Bill Tarsha and the Rocket 88s led the 18th annual blues harmonica blowout last week at the Rhythm Room. More than 35 blues harmonica players performed. Tarsha and his band opened with a couple tunes.

Born from the spirituals, work songs, and field hollers of African American communities in the Deep South, blues music gave ...

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 ...

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 ...

“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 ...

“Write this down: Blow 3, blow 4, draw 3, blow 3,” Phil Kaplan said to his new class of Newton harmonica students. Kaplan told the class he pulled the riff from “Mannish Boy,” the popular 1955 Muddy ...

Mark Hummel can claim any number of credits. A recipient of numerous honors and awards — among them, a Grammy nomination, two Blues Award wins, and his success as a chart-topping musician, band leader ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Bruce Willis, pictured in October 2019, brought fans joy by playing the blues on harmonica. (Charles Sykes / Invision/Associated ...