List of harmonica blues musicians

The following is a list of harmonica blues musicians.

A

*Little Willie Anderson
*Billy Boy Arnold

B

*Deford Bailey
*Tom Ball
*Carey Bell - (November 14, 1936 – May 6, 2007) Born in Macon, Mississippi as Carey Bell Harrington, Carey is an acoustic and electric harmonica blues and Chicago blues multi-instrumentalist, performing on bass guitar, guitar, drums and harmonica and vocals. He has released several albums for labels like Alligator Records and Delmark Records.

*Sugar Blue
*Billy Branch
*Buster Brown
*Steve Baker (May 1,1953) Born in London UK

*Paul Butterfield - (December 17, 1942 – May 4, 1987) Born in Chicago, Illinois, Butterfield was an amplified harmonica blues blues harp player, guitarist, vocalist and flutist who performed Chicago blues. He recorded for a variety of labels during his career, including Bearsville Records and Elektra Records, which released four great albums of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band featuring Michael Bloomfield and Elvin Bishop.

C

*Joe Carter (guitarist) - Born November 6, 1927 in Midland, Georgia and moving to Chicago in his thirties, Carter was a slide guitarist who performed blues-rock, harmonica blues and electric Chicago blues. His first band was popular on the local scene and featured blues harp player Lester Davenport and fellow guitarist Smokey Smothers. He only recorded in the 1970s and 1980s, when he developed throat cancer and was forced to quit. His records were done for the Barrelhouse Records and JSP Records label.

*William Clarke (musician) - (March 29, 1951 – November 2, 1996) Born in Inglewood, California, harmonica blues player and singer William Clarke was an electric Chicago blues musician. He performed for a variety of labels, such as Alligator Records, Watch Dog Records and Rivera Records, to name a few.

*Jaybird Coleman - (May 20, 1896 – January 28, 1950) Born in Gainesville, Alabama, Coleman was a country blues harmonica player, guitarist and singer who performed early harmonica blues active most in the 1930s. His career fizzled out and he was left to perform as a street act in Alabama. Document Records has issued a compilation of all of his recordings.

*James Cotton - Born July 1, 1935 in Tunica, Mississippi, James Cotton is a harmonica blues player and singer who got his start performing the Delta blues, later moving to Chicago and performing Chicago blues. Performing both in acoustic and electric settings, Cotton has recorded dozens of albums for labels like Alligator Records and Verve. He also leads his own James Cotton Blues Band.

*Jeff Carp

D

*Paul deLay
*Magic Dick

F

*Mark Ford

G

Adam Gussow is an American harmonica player and a member of the blues duo Satan and Adam.

H

*Chris Harper
*Slim Harpo - (January 11, 1924 – January 31, 1970) Born in Lobdell, Louisiana, Harpo is one of the best known blues neck-rack harmonica players from his era despite having begun his career as a guitarist. He played everything from Louisiana blues, swamp blues, electric blues and harmonica blues, and was also a singer.

*Big Walter Horton - (April 6, 1917 – December 8, 1981) Born in Horn Lake, Mississippi and also known as Shakey Walter Horton, Horton was one of the better known harmonica players of his day. He played the gambit, including Memphis blues, Chicago blues, juke joint blues and harmonica blues. He performed both acoustic as well as amplified harmonica, and was also a singer. Sideman with many of the leading bluesmen of the day, still an influence on many players.

*Mark Hummel

J

*James Cotton Blues Band

K

*Giles King Born August 1971 in Ipswich, Suffolk, UK. Giles has played with " Lightnin Willie and the Poorboys" since 2000 and features on two of his studio albums, "Lucky As The Devil" and "Tracks" (2008)

L

*Lazy Lester
*John Long (musician)

M

*Eddie Mapp
*Johnny Mars
*John Mayall
*Piers Munro Mid-60's Blues Harmonicist, "Scatter Blues", Las Vegas, Nevada
*Jerry "Boogie" McCain

*Mike Morgan (blues musician) - Born November 30, 1959, Morgan is the harmonica blues bandleader of "Mike Morgan & the Crawl", a Texas blues band. He is a guitarist and blues harp player, and has released a series of albums for Black Top Records.

*Charlie Musselwhite
*Sam Myers

N

*Hammie Nixon
*Paul Nebenzahl

O

*Paul Oscher

P

*Rod Piazza
*Jerry Portnoy
*Snooky Pryor

R

*Jimmy Reed

*Steve "The Harp" Mehlberg - Back In The Blues - www.stevetheharpbluesband.com
*Satan and Adam
*Harmonica Shah
*Mark "Corky" Seigel
*George Harmonica Smith - (April 22, 1924 – October 2, 1983) Born in Helena, Arkansas, Smith was a Harmonica blues blues harp player and singer and exponent of West Coast blues, spending most of his career in Los Angeles, California. Playing harmonica on an amplified microphone as well as in acoustic settings, he released at least four albums under his own name.

T

*

W

*Little Walter
*Junior Wells
*Phil Wiggins
*Sonny Boy Williamson

*Kim Wilson - Born January 6, 1951 in Detroit, Michigan, Wilson is better known as the leader of The Fabulous Thunderbirds. A blues harp player and singer, Wilson performs Texas blues, blues-rock and harmonica blues. Starting in the 1990s, he began pursuing a solo career, out of which he has released at least five solo albums for labels such as Discovery Records.

References

*Allmusic