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 ...

To broach his uncertain future, Johnny Sansone first had to relinquish his familiar past. Photo by Timothy WhiteJohnny Sansone's new CD is an early contender for one of the best local albums of the ...

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 ...

Black-Eyed Sally’s is once again bringing back the popular “Northeast Blues Harmonica Showcase” on Saturday — a gathering of regional and national blues harmonica talent. Headlining will be harmonica ...

Nearly 60 years later, the Garrison Beach, Brooklyn native and president of the Long Island Harmonica Club will join the club ...

Mark Hummel didn’t set out to be an impresario. He had no burning ambition to corner the market on the world’s greatest blues harmonica players. But after getting a bracing shot of energy from ...

If you ask James Montgomery if he remembers playing the Shaboo inn in Willimantic back in the day — the legendary local club that closed in 1982 — he’ll hem and haw and scratch his head and say “The ...

Blues Traveler frontman John Popper has a longstanding grudge against his ’90s alt-rock radio peer Alanis Morissette — ...

Austin, Texas, September 24-- Gary Primich, considered by many to be one of the greatest harmonica players in the world, passed away suddenly on September 23rd. Not only is this the loss of a ...

Blues harmonica virtuoso and onetime Muddy Waters sideman James Cotton died on Thursday at a medical center in Austin of pneumonia. He was 81. A rep for the musician confirmed his death. Cotton, who ...

Stereogum's renowned writer Tom Breihan and its founder/editor Scott Lapatine tracked down Popper's recent kvetchings, ...