In the mid-1800s, a German harmonica manufacturer named Hohner started exporting his product to North America. Being relatively inexpensive, relatively easy to play and extremely portable, the ...

Hear Brandon Bailey perform two songs live in the NPR studio. The harmonica is a staple of American blues, beginning with the Memphis jug bands of the 1920s. In the 1960s, blues-influenced artists ...

“Classic Harmonica Blues,” out on May 21, features 20 tracks by the blues’ greatest harmonica players. Photo courtesy of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings In the early 20th-century, southern black ...

There are myriad reasons why playing music is one of the most enjoyable and spiritually beneficial things to do on earth. Melody, rhythm and lyric are but three glorious aims. One drawback to playing ...

Frank “Iron Jaw” Oakley, L.C. Gant, and Dawayne Gilley at the Grand Emporium LaBudde Special Collections One night in 1965 inside an old club at 12th and Vine, Frank “Iron Jaw” Oakley asked Kansas ...

For the past few months, the great Chicago blues harmonica player Sugar Blue has been on the run – from the coronavirus. His flight has taken him from Shanghai to Milan to the mountains of Italy to ...

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You can be sure that folks on the historic downtown hotel’s patio were standing throughout the concert. Hummel expects the same when he and Funderburgh return for the 12th annual KXCI House Rockin’ ...