Willie Dixon gets his day in Vicksburg

It’s been a long time coming, but Willie Dixon gets his day in his hometown of Vicksburg, Mississippi on Thursday of this week with a jam session in his honor, a marker and a mural…all celebrating his life and music. The festivities begin at 3:00pm when the Mississippi Blues Commission will unveil the Willie Dixon Mississippi Blues Trail Marker. The trail is a collection of more than 100 historical markers and interpretive sites throughout the state to recognize Mississippi's blues heritage. The celebration will finish up with a Willie Dixon tribute jam session.

Carey Bell dead at 70 of heart failure

Blues harmonica master Carey Bell died on May 6, 2007 of heart failure in his hometown of Chicago, IL. He was 70. Bell - the 1998 winner of the Blues Music Award for Traditional Male Artist Of The Year - was a veteran of both Muddy Waters' and Willie Dixon's bands as well as an award-winning solo artist, and a guest artist on countless blues recordings. Bell's classic, funky and deeply soulful blues place him firmly on the short list of blues harmonica superstars.

Blues legend Koko Taylor finds perfect fit in new album

By Regis Behe as excerpted from the Pittsburgh Tribune Review

Koko Taylor thinks she was 22 the night she stepped on stage and sang a few songs at a little Chicago blues club where bluesman Willie Dixon was present.

Afterwards, Dixon came up to Taylor and said "Girl, I like the way you sing them blues. Who are you?"

"I said 'Who are you?" says Taylor, now 71 and performing Saturday at the Three Rivers Arts Festival. "I'm thinking he's somebody who wants to talk, have a little conversation like most guys do in taverns." read more...