Chromatic Blues Episodes

Hank Shreve joins me on episode 148. Hank started playing harmonica at age eight, and that has remained his true love despite learning various other instruments. He explains how his drumming background shapes the rhythmic feel of his harmonica playing, and how blues opened the door to everything from Latin influences to funk. Hank reflects on opening for Paul DeLay, working with Curtis Salgado, leading The Hank Shreve Band with his father Bill on bass, and broadening his musical output across...

Ryan Hartt joins me on episode 146. Ryan is a harmonica player, vocalist and songwriter from New England. After completing musical studies, he headed to Los Angeles in the late 1990s to immerse himself in the blues scene, learning from West Coast swing heavyweights, including sitting in with Rod Piazza. He returned to the East Coast in 2000 to form his long-running band Ryan Hartt and the Blue Hearts, releasing three albums along the way. Ryan has now put out his first solo record, Be About I...

Paul Barry joins me again on episode 105, for another look at the life and career of the great William Clarke. Paul has now released his biography: Blowin’ Like Hell: The William Clarke Story, writing it from insights he gained from Bill’s wife Jeanette, and Bill's children, and the musicians who played with him, as well as many others. Bill dedicated his life from the age of sixteen to become the bluesman he dreamed he could be, and he worked extremely hard at it. He honed his craft from wood...

Episode 100 is a retrospective on the greatest ever blues harmonica player, Marion Walter Jacobs, aka Little Walter. Little Walter was born in 1930, probably, and started playing harmonica age 8. He was busking on the streets of New Orleans by age 12, spent some time in Helena, before heading north to Chicago to make his indelible mark on blues and the harmonica. Little Walter teamed up with Muddy Waters and Jimmy Rogers and cut some classic blues recordings before he went out under his own name...

Dennis Gruenling joins me on episode 99. Dennis is originally from the New York area, where he began his love affair with record collecting, listening to a wide range of music, from country to rhythm and blues and beyond before it all came together when he heard his first harmonica on the great Harp Attack album. Dennis cut his teeth with the support of local harp players before releasing his first album, Jump Time, featuring the jump swing style of his early output. On this, and ...

Steve Guyger joins me on episode 82. Steve is from the Philadelphia area of the US and he absorbed the blues harmonica players when he first got into playing, with John Lee Williamson a big early inspiration. Steve was also great friends with the late Paul Oscher, making three albums with him. Steve also teamed up with the legendary Jimmy Rogers, over the course of fourteen years. Steve has released five albums under his own name, with a great mix of diatonic and chromatic blues. ...

Paul Barry joins me on episode 64. Paul is our resident expert on William Clarke, and is currently writing a biography about him. Bill (as he was known to his friends) was born in a suburb of Los Angeles, and starting going to the blues clubs in the south of the city, age 17. Bill met his great inspiration, George ‘Harmonica’ Smith, in 1977, with George showing Bill how to play that big old chromatic harmonica . Bill released his first album in 1978, with other albums following where he always...

Rick Estrin joins me on episode 52. Rick grew up in San Francisco and starting sitting in with bands in the city. He was friends with Jerry Portnoy, who persuaded him to spend some time in Chicago. Here he met many of the harmonica greats, and missed the golden opportunity for the harmonica chair in the Muddy Waters band. It turned out this wasn’t a bad thing though, as Rick forged his own path with Little Charlie & The Nightcats (later Rick Estrin & The Nightcats). A band...

Mark Hummel joins me on episode 36. Mark is a West Coast blues harp player who has put out some great harmonica songs in his catalogue of over 30 albums. A real connoisseur of the Blues, he has drawn inspiration from a wide range of the classic players. Mark felt a particular affinity with Little Walter early on, and received a Grammy nomination for his 2013 album, Remembering Little Walter. This was part of the harmonica blow out series, where he has put together numerous tours ...

Charlie Musselwhite grew up in Memphis, rubbing shoulders with Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley. Work took him north to Chicago were he discovered the South Side blues scene, where he befriended several legends of the blues harmonica. Sitting in with Muddy Waters got Charlie noticed and he was soon recording his seminal album, Stand Back! This led him to the West Coast, from where he has recorded over thirty albums, received numerous Grammy nominations, won a Grammy in 2013, been inducted in the B...

Sugar Blue has certainly pushed the boundaries of the harmonica, with his rapid fire licks, lots of high end runs and gorgeous tone. It was perhaps his early jazz influences that shaped his distinctive sound, although there is no doubt that he has paid homage to the harmonica greats, spending time with some of the classic players. As well as numerous solo albums, Sugar has recorded with many illustrious names, including the Rolling Stones, Willie Dixon and Frank Zappa, to name but a few. He has ...

Grant Dermody first picked up the harp in Alaska, where he emulated the greats before developing his own acoustic sound playing American roots music. He played as a session man on various albums before releasing the first of his four solo albums to date, which included harmonica duets with Phll Wiggins and Joe Filisko. In-between Grant toured for six years with Eric Bibb, and for his latest album, My Dony, he has returned to his roots with a raucous electrified harmonica sound. Not only a great ...

Rod Piazza developed his exciting brand of West coast jump harmonica in Southern California, where he formed his own band before joining forces with George Harmonica Smith, to form Bacon Fat. Two harps, what a sound! Rod has an extensive discography, both as a solo artist, and also with his long term band, the Mighty Flyers, alongside his wife Honey. Rod talks us through his evergreen career and how he has burned it up on stage for so many years. Select the Chapter Markers tab above to select d...

Kim Wilson is without doubt one of the great harmonica players around today. He grew up within the vibrant music scene in California, learning his chops on the bandstand, which he hasn't got off since, touring extensively all his life. Kim's long term band, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, has brought him commercial success, and he has also maintained his own dedicated blues band for many years. He leads from the front, and absolutely knows what it takes to deliver the blues to an audience. Selec...

Billy Branch is a Chicago blues harp player who grew up learning directly from some of the classic generation of Chicago players, such as Carey Bell, James Cotton and Junior Wells. And he played in Willie Dixons band for 6 years. Billy has been nominated for three Grammy awards. He has become a real ambassador of the blues and takes great pride in maintaining that legacy with his long term band, the Sons of the Blues. A great technical exponent of the harmonica, with great soul, Billy released...

Steve West Weston is the man in the hot seat in episode two. Steve grew up among the vibrant music scene in Essex, listening to Dr Feelgood among others. He started out playing in various bands on keyboard before finding his harmonica mojo as the front man in West Weston and the Bluesonics, and he hasn't looked back since. He has become the harmonica player of choice for Mud Morganfield when he's touring Europe, as well as playing with Trickbag in Scandinavia, and then playing on the number 1...

First up in the podcast I'm delighted to welcome a certain Mr Paul Lamb. Paul is a living legend of blues harmonica. He's been performing for over 45 years now, would you believe. He has a multitude of great albums to his name, and is inducted in the Blues Hall of Fame. Paul tells us how it all unfolded, meeting greats such as Junior Wells and his harmonica hero Sonny Terry along the way. With some tips on how aspiring harmonica players can try to emulate his tremendous success. The secret i...