James Cotton, a pioneering harmonica player who worked with Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf and helped establish his instrument as an integral part of modern blues, died Thursday in Austin, Texas. He ...

Blues harmonica virtuoso and onetime Muddy Waters sideman James Cotton died on Thursday at a medical center in Austin of pneumonia. He was 81. A rep for the musician confirmed his death. Cotton, who ...

The harmonica found its way into blues because it was cheap: You could buy a good one in the 1930s for a quarter. But although blues musicians discovered all kinds of tricks with the instrument, it ...

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Fat, brassy sounds fill Cafe Van Kleef in downtown Oakland as Mark Hummel blows a slow Muddy Waters blues into his amplified B-flat Hohner harmonica. An off-white Dobbs shantung Panama hat rests on ...

At the heart of the smart and underappreciated film “Cadillac Records” is the volatile creative relationship between Muddy Waters and bad-boy harmonica master Little Walter. But with the movie’s sharp ...

Ben Harper grew up roaming the aisles and restoring guitars at his family's music store, the Claremont Folk Music Center. Going on its 60th year of business, the storefront in Southern California is ...