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 ...
“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 ...