Hear Brandon Bailey perform two songs live in the NPR studio. The harmonica is a staple of American blues, beginning with the Memphis jug bands of the 1920s. In the 1960s, blues-influenced artists ...

Among the harmonica’s many wonderful and unique traits, there is this: You have to really suck to be good at it. As one of America’s finest and busiest harmonica players, Denver’s Ronnie Shellist ...

Where would rock 'n' roll music be without the harmonica? An incredibly versatile instrument, the harmonica has appeared across the history of rock music, from folk to R&B to blues.

Mark Hummel’s 20th annual Blues Harmonica Blowout came blowing into town the other night at SOhO Restaurant and Music Club with Rod and Honey Piazza, Sugar Blue, and Billy Branch with Mitch Kashmar.

Bill Tarsha and the Rocket 88s led the 18th annual blues harmonica blowout last week at the Rhythm Room. More than 35 blues harmonica players performed. Tarsha and his band opened with a couple tunes.

Most musical instruments are not primarily associated with one particular style of music, especially in these days of cross-cultural collaborative adventures. Sure, notable harmonica artists can be ...

The Grand Ole Opry first came to be back in the 1920s. It remains one of the most important radio broadcasts in country music history. And, born on this very day in 1899, one DeFord Bailey became one ...

James Cotton, who learned to play the harmonica as a child in the Mississippi Delta and went on to be a major figure in blues music as a sideman to Muddy Waters and as a Grammy Award-winning solo ...