Kyle Rowland and Kenny Neal join me on episode 143 for a retrospective on James ‘Mr Superharp’ Cotton. Born in 1935 on the Bonnie Blue plantation in Mississippi, James Cotton received his first harmonica from his mother and learnt by ear, captivated by Sonny Boy Williamson II’s King Biscuit Time broadcasts. From nine to sixteen he lived with Sonny Boy, then played with Howlin’ Wolf before holding the harmonica chair in the Muddy Waters’ band for twelve years. Striking out solo in the late 196...
Victor Puertas joins me on episode 142. Victor Puertas grew up just outside Barcelona, discovering the blues in his early teens, splitting his passion between harmonica and keyboards. At 18 he traveled to the US and had the chance to meet his idol, Gary Primich. Back home, Victor formed The Suitcase Brothers with his brother Santos, who had given him his very first harmonica at age 13. For over 27 years the duo have been exploring acoustic country blues, with their latest album, a...
Yoonseok Lee joins me on episode 141. Yoonseok is from South Korea where he first took up the tremolo harmonica. He discovered the chromatic when he heard Sigmund Groven playing at the Asia Pacific Festival in 2004, and started taking lessons with Sigmund. This culminated in Yoonseok studying at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo with Sigmund as his professor. Returning to South Korea in 2020, he enjoys a successful career as a freelance chromatic player, and returns to Norway to te...
Liam Ward joins me on episode 140. Liam is from the north west of England and first took up the harmonica in his late teens. His youthful zeal turned into his career when he chose to become a full-time harmonica player over becoming a school teacher. Liam plays in numerous bands, including his own band, two duos and in an Oasis tribute band. In addition to the harmonica he also plays various jug band instruments including the musical saw, washboard, spoons and the Irish bones. Lia...
Tom Ball, Peter ‘Madcat’ Ruth and Michael ‘Mudcat’ Ward join me on episode 139 for a retrospective on Walter Horton. Walter was likely born on April 6th, 1918, in Horn Lake, Mississippi. He probably made his first recordings in 1939 with Little Buddy Doyle but it wasn’t until the early 1950s that he started recording regularly. After making some early cuts under the name Mumbles, he made numerous recordings as a sideman in the 1950s, including the blues harmonica classics Easy and Walki...
Richard Sleigh joins me on episode 138. Richard is from Pennsylvania and is a renowned harmonica customiser, player and teacher. He tells how his great uncle Bill inspired him to pick up the harp, before discovering Irish music during his travels in Europe. We hear about his first album Steppin’ Out, his recording with Dennis Gruenling, and his love for the Clifftop Appalachian festival. Richard also shares the story behind his involvement with the MB30 harmonica and his customisa...
Fabrizio Poggi joins me on episode 137. Fabrizio plays blues, folk and spiritual music. Hailing from near Milan, he took some time to find his way with the harmonica but since then he has performed at Carnegie Hall and been nominated for a Grammy. His first band was Chicken Mambo who played New Orleans music on their early album releases. Fabrizio traveled around the US where he made lots of friends and great strides with his musical development. This culminated with the making of...
Giles Robson and Jim Basnight join me on episode 136 for a retrospective on Alex ‘Rice’ Miller (aka Sonny Boy Williamson II). Information on Sonny Boy’s early life is sketchy. Sonny Boy was likely born in 1912 and had a hard upbringing working on a plantation before becoming a travelling musician. Arriving in Helena, Arkansas, he found fame performing on the King Biscuit Time radio show before making his first recordings with Trumpet Records at age 38 in 1951. Sonny Boy made his classic...
John Sebastian joins me on episode 135. John had considerable chart success in the 1960s as part of the folk rock band, The Lovin' Spoonful, who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the year 2000. John was also inducted into the songwriters Hall Of Fame. Probably better known as a singer songwriter and guitar player, harmonica was John’s first instrument, inspired by his father, also called John Sebastian, who was a renowned classical harmonica player. And we discuss som...
Ronnie Schreiber joins me on episode 134. Ronnie runs The Electric Harmonica Company, producing the Harmonicaster, which is an alternative to the traditional harmonica microphone, using guitar style pick-ups to create “the first practical true electric harmonica”. Ronnie first came up with the concept some thirty years ago and has been developing it in earnest over the last ten years. Ronnie tells us the story of how he developed the idea, from the need to use steel reeds, the custom ha...
Kim Field joins me on episode 133. Kim’s 1994 book ‘Harmonicas, Harps and Heavy Breathers: The History of the People’s Instrument’ was the first book released on the history of the harmonica. And Kim has recently written the book: The Blues Dream of Billy Boy Arnold, telling the story of Billy Boy in his own words. Ever on the lookout to meet and learn from the great players, Kim shares the time he spent with Deford Bailey and also when he played on stage with Walter Horton. Kim has bee...
Tom Ellis joins me on episode 132 for another look into the life and career of the legendary Paul Butterfield. Butter gained access to the Chicago blues scene at a young age when his lawyer father carried out pro bono work for some of the musicians there. The black blues musicians took a paternal interest in Paul’s musical development, none more so than Muddy Waters who knew Butter from around the age of sixteen. Butter later returned the favour after having made his own name. He gave s...
Rick Estrin and Nathan James join me on episode 131 for a retrospective on James Harman. James ‘Icepick’ Harman was born in Anniston, Alabama in 1946. After moving between various locations, including Florida, New York, New Orleans and Chicago, he settled down in Southern California in the early 1970s where he established himself in the vibrant blues scene there. Harman was a formidable song writer and had his own unique view on life which he delivered through his powerful singing voice. His ...
Mikael Backman joins me on episode 130. Mikael is from Sweden where he started playing blues harmonica, recording six albums with the band Ramblin’ Minds. He then joined the band John Henry. Initially a bluegrass band, they went on to play country, honky tonk and western swing. Mikael is truly a doctor of the harmonica, having conducted various academic studies with the harmonica at center stage, as part of his work at the Piteå School of Music. One of these resulted in a music thesis o...
Corky Siegel joins me on episode 129. Corky played was central in the emergence of the popularity of the blues to a white audience. His Siegel-Schwall band gained a residency at Chicago’s Pepper Lounge, sharing the stage with blues giants such as Howling Wolf, Muddy Waters and Little Walter. The band were also part of San Francisco’s 1967 Summer of Love, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Joni Mitchell and Janis Joplin. Corky has a unique place in harmonica history with his blues / classical...
Ross Garren, Rob Paparozzi and Liam Ward join me on episode 128, to discuss the harmonica playing of Bob Dylan. The early part of Dylan’s career is chronicled in the current biopic, A Complete Unknown. Ross and Rob were the ‘harmonica coaches’ for the movie. Ross recorded most of the harmonica used in the movie and the soundtrack, with Rob contributing one song and also providing support on the East Coast. Ross shares the painstaking process of recording for such a major music movie, how he s...
Sigmund Groven joins me on episode 127. Sigmund is a chromatic player who is a household name in his native Norway. He was inspired to take up the harmonica after hearing Tommy Reilly on the radio. After taking some lessons with Tommy they formed a lifelong friendship, with Sigmund even becoming his manager. Sigmund has released over thirty albums in his own name through his illustrious career and has played in venues and orchestras around the world, including Carnegie Hall,...
Winslow Yerxa joins me on episode 126. Winslow is originally from Canada, now living in San Francisco. He started out playing blues harmonica before becoming interested in the traditional music of French Canada and British origins, among others. Winslow plays in harmonica ensembles and produces his own compositions using a wide variety of harmonicas, including the diatonic, chromatic, tremolo, the Pentaharp, XB40 and the recent Gamechanger harmonica. Winslow created the Harmonica Information ...
Paul Lamb, Joe Filisko and Adam Sikora join me on episode 125, for a retrospective on one of the legends of the diatonic harmonica, Sonny Terry, whose real name was Saunders Terrell. Sonny was born in 1911 (or 1912), in Greensboro, Georgia (or it could have been North Carolina). Growing up on a farm in a rural community, Sonny was left blind by two accidents in his youth. Unable to work on the farm he turned to music, with his harmonica playing father giving him his early lessons. Sonny first...
Shima Kobayashi joins me on episode 124. Shima is a classical chromatic player originally from Japan, who has been living in the UK since 2004. After winning the World Harmonica Championship in 1995 she was awarded a bursary by the Japanese government to study with the great Tommy Reilly over a twelve month period. Shima has two albums to her name. The first has a number of pieces composed for chromatic harmonica. Her second album, Chromatic!, contains some pieces written for Shim...
ThePathLessTraveled
Solid gold!