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 ...

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 ...

“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 ...

Exuding the joyousness and freedom of jazz, harmonica master Toots Thielemans and the estimable keyboardist Kenny Werner are blowing the blues away this week at Yoshi's. Making the duo a trio in the ...

Most nights, you can walk into a blues club and find a harmonica player blowing their heart out onstage. The wailing, honking sound associated with Western movies and juke joints is what many harp ...

Getting his start as a member of the legendary Muddy Waters’ band, Little Walter Jacobs took the harmonica to a whole new level. Developing his own unique techniques, blues musicians still look to him ...

Tony Glover, a harmonica player who as a member of the group Koerner, Ray and Glover was at the center of the folk music revival of the 1960s and helped introduce a new audience to the blues, died on ...

There are myriad reasons why playing music is one of the most enjoyable and spiritually beneficial things to do on earth. Melody, rhythm and lyric are but three glorious aims. One drawback to playing ...

You can be sure that folks on the historic downtown hotel’s patio were standing throughout the concert. Hummel expects the same when he and Funderburgh return for the 12th annual KXCI House Rockin’ ...

First as half of the duo Cephas and Wiggins and later on his own, he was one of the best-known musicians playing the style known as the Piedmont blues. By Clay Risen See more of our coverage in your ...