This Week In The Blues: July 27 - August 2, 2025

HEY BLUES FANS - Here's the latest episode of "This Week In The Blues" for the week of July 27 - August 2, 2025.

Some of the highlights include blues guitar master Buddy Guy, Chuck Berry's debut single, 'Maybellene' , and the recording of the blues song "Every Day I Have the Blues" .

Keep in mind that there's so much more that happened this week in the blues. If you want to know more about these artists or other things that happened this week in the blues, be sure to visit our website or follow our Facebook page:
https://bigtrainblues.com
https://www.facebook.com/BigTrainBlues

Photo credits (if known) and past episodes are posted on our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@BigTrainBlues

Here are links to a few of the artists or songs we've referenced in this week's episode:

Buddy Guy & his Blues Band - "Feels Like Rain" - https://youtu.be/fPiIMjDIuqY?si=x8XtH86eUiYHY7CA

Chuck Berry - Maybellene" - https://youtu.be/v124f0i0Xh4?si=jMc3flbjLkUL4pC_

Join me every weekday from 12:15pm-12:45pm CT to watch a live stream on Facebook of the longest running blues radio show program. https://www.facebook.com/DeltaCulturalCenter

We’ll have a new episode next week – we’ll see you then!

ARE YOU A FAN OF BLUES HISTORY? US TOO!

If you want to know more about these artists or other things that happened this week in the blues, be sure to visit our website or follow our Facebook page:

https://bigtrainblues.com

https://www.facebook.com/BigTrainBlues

Transcript

On July 27, 1958 Researchers from the Esso gas company warned that tuning into Rock N Roll music on the car radio could cost you more money. They said the rhythm of rock & roll could cause the driver to be foot heavy on the pedal, making them waste fuel. Personally, I think it was a bunch of over zealous wanna-be researchers

On July 27 in 1955, Chuck Berry's debut single, 'Maybellene,' enters the R&B chart. It later becomes a No. 1 R&B hit, remaining at the top for 11 weeks. "Maybellene" was adapted in part from the Western swing fiddle tune "Ida Red". The song tells the story of a hot rod race and a broken romance. The song was a major hit with both black and white audiences, reaching number 1 on Billboard's Rhythm and Blues chart and number 5 on the Hot 100. In 1988, "Maybellene" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for its influence as a rock-and-roll record.

Blues guitar player Mike Bloomfield was born on July 28, 1943! He received his first guitar as a teen and he and his friends began sneaking out to hear electric blues on the South Side of Chicago’s fertile club scene. He spent time in Chicago's South Side blues clubs and playing guitar with bluesmen like Sleepy John Estes, Yank Rachell, and Little Brother Montgomery. He solidifies his reputation on the strength of his work in the Paul Butterfield Blues Band.

Jimmy "Duck" Holmes was born on July 28, 1947. He’s known as the last of the Bentonia bluesmen, as he is the last blues musician to play the Bentonia School. Like Skip James and Jack Owens and other blues musicians from Bentonia, Mississippi, Holmes learned to play the blues from Henry Stuckey, the originator of the Bentonia blues style. Holmes is also the proprietor of the Blue Front Cafe on the Mississippi Blues Trail, the oldest surviving juke joint in Mississippi. His 2019 recording, Cypress Grove, was nominated for a Grammy.

The blues song "Every Day I Have the Blues" was recorded July 28, 1935 by Pinetop Sparks with Henry Townsend on guitar. It was first performed in the taverns of St. Louis by brothers Pinetop and Milton Sparks. After a reworking of the song by Memphis Slim in 1949, it became a blues standard with renditions recorded by numerous artists. A version by B.B. King received Grammy Hall of Fame Awards and also inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame as a "Classic of Blues Recording".

Blues guitar master Buddy Guy was born on July 30, 1936! Buddy Guy is one of the most celebrated blues guitarists of his generation possessing a sound and style that embodies the traditions of classic Chicago blues while also embracing the fire and flash of rock & roll. Guy began his recording career in 1959 and scored his first hit in 1960 with “First Time I Met the Blues.” Guy received the National Medal of the Arts in 2003 and was awarded Kennedy Center Honors in 2012. In 2005 He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with both Eric Clapton and B.B. King presenting him with his award.

Electric blues musician Big Jack Johnson was born on July 30, 1939, in Lambert, Mississippi. The ex-oil truck driver was one of the present-day players of an edgier, electrified version of the raw, uncut Delta blues sound. He was also one of a small number of blues musicians who played the mandolin. He won a W. C. Handy Award in 2003 for best acoustic blues album. Johnson was posthumously honored with a plaque on the Clarksdale Mississippi’s Walk of Fame in August 2011 and has a marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail. 

Blues bass player Ernest "Big" Crawford was born on July 31 back in 1897. He was the premier blues bassist of his generation and played with Muddy Waters, Sunnyland Slim, Little Walter, Memphis Minnie, Jimmy Rogers, Big Maceo, Big Bill Broonzy, Washboard Sam, Memphis Slim, and Mahalia Jackson. Now THAT'S an impressive resume! Unfortunately, there isn’t much more information available about this prolific performer.

Blues guitar player Robert Cray was born August 1 in 1953! He’s one of the most commercially and critically successful blues artist of his generation and took his music to the upper reaches of the pop and rock charts when many major blues acts were counting their sales in the tens of thousands. In 2011, Cray was inducted to the Blues Hall of Fame and received the Americana Music Lifetime Achievement Award for Performance in 2017.

Texas blues singer and piano player Big Walter Price was born on August 2 back in 1917. Born near Gonzales, Texas, and later moved to San Antonio where he released his first song called "Calling Margie" in 1955. In the 1960s he signed with Peacock Records and released several of his singles. His song "Pack Fair and Square" was actually covered by the J. Geils Band. He died in 2012 aged 94 although he claimed he was 97.

Well blues fans, we just covered some of the highlights here. If you want to know more about these artists or other things that happened this week in the blues, be sure to follow our social media pages or visit our website at Big Train Blues.com. We’ll have a new episode next week – we’ll see you then!