Written by John Kessler Bo Diddley may not have had the commercial success of some other performers, but his contributions to American musical culture are huge. Besides his trademark “Bo Diddley beat,” he had a brash sense of style, dressing in outlandish outfits, playing custom-made square guitars and generally having a lot of fun on […]

Written by John Kessler Repression of African Americans didn’t stop at the end of the Civil War, and prisons and chain gangs were full of black people arrested for minor violations. This song, “Another Man Done Gone”, tells of the death of a man on one of those chain gangs. Folklorist Alan Lomax recorded Vera […]

  Written by John Kessler Lonnie Johnson was one of the first American guitar masters, with a style that bridged jazz and blues, as well as country styles. Though often labeled as a “blues” player, he was versatile and accomplished enough to be a guest artist with Louis Armstong’s Hot Five in 1927, and with […]

Written by John Kessler Willie Dixon didn’t make his career writing songs about people who behaved themselves, and “Back Door Man” is no exception — it’s about a guy who cheats and then brags about it. Songs like this were well suited to the larger-than-life Howlin’ Wolf, who was already a well-established, middle-aged bluesman when […]