of Charley Patton, won three Grammy Awards in 2003.
Willie Lee Brown was an American blues guitar player and vocalist. He performed and recorded with other blues musicians, including Son House and Charlie Patton, and influenced Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters. Brown is considered one of the pioneering musicians of the Delta blues genre.
Bertha Lee Pate, known more commonly as Bertha Lee was an American classic female blues singer, active in the 1920s and 1930s. She recorded with, and was the common-law wife of Charley Patton.
Richard K. "Dick" Spottswood is an American musicologist and author from Maryland, United States who has catalogued and been responsible for the reissue of many thousands of recordings of vernacular music in the United States.
John Aloysius Fahey was an American fingerstyle guitarist and composer who played the steel-string acoustic guitar as a solo instrument. His style has been enormously influential and has been described as the foundation of the genre of American primitive guitar, a term borrowed from painting and referring mainly to the self-taught nature of the music and its minimalist style. Fahey borrowed from the folk and blues traditions in American roots music, having compiled many forgotten early recordings in these genres. He would later incorporate 20th-century classical, Portuguese, Brazilian, and Indian influences into his work.
"Little Red Rooster" is a blues standard credited to arranger and songwriter Willie Dixon. The song was first recorded in 1961 by American blues musician Howlin' Wolf in the Chicago blues style. His vocal and slide guitar playing are key elements of the song. It is rooted in the Delta blues tradition and the theme is derived from folklore. Musical antecedents to "Little Red Rooster" appear in earlier songs by blues artists Charlie Patton and Memphis Minnie.
"High Water Everywhere" is a Delta blues song recorded in 1929 by noted blues singer Charley Patton. The song is about the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and how it affected residents of the Mississippi Delta, particularly the mistreatment of African Americans. Patton recorded it during his second session with Paramount, in late 1929; his recordings from this session are frequently considered his best works.
"Walkin' Blues" or "Walking Blues" is a blues standard written and recorded by American Delta blues musician Son House in 1930. Although unissued at the time, it was part of House's repertoire and other musicians, including Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters, adapted the song and recorded their own versions.
The Return of the Repressed: The John Fahey Anthology is a compilation album by American fingerstyle guitarist and composer John Fahey, released in 1994. Fahey's career, health and personal life had been in decline. The release of The Return of the Repressed, along with an article in Spin magazine by Byron Coley served to provide a renewal of his career.
David Evans is an American ethnomusicologist and director of the Ethnomusicology/Regional Studies program at the Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music in the University of Memphis, where he has worked since 1978. In 2023 he has been inducted in the Blues Hall of Fame as a non-performer.
Edith North Johnson was an American classic female blues singer, pianist and songwriter. Her most noted tracks are "Honey Dripper Blues", "Can't Make Another Day" and "Eight Hour Woman". She wrote another of her songs, "Nickel's Worth of Liver Blues".
Your Past Comes Back to Haunt You: The Fonotone Years, 1958–1965 is the title of a box set compilation of recordings by American fingerstyle guitarist and composer John Fahey, released in 2011.
Walter Rhodes was an American blues musician, who recorded briefly in the late 1920s and was unusual in being a blues accordionist and singer from Mississippi. It was reported that Rhodes may have been the oldest Delta musician recorded. Little is known of his life outside of his recordings.
