Lunch Listen: Neil Levang – Ghost Riders In The Sky
Neil LeVang (January 3, 1932 – January 26, 2015) was an American musician who was best known from television’s The Lawrence Welk Show, playing guitar, violin and banjo. Today we are going to feature the guitar twang of Neil Levang, starting with his performance in 1961 …. Read More
Lunch Listen: Howlin’ Wolf – Don’t Laugh At Me
Howlin’ Wolf was a Chicago blues singer, guitarist, and harmonica player. Originally from Mississippi, he moved to Chicago in adulthood and became successful, forming a rivalry with fellow bluesman Muddy Waters. With a booming voice and imposing physical presence, he is one of the best-known Chicago blues …. Read More
OBIT: Shock G, Humpty Hump Rapper
Gregory Edward Jacobs, known professionally as Shock G (and his alter ego Humpty Hump), was an American musician, rapper, and lead vocalist for the hip hop group Digital Underground. He was responsible for Digital Underground’s “The Humpty Dance”, 2Pac’s breakthrough single “I Get Around”, and co-producer of …. Read More
BORN ON THIS DAY: Muddy Waters (1913)
McKinley Morganfield, known professionally as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer-songwriter and musician who was an important figure in the post-war blues scene, and is often cited as the “father of modern Chicago blues”. His style of playing has been described …. Read More
Mozart’s Musical Piracy
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on this date of January 27, 1756. In the 1630s, there was a song only played in the Sistine Chapel. The Vatican kept the composition of “Miserere Mei, Deus” secret for 150 years until 14-year-old Mozart listened …. Read More
Let’s Talk About Lucille Bogan, the Raunchiest of All Great Blues Singers
The six-part Netflix series “History of Swear Words”… is fantastic. In one of the episodes, they briefly talked about a blues singer from the early 1930s that I thought I’d check out. Apparently, Lucille Bogon a.k.a. Bessie Jackson, born Lucille Anderson would …. Read More
OBIT: Eddie Van Halen
What else could we say that hasn’t been said already? Let’s dive right into the music first… Earlier this week, we learned of the passing of Eddie Van Halen. And perhaps the world of Rock & Roll guitar playing will never be …. Read More
BORN ON THIS DAY: Robin Williams (1951)
You know what music is? God’s little reminder that there’s something else besides us in this universe; harmonic connection between all living beings, every where, even the stars. Robin Williams, August Rush Today we will do things a little different. Robin M. …. Read More