Blues Moments in Time...

On this episode, we trace March 15 as a fault line in American blues history—where politics, faith, and sound collide. From LBJ’s “We Shall Overcome” speech and the Voting Rights Act, to Ray Charles’s “I’ve Got a Woman” redefining Black music, to the intertwined legacies of Lightnin’ Hopkins and Ry Cooder, we explore how the blues becomes a living archive of memory, resistance, and survival.IN THIS EPISODE:[00:00] - Introduction[01:23] - The Cultural Landscape[02:02] - The Political Climate[03:19] - Exploring The Music[04:16] - Births[06:35] - Passings[07:35] - ConclusionSUPPORT THE PODCAST:If you enjoy Blues Moments in Time, leave a review on your favourite podcast platform — it helps other blues lovers discover the show.You can also support the podcast by pledging a small donation. Every contribution helps us create richer episodes and continue shining a light on emerging and future blues artists.Support the stories that shaped the blues. Help us keep the archive growing: Support this Podcast Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblueshotelInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblueshotelBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theblueshotel.com.auYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBluesHotel©2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

On this powerful episode of Blues Moments in Time, we trace the journey of the blues from the hardship of the Jim Crow South to the electrified streets of Chicago, uncovering how struggle gave rise to sound that changed the world. March 14 connects the dots between the Great Migration’s cultural upheaval and the personal legacies of icons like Buddy Guy, the revolutionary “Queen of the Organ” Shirley Scott, and the contrasting lives of songwriter Doc Pomus and Delta traditionalist Big Jack Johnson. From uncredited studio sessions to songs born from physical limitation and resilience, this episode reveals how the blues became both a survival tool and a storytelling force—transforming pain into rhythm, and history into something you can feel.IN THIS EPISODE:[00:00] - Introduction[01:20] - The Cultural Landscape[02:08] - The Political Climate[02:55] - Exploring The Music[03:55] - Births[04:39.] - Passings[06:10] - ConclusionSUPPORT THE PODCAST:If you enjoy Blues Moments in Time, leave a review on your favourite podcast platform — it helps other blues lovers discover the show.You can also support the podcast by pledging a small donation. Every contribution helps us create richer episodes and continue shining a light on emerging and future blues artists.Support the stories that shaped the blues. Help us keep the archive growing: https://blues-moments-in-time.captivate.fm/supportHosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES. Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblueshotelInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblueshotelBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theblueshotel.com.auYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBluesHotel©2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

On March 13, two very different front lines—Selma, Alabama and swinging‑London—revealed how deeply the blues runs through global culture. As civil rights marchers faced state violence to secure the vote in 1965, a young Eric Clapton walked away from pop stardom to chase the raw truth of Black blues music. This episode traces how the blues, born from oppression and survival, shaped political resistance in the American South and ignited a musical revolution in Britain. A story of courage, conviction, and the enduring power of a sound that refuses to be silenced.IN THIS EPISODE:[00:00] - Introduction[01:31] - The Cultural Landscape[02:58] - The Political Climate[04:19] - Exploring The Music[07:02] - Births[08:03] - Passings[08:52.] - ConclusionMUSIC USED IN THIS EPISODE:Track: I'm Your Witchdoctor (1965)Artist: John Mayall & The BluesbreakersAlbum: Bluesbreakers feat. Eric Clapton - Deluxe EditionLabel: FontanaSUPPORT THE PODCAST:If you enjoy Blues Moments in Time, leave a review on your favourite podcast platform — it helps other blues lovers discover the show.You can also support the podcast by pledging a small donation. Every contribution helps us create richer episodes and continue shining a light on emerging and future blues artists.Support this PodcastHosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES. Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblueshotelInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblueshotelBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theblueshotel.com.auYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBluesHotel©2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

=Listener Discretion=This episode of Blues Moments in Time, includes historical discussion of racism and systemic injustice in the United States and may include the names and stories of people who are no longer with us.. We approach these topics in a factual, educational context, but listener discretion is advised.This episode traces how March 12 reveals the blues as a mirror of struggle — from A. Philip Randolph’s fight for fair employment and the pressure placed on Billie Holiday to the creative spark of Jesse Fuller and the Allman Brothers’ Fillmore East breakthrough. Together, these moments show how the blues evolves while staying rooted in the lived experiences of its creators.IN THIS EPISODE: [00:00] - Introduction[01:47] - The Cultural Landscape[02:32] - The Political Climate[03:02] - Exporing The Music[04:15.] - Births[04:47] - Passings[05:07] - ConclusionIf you're loving these daily blues history drops, leave us a review via your favourite podcast platform - it helps other blues lovers find the show.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES. Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblueshotelInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblueshotelBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theblueshotel.com.auYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBluesHotel©2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

From the Broadway debut of A Raisin in the Sun to the haunting "whoop" of Sonny Terry’s harmonica, March 11th is a day where the blues speaks the truth of the American experience.IN THIS EPISODE: [00:00] - Introduction[00:46] - The Cultural Landscape[01:27] - The Political Climate[01:55] - Exploring The Music[02:57] - Births[03:23] - Passings[03:46] - ConclusionKEY FIGURES MENTIONED: Sonny Terry (1911–1986)Dusty Brown (1929–2016)Lorraine Hansberry (1930–1965)Fannie Lou Hamer (1917–1977)MUSIC: Sonny Terry - Lost JohnDusty Brown - Hurry HomeHarvey Mandel - Wade In The WaterManfred Mann - I've Got My Mojo Working (Early B-Side, released shortly after the name change) FURTHER READING:Cultural - A Raisin In The SunPolitical - Reverend James ReebMusic - Mann-Hugg Blues BrothersMusic - Sonny TerryIf you're loving these daily blues history drops, leave us a review via your favourite podcast platform - it helps other blues lovers find the show.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES. Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblueshotelInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblueshotelBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theblueshotel.com.auYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBluesHotel©2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

Today, we honour the legacy of Harriet Tubman, celebrate the birth of guitar great Ronnie Earl, and revisit the historic 1972 Gary Convention.IN THIS EPISODE: [00:00] - Introduction[00:43] - The Cultural Landscape[01:20] - The Political Climate[01:56] - Exploring The Music[02:26] - Births[02:56] - Passings[03:26] - ConclusionKEY FIGURES MENTIONED: Harriet Tubman (1822–1913)Luis Russell (1902–1963)Ronnie Earl (1953–Present)LaVern Baker (1929–1997)Ernestine Anderson (1928–2016)MUSIC: LaVern Baker - Tweedle DeeRonnie Earl & The Broadcasters - I’ll Take Care of YouErnestine Anderson - Never Make Your Move Too SoonFURTHER READING:Political - The National Black Political ConventionMusic - Luis RussellIf you're loving these daily blues history drops, leave us a review via your favourite podcast platform - it helps other blues lovers find the show.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES. Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblueshotelInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblueshotelBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theblueshotel.com.auYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBluesHotel©2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

Today on March 9, we follow the marchers back to the bridge in Selma, witness a historic legal victory for freedom in the Amistad case, and celebrate the New Orleans legend who gave us "Lawdy Miss Clawdy."IN THIS EPISODE:[00:00] - Introduction[00:43] - The Cultural Landscape[01:10] - The Political Climate[01:35] - Exploring The Music[01:58] - Births[02:18] - Passings[02:42] - ConclusionKEY FIGURES MENTIONED: Lloyd Price (1933 - 2021)Ornette Coleman (1930 - 2015)Henry Stuckey (1897 - 1966)MUSIC: Lloyd Price - Lawdy Miss ClawdyOrnette Coleman - Blues ConnotationSkip James - Hard Time Killing Floor Blues (reflecting Stuckey's tuning)FURTHER READING:Cultural - Turnaround TuesdayPolitical - The Amistad CaseMusic - Lloyd PriceIf you're loving these daily blues history drops, leave us a review via your favourite podcast platform - it helps other blues lovers find the show.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES. Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblueshotelInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblueshotelBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theblueshotel.com.auYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBluesHotel©2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

From the halls of the Senate to the gentle strings of Mississippi John Hurt, today we explore how March 8th shaped the soul of the blues.IN THIS EPISODE:[00:00] - Introduction[00:43] - The Cultural Landscape[01:17] - The Political Climate[02:01] - Exploring The Music[02:31] - Births[03:00] - Passings[03:21] - ConclusionKEY FIGURES MENTIONED: Mississippi John Hurt (1893–1966)Willie King (1943–2009)P.B.S. Pinchback (1837–1921)Henry L. Marsh III (Born 1933)MUSIC: Mississippi John Hurt - Candy ManWillie King - I Am The BluesMa Rainey - Prove It On Me BluesFURTHER READING:Cultural - International Women's DayPolitical - Henry L. Marsh, IIIMusic - Mississippi John HurtMusic - Willie KingIf you're loving these daily blues history drops, leave us a review via your favourite podcast platform - it helps other blues lovers find the show.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES. Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblueshotelInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblueshotelBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theblueshotel.com.auYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBluesHotel©2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

March 7 is where the blues steps onto the bridge—literally and metaphorically. From Bloody Sunday in Selma to the first commercial jazz record, from Townes Van Zandt’s haunted ballads to Lowell Fulson’s West Coast grit and Ali Farka Touré’s desert trance, this date reveals the blues as a transatlantic story of terror, tenderness, and the stubborn pursuit of dignity.IN THIS EPISODE: [00:00] - Introduction[00:42] - Cultural & Political[02:54] - The Music[03:51] - Births[04:51] - Passings[06:22] - ConclusionKEY FIGURES MENTIONED: Townes Van Zandt (1944–1997)Lowell Fulson (1921–1999)Ali Farka Touré (1939–2006)John Lewis (1940–2020)Hosea Williams (1926–2000)MUSIC: Townes Van Zandt – Snake Mountain BluesLowell Fulson – Reconsider BabyAli Farka Touré – Ai DuOriginal Dixieland Jazz Band – Livery Stable BluesIf you're loving these daily blues history drops, leave us a review via your favourite podcast platform - it helps other blues lovers find the show.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES. Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblueshotelInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblueshotelBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theblueshotel.com.auYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBluesHotel©2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

On March 6, the blues steps into history as both witness and verdict. From the Dred Scott decision’s brutal denial of Black humanity to Ghana’s first sunrise of independence a century later, and from Furry Lewis’s bottleneck slide to King Floyd’s New Orleans soul‑blues grooves, this date shows the blues as more than music—it’s a receipt for every hardship endured and every victory claimed.IN THIS EPISODE: [00:00] - Introduction[00:43] - Cultural & Political[01:52] - The Music[02:26] - Births[03:02] - Passings[03:29] - ConclusionKEY FIGURES MENTIONED: Furry Lewis (1893–1981)Dave Clark (1909–1997)Walter Trout (1951– )King Floyd (1945–2006)MUSIC: Furry Lewis – Kassie JonesB.B. King – Why I Sing the Blues (song co-written by Dave Clark)Walter Trout – Say Goodbye to the BluesKing Floyd – Groove MeIf you're loving these daily blues history drops, leave us a review via your favourite podcast platform - it helps other blues lovers find the show.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES. Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblueshotelInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblueshotelBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theblueshotel.com.auYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBluesHotel©2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

March 5th is a day where resistance, reinvention, and raw musical power collide. From the Boston Massacre’s spark of defiance to Churchill’s Iron Curtain warning, from Little Walter’s amplified revolution to Elvis reshaping R&B on national television, this date shows the blues as more than music — it’s a running commentary on freedom, migration, and the human fight to be heard. It’s the story of how political pressure, cultural upheaval, and electrifying talent shaped the soundtrack of modern America.IN THIS EPISODE: [00:00] - Introduction[00:44] - Cultural & Political[01:39] - The Music[02:43] - Births[03:07] - Passings[03:36] - ConclusionKEY FIGURES MENTIONED: Tommy Tucker (1933–1982)Teena Marie (1956–2010)Roy Ayers (1940–2024 approx.)John Belushi (1949–1982)Elvis Presley (1935–1977)Little Walter (1930–1968)Frank Sinatra (1915–1998)MUSIC: Tommy Tucker – Hi-Heel SneakersTeena Marie - I'm Gonna Have My Cake (And Eat It Too)Roy Ayres - Everybody Loves The SunshineJohn Belushi (The Blues Brothers) - Sweet Home ChicagoElvis Presley - That's All RightLittle Walter – My BabeFrank Sinatra - Old Devil MoonIf you're loving these daily blues history drops, leave us a review via your favourite podcast platform - it helps other blues lovers find the show.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES. Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblueshotelInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblueshotelBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theblueshotel.com.auYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBluesHotel©2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

On March 4th, the blues walks a tightrope between promise and reality—from the ink drying on the U.S. Constitution to the breadlines and work camps of the Great Depression, from Piedmont porches to distorted Memphis amplifiers and British stages. It’s a day where legal frameworks, social upheaval, and guitar tone all collide, revealing the blues as a living, breathing history of resilience—stretching from the halls of Congress to the grit of a cranked‑up amp.IN THIS EPISODE: [00:00] - Introduction[00:47] - CUltural & Political[01:56] - The Music[02:25] - Births[03:03] - Passings[03:30] - ConclusionKEY FIGURES MENTIONED: Bobby Womack (1944–2014)Willie Johnson (Howlin’ Wolf guitarist) (1923–1995)Pete Haycock (1951–2013)Willie Walker (1896–1933)John Cephas (1930–2009)DIG DEEPER: Bobby Womack – Across 110th StreetHowlin’ Wolf (with Willie Johnson) – How Many More YearsClimax Blues Band (Pete Haycock) – Couldn’t Get It RightWillie Walker – South Carolina RagJohn Cephas & Phil Wiggins – Dog Days of AugustIf you're loving these daily blues history drops, leave us a review via your favourite podcast platform - it helps other blues lovers find the show.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES. Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblueshotelInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblueshotelBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theblueshotel.com.auYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBluesHotel©2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

On March 3rd, the blues stands in the glare of history—between the first sunrise of freedom and the harsh light of a camcorder capturing Rodney King’s beating. From Mississippi John Hurt’s gentle fingerpicking to Junior Parker’s velvet Memphis groove, from Buffalo Springfield’s protest anthems to the regional guardians who kept Delta traditions alive, this date reveals the blues as more than music—it’s a living record of struggle, memory, and the fight to be heard.IN THIS EPISODE:[00:00] - Introduction[01:13] - Cultural & Political[02:31] - The Music[03:12] - Biths[04:41] - Passings[05:16] - ConclusionKEY FIGURES MENTIONED: Mississippi John Hurt (1893–1966)Junior Parker (1927–1971)John Primer (1945– )Buffalo Springfield (Founded 1966)Danny Overbear (d. 1994)Mark Salings (d. 2009)DIG DEEPER: Mississippi John Hurt – Candyman BluesJunior Parker – Mystery TrainJohn Primer – Poor Man BluesBuffalo Springfield – For What It’s WorthDanny Overbea - I'm Tired of Being Tossed AroundMark Sallings - The CrawlIf you're loving these daily blues history drops, leave us a review via your favourite podcast platform - it helps other blues lovers find the show.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES. Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblueshotelInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblueshotelBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theblueshotel.com.auYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBluesHotel©2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

On March 2nd, the blues stands at a crossroads—where empires shift, borders break, and a single beat can change the future of American music. From the end of the international slave trade to the birth of the Bo Diddley rhythm, from Son House’s spiritual fire to Rory Gallagher’s global roar, this date captures the blues in motion: evolving, resisting, and reshaping the world one note at a time.IN THIS EPISODE:[00:00] - Introduction[00:54] - Cultural & Political[02:28] - The Music[03:40] - Births[04:27] - Passings[05:02] - ConclusionKEY FIGURES MENTIONED: Bo Diddley (1928–2008)Miles Davis (1926–1991)Son House (1902–1988)Rory Gallagher (1948–1995)Jeff Healey (1966–2008)Chris Barber (1930–2021)DIG DEEPER: MusicBo Diddley – Bo DiddleyMiles Davis – Freddie FreeloaderSon House – Death Letter BluesRory Gallagher – A Million Miles AwayJeff Healey – See the LightChris Barber's Jazz Band - New St. Louis BluesIf you're loving these daily blues history drops, leave us a review via your favourite podcast platform - it helps other blues lovers find the show.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES. Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblueshotelInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblueshotelBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theblueshotel.com.auYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBluesHotel©2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

March 1 is where the blues looks forward—women building the industry from the ground up, students walking out for justice, and a musical bloodline that runs from boogie‑woogie piano to calypso activism, turntables, and neo‑soul. It’s one date, but a whole century of people using rhythm as a weapon, a refuge, and a roadmap.IN THIS EPISODE: [00:00] - Introduction[00:53] - The Cultural Landscape[01:36.] - The Political Climate[02:15] - Births[03:56] - Passings[04:54] - ConclusionKEY FIGURES MENTIONED: Bessie Smith (1894–1937)Ma Rainey (1886–1939)Albert Ammons (1907–1949)Harry Belafonte (1927–2023)Grandmaster Flash (1958– )Angie Stone (1961–2025)Roy Ayers (1940–2025)DIG DEEPER: Bessie Smith - Downhearted BluesMa Rainey - See See Rider BluesAlbert Ammons - Boogie Woogie StompHarry Belafonte - Day-O (Banana Boat Song)Grandmaster Flash - The MessageAngie Stone - No More Rain (In This Cloud)Roy Ayers - Everybody Loves The SunshineIf you're loving these daily blues history drops, leave us a review via your favourite podcast platform - it helps other blues lovers find the show.Hosted by: Rufus TatePresented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES. Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblueshotelInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblueshotelBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theblueshotel.com.auYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBluesHotel©2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

On February 28, the blues doesn’t just mark a date on the calendar—it marks a crossroads. From a Broadway stage where Black voices first shook the walls of segregation, to a three–chord guitar riff launched into outer space, to indictments that finally cracked the armor of Jim Crow justice, this single day traces the blues’ journey from Southern streets to the stars. In this episode, we follow February 28 across decades: the opera that smuggled the blues into the mainstream, the red-hot chart symbol that changed who got heard, the birth of guitar mystics and British blues missionaries, and the passing of a man who carried Robert Johnson’s ghost into the modern age. February 28 is more than a date—it’s a living timeline of how the blues remembers, resists, and keeps moving forward.IN THIS EPISODE: [00:00] - Introduction[00:52] - The Cultural Landscape[02:37] - The Political Climate[03:44] - Exploring the Music[04:54] - Births[07:12] - Passings[08:23] - ConclusionKEY FIGURES MENTIONED: Anne Brown (1912-2009)Todd Duncan (1903-1998)Chuck Berry (1926-2017)John Fahey (1939-2001)Brian Jones (The Rolling Stones) (1942-1969)John Hammond (John Hammond Jr.) (1942-2026)DIG DEEPER: Todd Duncan / Anne Brown - I Loves You PorgyChuck Berry - Johnny B. GoodeJohn Fahey - Sunflower River BluesIf you're loving these daily blues history drops, leave us a review via your favourite podcast platform - it helps other blues lovers find the show.Hosted by: Rufus TatePresented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES. Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblueshotelInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblueshotelBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theblueshotel.com.auYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBluesHotel©2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

February 27 is where the blues bares its teeth — from lunch-counter beatings and legal double standards to record-breaking rock ’n’ roll and road-worn survivors, this is a day when Black talent keeps breaking through walls that were never meant to let it in. It’s resistance, release, and raw genius, all stamped on the same square of the calendar.IN THIS EPISODE: [00:00] - Introduction[00:45] - The Cultural Landscape[02:30] - The Political Climate[04:00] - Exploring the Music[06:15] - Births[06:15] - Passings[06:15] - Conclusion KEY FIGURES MENTIONED: Little Richard (1932-2020)James Brown (1933-2006)Mildred Bailey (1907-1951)Roosevelt Holtz (1905-1994)Eddie Kirkland (1923-2011)DIG DEEPER: Little Richard - Long Tall SallyJames Brown - Say It Loud - I'm Black And I'm Proud (Pt. 1)Mildred Bailey - Rockin' ChairRoosevelt Holts - Roosevelt Holts: Presenting The Country BluesEddie Kirkland - Have Mercy On MeIf you're loving these daily blues history drops, leave us a review via your favourite podcast platform - it helps other blues lovers find the show.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES. Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblueshotelInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblueshotelBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theblueshotel.com.auYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBluesHotel©2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

February 26 is where American music gets dragged through the mud — the day stolen sounds made millions, promised rights were stripped bare, and the blues rose up from the wreckage to tell the truth nobody wanted to hear.IN THIS EPISODE: [00:00] - Introduction[00:49] - The Cultural Landscape[02:30] - The Political Climate[03:43] - Exploring the Music[04:33] - Births[06:19] - Passings[07:39] - ConclusionKEY FIGURES MENTIONED: Fats Domino (1928 - 2017)Bob “The Bear” Hite (1943 - 1981)Bukka White (1909–1977)DIG DEEPER: Fats Domino - The Fat ManCanned Heat - Going Up the CountryBukka White - Parchman Farm BluesIf you're loving these daily blues history drops, leave us a review via your favourite podcast platform - it helps other blues lovers find the show.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES. Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblueshotelInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblueshotelBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theblueshotel.com.auYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBluesHotel©2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

On February 25, history didn’t whisper — it shouted. From a Senate seat reclaimed from the Confederacy to a young Muhammad Ali refusing to bow, this date shows how defiance, survival, and raw truth shaped the blues.IN THIS EPISODE: [00:00] - Introduction[00:46] - The Cultural Landscape[01:51] - The Political Climate[02:54] - Exploring the Music[04:07] - Births[05:25] - Passings[06:43] - ConclusionKEY FIGURES MENTIONED: Hiram Rhodes RevelsFirst African American U.S. Senator, seated in 1870 — a moment of Reconstruction audacity that foreshadows the political roots of the blues.Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay)His 1964 upset over Sonny Liston embodied the same refusal to “lose quietly” that fuels blues storytelling.James P. Johnson“Father of Stride Piano,” whose 1927 recordings fused ragtime precision with blues emotion.Buddy GuyFinally recognized by the industry in 1992 with a Grammy — decades after peers called him the greatest living blues guitarist.Ida CoxThe “Uncrowned Queen of the Blues,” whose feminist anthem Wild Women Don’t Have the Blues broke barriers before the word “feminism” was mainstream.Andrew BrownChicago guitarist of fluid brilliance, under‑recorded but revered by those who heard him live.Louisiana Red (Iverson Minter)Survivor of unthinkable trauma who turned sorrow into slide‑driven testimony; passed on Feb 25, 2012.DIG DEEPER: Ida Cox - Wild Women Don't Have the Blues - https://youtu.be/Sa2GuMZ1t6AJames P. Johnson - Snowy Morning Blues - https://youtu.be/55k5BJe6Im8Buddy Guy - Damn Right, I've Got the Blues - https://youtu.be/QUKC-RHuJhQLouisiana Red - Sweetblood Call - https://youtu.be/TeL6z1Qp_2QIf you're loving these daily blues history drops, leave us a review via your favourite podcast platform - it helps other blues lovers find the show.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES. Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblueshotelInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblueshotelBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theblueshotel.com.auYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBluesHotel©2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

From Kentucky’s defiance of emancipation to B.B. King’s Grammy honor and Memphis Slim’s Paris exile, this episode traces how February 24th captures the blues’ journey from oppression and field hollers to British blues explosions, arena stages, and worldwide recognition.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/Keep the blues alive.© 2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

From W.E.B. Du Bois’ intellectual scaffolding to Mississippi’s fraught readmission to the Union, this episode traces how February 23 threads through the social, political, and musical birth of the blues. We follow recording milestones from Bertha “Chippy” Hill to Oliver Nelson, and celebrate the legacies of Johnny Winter, Melvin Taylor, Big Maceo Merriweather, and John Little John. Together, their stories reveal how one date illuminates the blues as protest, survival, and enduring artistic innovation.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/Keep the blues alive.© 2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

February 22 charts the blues slipping through the front door of mainstream culture and roaring back as a modern protest voice. In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, we follow Elvis Presley’s 1956 hit “Heartbreak Hotel” as a slow-blues “Trojan horse” that smuggled Beale Street feeling onto the pop charts and accidentally sparked a 1960s blues revival, sending young listeners digging for Muddy Waters, Son House, and Howlin’ Wolf.We then jump to 2019 and Gary Clark Jr.’s This Land, where fuzz-drenched riffs turn Woody Guthrie’s optimism into a battlecry of Black ownership and survival. Along the way, we drop into Jabo Smith’s 1929 “Sleepy Time Blues” as the Delta puts on a sharp Chicago “city suit,” and honor Texas Johnny Brown, Ernie K‑Doe, Papa John Creach, and Linsey Alexander—artists who prove the blues is still a living, breathing documentary of the Black experience.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/Keep the blues alive.© 2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

February 21 captures the blues in motion—from revolution to the White House, from “race records” to the pop charts. In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, we trace how the 1965 assassination of Malcolm X pushed Black American music from polished optimism into a grittier, electrified, politically charged sound that helped fuel funk and blues‑rock, and how B.B. King’s 1970 hit “The Thrill Is Gone” broke through the pop Top 20, tearing down the wall between segregated “race records” and mainstream America.We then jump to the 2012 “Red, White, and Blues” concert at the White House, where President Barack Obama joined Buddy Guy and B.B. King on “Sweet Home Chicago”—a surreal vindication for a music born in the Jim Crow South. Along the way, we honor the births of Nina Simone and Corey Harris, and the twin 2013 losses of Magic Slim and Cletha Staples, whose lives embodied the tavern and church branches of the blues.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/Keep the blues alive.© 2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

This episode traces the powerful crossroads of February 20—from Frederick Douglass’s passing in 1895 and the rise of the blues under Jim Crow, to the electric defiance of the 1956 Montgomery Bus Boycott. We jump to 1962, when Lightning Hopkins improvised a blues tribute as John Glenn orbited Earth, and spotlight key February 20 birthdays that shaped the genre. A date that proves the blues doesn’t just remember history—it reports it, responds to it, and plays a little louder every time.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/Keep the blues alive.© 2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

February 19th captures the blues in motion—from global Black consciousness to the electrified sound of mid‑century Chicago and the roar of arena rock. We begin in 1919, when W.E.B. Du Bois convenes the first Pan‑African Congress in Paris, laying the intellectual groundwork for the New Negro movement and building the cultural confidence that helped open the recording industry to Black artists like Mamie Smith just a year later.The date also intersects with World War II and the “Double V” campaign. On February 19, 1945, as U.S. forces land on Iwo Jima, Black Marines fight abroad while demanding dignity at home. Returning veterans refuse Jim Crow and head north, fueling the Great Migration and transforming the blues from rural folk expression into an electrified urban shout.That same day in Chicago, Big Bill Broonzy records with Big Maceo and Buster Bennett, capturing the “Bluebird beat”—a polished, swinging bridge between Delta roots and the amplified power soon to define Muddy Waters’ era.We also mark the birth of Mississippi’s Sam Myers in 1936, a drummer‑turned‑harmonica powerhouse whose voice carried the stark truths of life and death, and the 1980 passing of AC/DC’s Bon Scott, a rocker whose shouting, 12‑bar swagger showed just how far the blues could travel.February 19th stands as a snapshot of transition—intellectual, political, and musical—showing how the blues moves from Paris to Chicago to global stages without ever losing its pulse.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/Keep the blues alive.© 2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

February 18th pulls together moral resistance, civil rights sacrifice, and some of the most important turning points in modern Black music. We start in 1688 in Germantown, Pennsylvania, where a small group of Quakers draft the first formal protest against slavery in the English colonies—a quiet but radical act that lights the torch of moral resistance at the heart of the blues. Nearly three centuries later, in 1965, Alabama activist Jimmie Lee Jackson is shot while protecting his family during a protest in Marion; his death becomes the spark for the Selma to Montgomery marches and helps push the blues toward a harder, electrified edge that matches the violence of the times.Musically, February 18th is a Big Bang date. In 1959, Ray Charles records “What’d I Say,” tearing down the wall between the church and the dance hall and effectively inventing soul music by fusing gospel fervor with blues grit. Eleven years later, the Allman Brothers Band cut “Statesboro Blues,” electrifying a 1920s country blues tune for the rock generation and proving the blues is a living language that can cross time, race, and genre.We also mark the births of two foundational voices: Lonnie Johnson, who essentially invents the modern guitar solo and shows the instrument can sing like a human voice, and Irma Thomas, the “Soul Queen of New Orleans,” whose records have carried her city’s joy and sorrow for decades. The day also holds the passing of Snooks Eaglin in 2009—the blind New Orleans “human jukebox” whose limitless repertoire and funky, bluesy guitar web embodied the idea that this music is lived, not just played.February 18th stands as a reminder that the blues is a running report from the front lines—rooted in protest, reshaped by innovation, and carried forward by artists who turn suffering into soul.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/Keep the blues alive.© 2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

February 17th pulls together opera stages, protest streets, and Texas roadhouses into one long blues story about dignity and defiance. We start with Marian Anderson, born this day in 1902, whose exclusion from Constitution Hall and unshakable poise turned her into a symbol of Black artistry that would not be silenced—a core truth at the heart of the blues. Then we move to 1942 and the birth of Huey P. Newton, co‑founder of the Black Panther Party, marking a shift from asking to demanding and helping push the music from acoustic back‑porch laments into electrified, militant soul blues.On the recording side, February 17th catches the blues in conversation with other genres: Bessie Smith in 1927 cutting “After You’ve Gone,” where the Empress of the Blues meets jazz head‑on, and Bob Dylan in 1966 tracking “Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again,” a counterculture nod that rock and roll is riding on Memphis shoulders.The date is also thick with Texas grit: drummer and songwriter Doyle Bramhall, the heartbeat behind Stevie Ray Vaughan’s sound, and Lou Ann Barton, whose voice feels like a Texas roadhouse at 2 a.m.—sweaty, fiery, and absolutely alive.We close with two losses that signal the end of eras: Thelonious Monk in 1982, whose angular jazz piano was still built on a blues skeleton, and Henry Gray in 2020, Howlin’ Wolf’s longtime pianist and one of the last living links to the golden age of Chicago blues. February 17th stands as a microcosm of the music itself—birth and loss, opera and juke joints, quiet dignity and raised fists—all carried on a twelve‑bar spine.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/Keep the blues alive.© 2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

February 16 reveals the blues as a record of survival—a music born from laws designed to silence Black voices and sustained by generations who turned lived experience into song. In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, we trace the impact of Missouri’s 1847 literacy ban, the rise of oral tradition, and Frederick Douglass’s leadership at the Freedman’s Bank, whose collapse echoed the broken promises that shaped so many blues themes.We explore Bessie Smith’s 1923 recording that saved Columbia Records, Fleetwood Mac’s 1968 debut that proved the blues had become a global language, and the legacies of Bill Doggett, Otis Blackwell, and Brownie McGhee—artists who carried the music from greasy organ grooves to rock and roll swagger to the pure “wood and wire” of Piedmont blues. February 16 stands as a reminder that the blues is both a survival tool and a universal truth.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/Keep the blues alive.© 2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

February 15 is a crossroads date in blues history—a day of vindication, breakthrough, and heavy loss. In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, we trace the journey from Blanch Kelso Bruce presiding over the U.S. Senate in 1879 to Mississippi declaring “B.B. King Day” in 2005, and Henry Lewis breaking the color line as the first Black conductor of a major American orchestra.We follow the “blues echo” of the British Invasion as the Beatles hit number one in 1964, then step into Muddy Waters’ blistering 1978 Bottom Line set that reminded young rockers who wrote the book. Along the way, we spotlight “Stormy Weather” composer Harold Allen and modern torchbearer Gary Clark Jr., before reflecting on the shared February 15 losses of Nat King Cole, Little Walter, and Mike Bloomfield—a solemn reminder of the cost of carrying the blues into the future.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/Keep the blues alive.© 2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

February 14 is more than roses and romance—it’s a cornerstone date in blues history. In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, we trace how Frederick Douglass’s chosen birthday helped inspire Black History Month, creating the cultural space for the blues to be honored as serious art, and how the founding of the SCLC in 1957 pushed the music from acoustic Delta roots into the urgent, electric sound of soul and R&B.We drop into Mamie Smith’s 1920 “Big Bang” recording session and Aretha Franklin’s 1967 take on “Respect,” where a blues-drenched performance turned a man’s plea into a woman’s demand for equality. Along the way, we spotlight West Side guitar firebrand Magic Sam, funk-blues sax master Maceo Parker, and Chitlin’ Circuit hero G.B. Coleman—voices that prove February 14 is a day when the blues speaks of identity, struggle, and triumph.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/Keep the blues alive.© 2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

February 13 traces a century of change in the blues—from backroom deals to royalty checks, from quiet suffering to anthems of resistance. In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, we look at how the founding of ASCAP in 1914 laid the groundwork for blues songwriters to finally claim their intellectual property, and how the 1960 Nashville sit-ins helped push the music from “my baby left me” laments to soul-drenched protest songs.We revisit key recording sessions by Lonnie Johnson and Earl “Fatha” Hines that bridged Delta roots with urban sophistication, and mark the births of King Floyd and Peter Tork, artists who smuggled blues feeling into funk and pop. Finally, we reflect on the deaths of Piedmont master Blind Boy Fuller and “outlaw” country legend Waylon Jennings, two figures whose lives bookend the journey from acoustic street corners to the electric roar of Chicago and beyond.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/Keep the blues alive.© 2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

February 12 is a landmark date in blues history—a day where politics, culture, and legendary artists intersect. This episode explores how the founding of the NAACP protected early blues musicians on the road, why Abraham Lincoln’s birthday became a reminder of freedom still out of reach, and how Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue pushed the blue note into high society.We spotlight the birthdays of Piedmont great Pink Anderson and Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek, and reflect on the passing of Delta master Ishmon Bracy and the theatrical trailblazer Screaming Jay Hawkins. Together, their stories show how February 12 captures the blues as a force that shaped America and influenced music worldwide.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/Keep the blues alive.© 2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

February 11th traces a straight line from the first legal Black resistance in colonial America to Bessie Smith’s breakthrough and the streets of Memphis. We begin in 1644 New Amsterdam, where eleven enslaved Africans petitioned for—and won—their freedom, creating the “Land of the Blacks” and setting an early precedent for legal resistance inside a hostile system. Centuries later, in 1990, Nelson Mandela walks free after 27 years in prison, a living embodiment of the liberation themes long carried in spirituals, blues, and jazz.We then move to Memphis, 1968. After sanitation workers Echol Cole and Robert Walker are killed in a faulty garbage truck, more than 700 of their coworkers gather on February 11 to vote to strike. Their “I Am a Man” signs transform a labor dispute into a demand for basic humanity and draw Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to the city—while the soul and blues of Stax Records become the movement’s soundtrack.On the musical side, February 11, 1923, marks Bessie Smith’s first recording session for Columbia, cutting “Downhearted Blues” and selling nearly 800,000 copies. That single proves the blues is not just folk expression but a major commercial force, opening the door for artists to make a living telling hard truths on record.We round out the date with the lives tied to it: Josh White, the Piedmont bluesman who turned his guitar into a weapon for justice; Otis Clay and Little Johnny Taylor, who helped carry the music from Delta grit into urban soul and R&B; Whitney Houston, whose church‑rooted voice stands on that same foundation; and Nashville session great Jerry Kennedy, who blurred the lines between country and R&B. February 11th emerges as a day where courts, picket lines, and recording studios all echo the same message: the blues is resistance set to music.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/Keep the blues alive.© 2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

February 10th is a hinge date where the blues steps into the mainstream, the law catches up—partly—to the music’s demand for dignity, and key architects of the sound enter and exit the story. We start in 1964, when the U.S. House of Representatives passes the Civil Rights Act, the beginning of the end for the segregated touring map that kept B.B. King, Muddy Waters, and countless others confined to the Chitlin’ Circuit and the back doors of the venues they filled.Then we jump to 1979, when The Blues Brothers’ version of “Soul Man” hits the Billboard Top 20. What began as a comedy act becomes a Trojan horse for Memphis and Chicago soul—smuggling Duck Dunn, Matt “Guitar” Murphy, Aretha Franklin, and John Lee Hooker into suburban living rooms and giving a second wind to veteran careers. It’s the moment the blues “went Hollywood and actually won,” proving it could survive—and thrive—inside modern mass media.We trace the lives tied to this date: Dave Van Ronk, the “Mayor of MacDougal Street,” whose February 10, 2002 passing closes the chapter on the folk‑blues bridge that carried Delta songs into Greenwich Village and onto Bob Dylan’s setlists; and Steve Cropper, who dies on February 10, 2026— the Stax Records guitarist and co‑writer of “In the Midnight Hour” and “Soul Man,” leaving a poetic symmetry with that 1979 chart climb.Along the way, we nod to the foundations: Chick Webb, born this day in 1905, whose hard‑swinging drums underpinned jump blues and early R&B; Larry Adler, born 1914, who proved the “pocket piano of the blues”—the harmonica—belonged on the world’s grandest stages; and Buddy Tate, the Texas tenor torchbearer whose 2001 passing marks another link in the chain gone. February 10th emerges as a day where law, charts, and individual genius all intersect to keep the blues alive, amplified, and undeniable.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/Keep the blues alive.© 2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

February 9th marks a turning point where the blues loops back into American culture, fuels political change, and evolves from rural porch music into an urban force. In 1964, 73 million viewers watched the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show, unknowingly witnessing the “re‑importation” of the blues as British bands sent American teenagers searching for Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and the Chicago masters who shaped them.The date also sits at the heart of the Civil Rights era: in 1965, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. met with President Lyndon Johnson to strategize the Voting Rights Act, giving political voice to the dignity long expressed in Delta blues. But February 9 also recalls darker moments—like Senator McCarthy’s 1950 Red Scare speech, which blacklisted folk‑blues artists who dared to speak out.Musically, the day captures key transitions: Big Bill Broonzy’s 1932 recordings bridging country blues and city grit, and Elvis Presley’s 1957 chart‑topping momentum signaling the shift from pop‑blues to raw rock and roll.We also mark the births of bassist Walter Page, inventor of the walking bassline, and Chicago soul star Major Lance, alongside the passings of Bentonia bluesman Jack Owens and the velvet‑voiced Tyrone Davis.February 9th stands as a snapshot of the blues in motion—crossing oceans, shaping politics, and carrying the music from front porches to city streets and global stages.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/Keep the blues alive.© 2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

February 8th traces the blues from survival code to social justice soundtrack and global rock foundation. We start in 1915 with the premiere of The Birth of a Nation, a racist propaganda film that pushed Black communities into constant vigilance and turned early Delta blues into coded music of survival—songs that said one thing on the surface and another underneath.We then move to 1968 and the Orangeburg massacre in South Carolina, when police killed three students protesting a segregated bowling alley. In the wake of that tragedy, the blues grew a sharper edge, shifting from juke‑joint escape to “justice joint” advocacy and paving the way for soul blues artists to speak truth to power.Along the way, February 8th spotlights key musical figures and turning points: the 1899 birth of Lonnie Johnson, who turned the guitar into a true lead voice with single‑note solos; Eddie “Guitar” Burns, who carried Mississippi mud to Detroit’s Motor City; and the 1956 hit “See You Later Alligator,” a Bobby Charles blues tune that became a Bill Haley rock and roll smash—an example of how Black architects built the house while others got their names on the deed.We close with Marvin Sease, who died on February 8, 2011—a Chitlin’ Circuit giant whose raw, funny, and scandalous shows kept Southern blues alive long after mainstream radio moved on. February 8th stands as a reminder that the blues is resilience in motion: coded, borrowed, electrified, and always rooted in the full, messy human experience.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/Keep the blues alive.© 2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

February 7th marks the moment the blues stepped into the historical spotlight, the global stage, and the electric future. In 1926, Dr. Carter G. Woodson launched Negro History Week, creating the first national space where the stories behind the blues could be recognized as essential American history.Fast‑forward to 1964: the Beatles land at JFK, openly praising Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf, forcing a segregated America to confront—and finally value—its own blues heritage.The date also captures key musical turning points: Johnny Dodds’ 1929 Chicago recordings shifting from New Orleans improvisation to the hard, driving pulse of Chicago blues, and Little Richard’s 1956 “Long Tall Sally,” where pure R&B plugged straight into rock and roll.We celebrate the 1934 births of Earl King and King Curtis—regional giants who shaped New Orleans R&B and Texas tenor sax—and remember the 1959 passing of Guitar Slim, the flamboyant, distortion‑driven pioneer who redefined what a blues guitar hero could be.February 7th stands as a crossroads where history, fandom, and raw sonic power pushed the blues into new eras and new ears.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/Keep the blues alive.© 2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

This episode traces February 6th as a date where exile, protest, and musical reinvention all converge in the story of the blues. We begin in 1820 with the departure of the ship Elizabeth—the “Mayflower of Liberia”—carrying 86 free African Americans toward Sierra Leone. That voyage planted the early seeds of spiritual restlessness, the feeling of being a stranger in one’s own land, a theme that would echo through field hollers and later shape the urban laments of Chicago blues.We then move to 1961 and the “jail no bail” protest in Rock Hill, South Carolina, where SNCC leaders like Diane Nash joined the Friendship 9 in refusing to pay fines for a lunch‑counter sit‑in. Their decision to sit in jail rather than bend to an unjust system mirrors the resilience at the heart of the blues—a refusal to break, even when the world demands it.From there, February 6th becomes a map of musical evolution. In 1936, Bumblebee Slim records “Hard Rocks in My Bed,” a gritty Depression‑era track that bridges the piano‑driven blues of the 1920s with the electrified Chicago sound to come. In 1913, Bob Geddins is born in Texas; after moving to Oakland, he builds the West Coast blues from the ground up, crafting classics like “Tin Pan Alley” and proving the blues had a home far beyond the Delta. And in 1958, a teenage George Harrison joins the Quarrymen—setting in motion the Beatles’ rise as global ambassadors who would introduce Muddy Waters and other American blues giants to audiences who might never have heard them otherwise.We close by honoring the losses tied to this date: Irish guitar titan Gary Moore, whose ferocious playing showed the blues could fill stadiums, and “Microwave” Dave Gallagher, a cornerstone of the Alabama scene and a tireless educator devoted to keeping the craft alive. February 6th stands as a reminder that the blues is a journey—across oceans, across eras, and across generations—carried by people who refused to let the music or the truth behind it fade.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/Keep the blues alive.© 2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

In this episode, we land on February 5th—a date that traces the blues from broken promises in the cotton fields to boundary‑breaking sessions in New York studios. We start in 1866 with Thaddeus Stevens’ failed attempt to grant 40 acres to freed families, and follow how that defeat forced Black Southerners into the debt trap of sharecropping—the “pressure cooker” where field hollers hardened into the blues as an emotional escape from unkept American promises. Then we jump to 1917, when the Immigration Act choked off foreign labor, opening Northern factory doors and fueling the Great Migration that carried the music from acoustic front porches to the electrified clubs of Chicago.From there, the calendar turns into a studio log. In 1953, Willie Mabon cuts “I’m Mad” in Chicago, taking the city’s sound in a cooler, jazz‑tinged direction that still tops the R&B charts. In 1962, Ray Charles walks into Capitol Studios to begin Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, proving that the “high lonesome” of country and the “worried mind” of the blues are two sides of the same coin—and that genre lines are meant to be crossed.We also trace the lives tied to this date: Memphis jug band leader Will Shade, who helped define Beale Street’s 1920s sound; Al Kooper, whose work with the Blues Project helped bridge Chicago blues into the ’60s rock counterculture; Chicago guitarist Kenneth “Buddy” Scott, the lifeblood of Westside clubs when the blues slipped off the mainstream radar; and blues shouter Piney Brown, who carried the fire from the swing era into the R&B explosion. February 5th emerges as a full arc in miniature—from dusty promises and forced labor to city lights, crossover hits, and revival scenes—showing how the blues keeps turning hard history into enduring truth.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/Keep the blues alive.© 2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

This episode turns to February 4th, a date where civil rights, commerce, and the blues all collide. We begin in Tuskegee, Alabama, with the birth of Rosa Parks—the “mother of the civil rights movement”—and trace how her quiet refusal in 1955 echoes the core themes of the blues: sorrow, resolve, and the demand to be treated as human. Her era becomes the backdrop for modern electric blues, as Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf plug in and give that struggle a roaring voice.We then move to 1971, when Major League Baseball finally agrees to honor Negro League players in the Hall of Fame, a moment that mirrors the music industry’s late recognition of “race records” as American masterpieces. From there, the story shifts to money and mainstream power: Johnny Winter’s record‑shattering $600,000 Columbia deal in 1969 proves the blues can fill arenas, and the 1977 release of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours shows how a band that started as Chicago blues disciples could transform that language into one of the biggest pop albums of all time.Along the way, we spotlight the births of Mississippi‑born guitarist Joe Beard, who carried Delta DNA to Rochester, and harmonica ace Curtis Salgado, whose mentorship of John Belushi helped spark The Blues Brothers phenomenon. We close by honoring the deaths of Louis Jordan—the “King of the Jukebox” whose jump blues lit the fuse for rock and R&B—and Cecil Gant, the “GI singing sensation” who proved a bluesman could shake the house and break your heart at the piano. February 4th emerges as a snapshot of how the blues moves: from bus seats to ballparks, from juke joints to platinum records, always insisting on dignity and leaving its fingerprints on everything it touches.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/Keep the blues alive.© 2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

This episode sits with February 3rd—a single date that reads like a compressed history of Black struggle, joy, and reinvention through the blues. We start in 1870 with the ratification of the 15th Amendment, tracing how the promise of the vote and its betrayal in Reconstruction hardened field hollers into 12‑bar blues, the emotional soundtrack of disenfranchisement and sharecropping. We then move to 1956, when Autherine Lucy walked onto the campus of the University of Alabama, her fight for dignity echoing the quiet demands embedded in 1950s blues lyrics.From there, we step onto the diamond in 1920 as Rube Foster launches the Negro National League, drawing a powerful parallel between the Negro Leagues and the Chitlin’ Circuit—two traveling ecosystems of Black excellence sharing the same roads, hotels, and communities. The date then becomes a studio logbook: Muddy Waters cutting “My Eyes Keep Me in Trouble” in 1955 with Little Walter and Willie Dixon, Bob Dylan’s early blues‑soaked demos in 1961, and The Blues Brothers’ A Briefcase Full of Blues hitting number one in 1979, dragging Chicago and Memphis grooves into suburban living rooms and jump‑starting a mass blues revival.We spotlight the births of Johnny “Guitar” Watson—space‑age jump‑blues pioneer turned funk‑blues icon—and Jesse “Baby Face” Thomas, whose decades‑long career anchors the Texas sound. Finally, we confront February 3rd as a day of loss: the death of session wizard Wild Jimmy Spruill, and the 1959 plane crash that took Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper—a moment remembered as “the day the music died,” but also a deep cut to the blues, as Holly’s Bo Diddley‑inspired rhythms carried the music to the world. February 3rd emerges as a living ledger of resilience, where ballots, ballparks, and backbeats all feed the same river called the blues.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel CollectiveKeep the blues alive.© 2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

In this episode, we turn the calendar to February 2nd and watch the blues reshape itself—on stage, in the streets, and across the ocean. We begin in 1904 with the marriage that created “Ma and Pa Rainey,” tracing how Gertrude “Ma” Rainey rose to become the “Mother of the Blues,” standardizing the 12‑bar form, mentoring Bessie Smith, and turning a traveling act into a cultural force.From there, we jump to 1948, when President Harry Truman’s civil rights message to Congress—calling for an end to poll taxes and lynching—echoed the dignity and defiance long sung on the Chitlin Circuit, where Black musicians faced Jim Crow every night on the road.We then follow the “rebellious child of the blues” into rock and roll: Buddy Holly’s final Winter Dance Party show in 1959, and the Beatles’ first professional gig outside Liverpool in 1962, where British bands absorbed Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry and sold the blues back to the world.Finally, we trace a poetic twist in the story of the Mississippi Sheiks: the birth of guitarist Walter Vincent in 1901, the death of bassist Sam Chapman in 1983—both on February 2nd—bookending a legacy that runs from “Sitting on Top of the World” to the outer edges of the genre with James Blood Ulmer’s boundary‑breaking blend of blues, funk, and free jazz. February 2nd emerges as a day when the blues marries tradition to rebellion, and local struggle to global sound.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel CollectiveKeep the blues alive.© 2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

On this episode, we zoom in on a single date—February 1st—and uncover how it became a crossroads of freedom, protest, and musical reinvention in blues history. We trace the arc from the 1865 signing of the 13th Amendment and National Freedom Day to the start of Black History Month, framing the blues as a living “sonic record” of the journey from emancipation to the ongoing fight for equality.We then move to Greensboro, 1960, where four students at a lunch counter helped turn the old Delta moan into a sharper, louder weapon for justice, reshaping the blues into music of direct protest. From there, we drop the needle on February 1st, 1965, as James Brown records “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag,” bending the 12‑bar form into a new rhythmic heartbeat and pushing the blues into funk for a new generation.Along the way, we honor the births of poet Langston Hughes—whose pages “bled blues”—and slide guitar visionary Sonny Landreth, as well as the passing of Chicago Westside masters John Little John and Jimmy Johnson. February 1st emerges not just as a date, but as a living marker of how the blues remembers, resists, and reinvents itself.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel CollectiveKeep the blues alive.© 2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

January 31 is more than a date on the calendar—it’s a crossroads of faith, struggle, and sound. In this episode, we stand in Chicago in 1972 at the funeral of Mahalia Jackson, where over 40,000 mourners gathered and Aretha Franklin’s closing song turned grief into a living testament to gospel, blues, and the Civil Rights Movement. We explore how Mahalia’s voice became both a spiritual anchor and a political force, from the March on Washington to national recognition from the White House.From there, we trace how the emotional DNA of the blues flows into global pop: The Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back” topping the charts in 1970, Blondie’s “The Tide Is High” riding rhythms born from Black musical traditions, and rock innovators like Terry Kath and Phil Manzanera carrying Mississippi’s echoes into new sonic territories.We close with the haunting legacy of Slim Harpo, the “swamp blues” master whose hypnotic grooves powered the Rolling Stones and modern blues rock. January 31 becomes a story of farewells and ripples—of how gospel, blues, and soul keep reshaping culture, politics, and the way the world feels its music.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel CollectiveKeep the blues alive.© 2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

January 30 isn’t packed with famous blues birthdays or deaths—but that’s exactly what makes it powerful. In this episode, we trace how one ordinary date became a lens on the entire evolution of the blues. From Charlie Patton’s raw Delta masterpiece “Jersey Bull Blues” in 1934 to Sonny Boy Williamson II’s electric Chicago session with an all-star band in 1960, we follow the music’s journey from dusty backroads to neon-lit city nights.We then step onto the London rooftop in 1969 for The Beatles’ final performance and explore how British rock giants carried the blues back to the world, amplifying its roots for new generations. Alongside these musical milestones, we confront the darker shadows of January 30—the rise of Hitler, the assassination of Gandhi—and ask how global turmoil seeps into the blues’ sound, spirit, and stories.This episode is a meditation on legacy, resilience, and the countless unnamed artists whose lived experiences shaped the music we still feel today—proof that the blues is less about dates on a calendar and more about an unbroken, echoing human heartbeat.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel CollectiveKeep the blues alive.© 2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, we trace January 29 as a fault line where law and music collide. We start in the 19th century, with Henry Clay’s Compromise of 1850 and Mississippi’s short-lived 1873 civil rights bill—moments that built the legal scaffolding of slavery, sharecropping, and Jim Crow. These aren’t just dates in a textbook; they’re the backdrop to every blues lyric about a “mean old world” and a “high sheriff” who never played fair.From there, we move to January 29, 1992, and the passing of Willie Dixon—the bassist, songwriter, and producer whose work at Chess Records became the blueprint for modern blues, rock, and soul, and whose legal battles helped secure artists’ rights. Finally, we meet Jonny Lang, born January 29, 1981, a teenage prodigy who carried that legacy into the age of MTV and streaming. Together, these stories reveal January 29 as a day where courtrooms, state houses, and recording studios all feed the same river: the blues as a lifelong argument for dignity, justice, and emotional truth.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel CollectiveKeep the blues alive.© 2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, we stop the clock on January 28—a single date that captures the blues as a living, breathing continuum. We move from the elegant Piedmont finger-picking of Luke Jordan, born January 28, 1892, to the community-rooted legacy of DC Minner, born January 28, 1935 in an all-Black Oklahoma town, and finally to the passing of Alabama harmonica original J-Bird Coleman on January 28, 1950.Set against the tense political backdrop of McCarthyism, early Civil Rights organizing, and the rise of television, we drop into 1950 as Sam Phillips opens his Memphis studio and Muddy Waters and Little Walter refine the amplified Chicago sound at Chess Records. This episode traces how one date threads together front-porch Piedmont blues, smoke-filled Chicago clubs, and schoolroom blues education—showing that the music is never frozen in time. It’s a torch, passed from hand to hand, generation to generation.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel CollectiveKeep the blues alive.© 2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, January 27 becomes a day where history’s heaviest shadows and music’s brightest sparks sit side by side. We begin with International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the liberation of Auschwitz in 1945, drawing a line between that global reckoning with atrocity and the blues as a vessel for suffering, survival, and the demand to be seen as fully human. The same emotional current that runs through memorial candles and testimonies runs through 12‑bar laments and soul‑deep shouts.We then flip the switch—literally—to 1880, when Thomas Edison’s light bulb patent helped create the modern night: clubs, bars, theaters, and, eventually, recording studios where blues musicians could plug in, turn up, and be documented. Electric light didn’t just change how we see; it changed where and when the blues could be played, recorded, and remembered.January 27 is also a birthday roll call for two giants: Elmore James, born in 1918, whose slide guitar could cut straight through the soul and whose riffs would echo in the work of players like Jimi Hendrix and B.B. King; and Bobby “Blue” Bland, born in 1930, whose smooth, gospel‑infused vocals helped shape modern soul blues and left a catalog singers still study like scripture.Around them, the date traces the blues’ cross‑genre fingerprints: Elvis Presley releasing “Heartbreak Hotel” in 1956, a rock and roll milestone built on blues structure and emotion; the 2014 passing of Pete Seeger, who carried songs like “Goodnight Irene” from Lead Belly’s world into the American mainstream and tied folk, blues, and activism together; and the Punch Brothers’ The Phosphorescent Blues in 2015, a roots‑steeped acoustic record that shows how the genre’s DNA keeps resurfacing in new forms.January 27 stands as a microcosm of the blues itself—birth and loss, darkness and illumination, slide guitars and protest songs—reminding us that this music is a universal language of resilience, forever carrying history’s weight and still finding new ways to shine.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel CollectiveKeep the blues alive.© 2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, January 26 becomes a powerful meeting point of invasion, survival, protest, and sound. From Invasion Day/Survival Day and the 1938 Day of Mourning in Australia to the U.S. Civil Rights echoes inside the blues, we explore how music and resistance share the same emotional core—truth-telling, resilience, and identity reclamation.We then trace how that core travels through time and genre: into Eddie Van Halen’s blues-soaked rock guitar, Prince’s funk-and-soul alchemy, and Billie Eilish’s stark, confessional pop. Along the way, we spotlight Alexis Korner and the global spread of the blues as a foundational language beneath modern music.January 26 isn’t just a date on the calendar—it’s a reminder that every groove holds a memory, and every note carries the weight of history, survival, and the ongoing fight to be heard.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel CollectiveListen Tomorrow for: Another Blues Moment in TimeKeep the blues alive.© 2025 The Blues Hotel Collective.

In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, January 25 becomes a date where machines, empires, and human voices all collide around the blues. We start in 1920 with the premiere of Karel Čapek’s play R.U.R., the work that gave the world the word “robot” and announced a new, mechanical age. While factories roared and the idea of replaceable workers took hold, blues musicians were out there doing the opposite—putting names, fears, hopes, and everyday truths back into a world that was starting to feel cold and automated. The blues became the human counterweight to a century speeding up.We zoom out further to 1554 and the founding of São Paulo, a reminder that long before the first 12‑bar progression, colonial power and forced migration were setting the stage for the African diaspora. Those global shifts—ports, plantations, and new cities—created the conditions in which the blues would eventually emerge in the American South as a distinct, defiant art form: a way for displaced people to claim identity and voice inside someone else’s system.January 25 is also a birthday roll call for two giants who show the range of what the blues can be. Blind Willie Johnson, born in 1897, carved out the sound of gospel blues with his searing slide guitar and apocalyptic vocals—records from the late 1920s that still feel like they’re coming straight out of the earth. And Etta James, born in 1938, carried that same emotional fire into soul, gospel, and pop, turning every song into a lived confession and dragging the blues into mid‑ and late‑20th‑century radio, stages, and soundtracks.There are no marquee blues deaths tied to January 25, which makes it feel less like a day of endings and more like a day of beginnings and reflections—a moment to think about the countless known and unknown artists who gave this music its shape. January 25 reminds us that the blues has always sat at the crossroads of history and humanity: forged in colonial shadows, sung over industrial noise, and carried forward by voices that refuse to sound mechanical, no matter how fast the world turns.Hosted by: Kelvin HugginsPresented by: The Blues Hotel CollectiveKeep the blues alive.© 2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.