List of blues musicians: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

Performers in the blues style range from primitive, one-chord Delta players to big bands to country music to rock and roll to classical music.

Early Styles (Musicians Active before 1930)

Early Country Blues

• Richard "Rabbit" Brown
• Blind Lemon Jefferson
• Blind Blake
• Blind Boy Fuller
• Blind Willie Johnson
• Blind Willie McTell, (1901-1959)
• Mississippi John Hurt
• Lonnie Johnson
• Robert Johnson, (1911-1939)
• Mance Lipscomb, (1895-1976)
• Brownie McGhee, (1915-1996)
• Big Bill Broonzy, (born 1893)
• Reverend Gary Davis
• Bessie Tucker
• Ida Cox
• Mississippi Fred McDowell
• Memphis Minnie
• Frank Stokes
• Sippie Wallace
• Josh White
• Peetie Wheatstraw
• Bumble Bee Slim
• Charley Patton
• Tampa Red
• Bo Carter
• Sleepy John Estes
• Jesse Fuller
• Charlie Patton
• Son House
• Sonny Terry
• Lightnin' Hopkins
• Leadbelly, (1885-1949)
• Skip James, (1902-1969)
• Furry Lewis
• Memphis Blues Band
• Victoria Spivey
• Butterbeans & Susie
• Son House
• Bukka White
• Scrapper Blackwell
• Gus Cannon, (1883-1979)
• Sonny Boy Williamson I

• Lucille Bogan
• Georgia Tom Dorsey, (1899-1993)
• Lil Green
• Creole George Gusenon
• Lucille Hegamin, (1894-1970)
• Mamie Smith, (1883-1946)
• Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, (1886-1939)
• Clara Smith
• Bessie Smith, (1894-1937)
• Ethel Waters, (1896-1977)
• Sippy Wallace

• Jelly Roll Morton
• Louis Armstrong, (1901-1971)
• Sidney Bechet, (1897-1959)
• Johnny Dodds
• Otis Spann
• Big Joe Turner, (1911-1985)
• Big Maceo Merriweather
• Champion Jack Dupree
• Floyd Dixon
• Jay McShann (born 1909)
• Charles Brown, (1922-1999)
• Ray Charles, (born 1930)
• Percy Mayfield
• Lux Lewis
• Leroy Carr
• Albert Ammons
• Roy Brown
• Pee Wee Crayton
• Ivory Joe Hunter
• Big Jay McNeely (born 1927)
• Little Brother Montgomery, (c. 1906-1985)
• Jimmy Rushing, (1902-1972)
• Sam Taylor
• Roy Milton
• Pinetop Perkins
• Roosevelt Sykes
• Jimmy Witherspoon
• Amos Milburn
• Kazumi Watanabe
• Memphis Slim (1915-1988)
• Wynonie Harris
• Louis Jordan

• Big Joe Turner, (1911-1985)
• Jay McShann

Later Styles

• Mose Allison, (born 1927)

• Willie Dixon, (died 1992)
• Buddy Guy, (born 1936)
• Elmore James, (1918-1963)
• John Lee Hooker, (1917-2001)
• Albert King
• Freddie King (1934-1976)
• Robert Nighthawk
• Jimmy Rogers, (born 1924)
• Magic Sam
• Otis Rush
• Johnny Shines, (1915-1992)
• Little Walter
• Muddy Waters, (1915-1983)
• Junior Wells, (1934-1998)
• Howlin' Wolf
• Bo Diddley, (born 1928)
• Sonny Boy Williamson II(Rice Miller)
• Jimmy Reed
• Otis Spann

• James Anthony (Pecchia)
• B.B. King, (born 1925)
• Clarence Gatemouth Brown
• Eric Clapton, (born 1945)
• Albert Collins
• James Cotton
• Willie Dixon, (died 1992)
• Alvin Hart
• John Lee Hooker, (1917-2001)
• Colin James, (born 1964)
• Etta James, (born 1938)
• Freddie King (1934-1976)
• Taj Mahal (born 1942)
• John Mayall, (born 1933)
• Keb' Mo', (born 1951)
• Koko Taylor, (born 1935)
• Ali Farka Toure, (born 1939)
• Stevie Ray Vaughan, (1954-1990)
• Johnny Winter, (born 1944)
• Bobby Blue Bland

• Janis Joplin, (1943-1970)
• Cream
• Led Zeppelin
• The Yardbirds
• Santana
• Fleetwood Mac
• The Rolling Stones
• Captain Beefheart
• Humble Pie
• Van Morrison
• ZZ Top

• Harold Arlen, "Blues in the Night" and "Brother, Can You Spare A Dime"
• George Gershwin, (1898-1937), "Porgy and Bess"
• DeSylva, Brown, and Henderson, "Birth of the Blues"
• Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, "I've Got It Bad And That Ain't Good"

Blues in Country Music

• Jimmie Rodgers, (1897-1933)
• Hank Williams
• Johnny Cash
• Jerry Lee Lewis

See also: rockabilly

Blues influence in classical music

• George Gershwin, (1898-1937), 's "Rhapsody in Blue" and "Concerto in F"
• Honegger's "Pacific 231", the "train song" as concerto.
• William Grant Still, "Afro-American Symphony"

Blues in contemporary rock and pop music

• Moby
• The White Stripes
• The Black Keys
• Nick Cave
• Tom Waits
• Jon Spencer