Grammy-winning blues musician Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, who was a longtime sideman for Muddy Waters, died of a stroke on Friday in Chicago at age 75, according to a statement on his website.

Smith's death comes less than six months after the passing at age 97 of blues master Joe Willie "Pinetop" Perkins,…

Tom Waits, John Mayall, James Cotton, Jeff Beck, McCoy Tyner, Bruce Iglauer, Trombone Shorty, And Mose Allison Join Music Industry Executives To Select 2011 ISC Winner

The prestigious International Songwriting Competition (ISC) has assembled a distinguished panel of judges for its 2011 competition. With the most high-profile judging panel of any music competition in the world, ISC offers songwriters and artists the unprecedented…

The winners of Awards in the 2011 British Blues Awards were announced on Sunday 11th September 2011 at the the Newark Blues Festival. Winners and runners up are below.  Sincere congratulations to all from Blues In The South. Similar thanks and congratulations go to the Nottingham Blues Society who organise and manage the whole thing.…

Jerry Ragovoy, who wrote or collaborated on some of the most soulful ballads of the 1960s, including the Rolling Stones hit "Time Is on My Side" and the Janis Joplin signatures "Piece of My Heart", "Cry Baby" and "Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)", died on July 13 in Manhattan. He was 80.

Jerry…

According to PRWeb, Paul’s family and friends will gather at Prairie Home Cemetery in Waukesha, Wisconsin at 10:30am on Saturday, September 10, 2011 to unveil the new memorial – a 500 square foot granite monument which will feature the star’s biography etched into it’s…

Sept. 13 has been officially declared "Jimi Hendrix Winterland Day” in San Francisco, CA,  in honor of six concerts Hendrix performed at S.F.’s historic (and now gone) Winterland Ballroom in October 1968

The Hendrix Day decree was made by the Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco. Hendrix’s half-sister (Experience Hendrix CEO) Janie Hendrix, will be at San Francisco’s Amoeba Records on Sept. 13 to…

 

On 8/24/11 the feds raided Gibson and seized 2-3 MILLION dollars of Indian Rosewood and Ebony, plus some guitars and computer files.

There is a lot of confusion about this whole thing because the DOJ hasn’t really charged Gibson with anything. They haven’t even directly told anybody what they did to justify a SWAT team raiding they’re workplace and shutting down Gibson’s Nashville and Memphis offices. A similar incident happened…

Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi's widow Judy are getting the band back together. According to Variety, Belushi and former 'SNL' writer Anne Beats have written a 'Blues Brothers' TV pilot and are shopping it around to the networks.



In the script, iconic bluesmen Jake and Elwood Blues are just out of jail, and Elwood, who was raised in an orphanage, is on a mission to find his birth-parents. Aykroyd is attached to the pilot as the voice of the boys' parole officer.…

A few years back, few had heard of nu-blues Les Paul maestro Joe Bonamassa. Yet, he is already planning album #13.

In 2011, Bonamassa has already released a solo studio album, "Dust Bowl", a new Black Country Communion album and a collaboration with Beth Hart. He’s also been touring pretty solidly.

Bonamassa has now posted on his website that he is currently…

"When Johnson started singing, he seemed like a guy who could have sprung from the head of Zeus in full armor" Bob Dylan

Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8,1911 - August…

David “Honeyboy” Edwards, the last of the nascent Delta blues musicians, has died.

Mr. Edwards died of congestive heart failure early Monday morning in his Chicago apartment. He was 95 years old.

To have watched Mr. Edwards play was to have witnessed living history. He was born in Shaw, Miss., where his father was a guitarist and violinist in country jukes throughout…

Eagle Vision will release GARY MOORE's "Live At Montreux 2010" on September 20 on DVD, Blu-ray and CD.

Product description: "2010 saw Gary Moore make a return to rock music after a long period of time exploring the blues. He was writing and working on a new rock album when all was brought to a halt by his untimely death on February 6, 2011.



"This concert from Montreux in July 2010 was his last performance to be filmed.…

Jerry Leiber, one of the most important songwriters in the history of rock & roll – whose 60-year partnership with Mike Stoller produced "Stand By Me," "Hound Dog," "Jailhouse Rock," "Young Blood," "On Broadway,"  "Yakety-Yak" and countless other classics – has died of cardiopulmonary failure. He was 78.

Jerome "Jerry" Leiber (April 25, 1933 – August 22,…

"We're preparing for the release of ZZ Top's next recorded work - soon to hit the streets - hopefully by the end of 2011", ZZ guitar legend Billy Gibbons tells Houston's Fox 26. "This year is gonna be a banner year on a number of levels but we're throwing our hat in the ring." As Hennemusic initially reported last September, ZZ's new project was produced by a music industry legend.…

SuperHeavy Sets Sights On September

The new Mick Jagger - fronted supergroup featuring A.R. Rahman, Joss Stone, Damian Marley, and Eurythmics founder Dave Stewart, has come out with an update from atop their collective mountain of Grammies: They are indeed called SuperHeavy (last we’d heard that was just a rumor from an unnamed source), a name which billboard reveals is inspired by Muhammad Ali. The album they’ve…

CNN - Singer Amy Winehouse was found dead at her apartment in Camden, London on Saturday, the UK Press Association reported. She was 27. Last month, Winehouse canceled the remainder of her 12-city European concert tour. The singer had a history of battling drugs and alcohol.…

Manuel Galbán (January 14, 1931 – July 7, 2011) was a Grammy winning Cuban guitarist, pianist and arranger, most notable for his work with Los Zafiros, Ry Cooder and the Buena Vista Social Club. The last surviving member of Los Zafiros, he died on July 7, 2011 of cardiac arrest at his home in Havana, Cuba.

Galbán's distinctive electric guitar sound makes liberal use of reverb, tremolo, diminished arpeggio runs and palm mutes. Using a Fender…

GREETINGS FROM '2120 SOUTH MICHIGAN AVENUE'

New Album’s Guests Include Buddy Guy and Charlie Musselwhite

On their 17th studio album, George Thorogood and The Destroyers pay tribute to their Chess Records heroes, including many of Thorogood’s legendary mentors who helped to launch his career in rock & roll. Titled 2120 South Michigan Avenue, the 13-track album by Capitol/EMI on…