This Week In The Blues: September 28 - October 04, 2025

HEY BLUES FANS - Here's the latest episode of "This Week In The Blues" for the week of September 28 - October 04, 2025

Some of the highlights include blues queen Koko Taylor, blues guitar player Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Chicago blues harmonica great Billy Branch.

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:

Koko Taylor - "Wang Dang Doodle - A Celebration of Blues and Soul" (Live Video) - https://youtu.be/ckFAdkGT8m4?si=iqVKz2LU5xn2N2As

Stevie Ray Vaughan - "Texas Flood (Live at the El Mocambo)" - https://youtu.be/KC5H9P4F5Uk?si=SRGjwxC7a9H84LC2

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

 This Week In The Blues: Sept 28 - Oct 4, 2025

Blues Queen Koko Taylor was born September 28, 1928.  Taylor helped keep the tradition of big-voiced, brassy female blues belters alive, recasting the spirits of early legends like Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, Big Mama Thornton, and Memphis Minnie for the modern age. Taylor’s rough, raw vocals were perfect for the swaggering new electrified era of the blues, and her massive hit “Wang Dang Doodle” served notice that male dominance in the blues wasn’t as exclusive as it seemed. 

Texas Blues Maestro Joe "Guitar" Hughes was born September 29, 1937. Houston was home base to a remarkable collection of red-hot blues guitarists during the 1950s. One of these, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, was an inspiration for Hughes when he was 14 and got him to pick up the guitar. Joe Hughes was not as well known as his peers Albert Collins and Johnny Copeland, but he was a solid blues guitar player with an impressive recording career.

My favorite Clarksdale blues piano player LaLa Craig was born on September 30, 1961. She got her start in her hometown of Oceanside, CA, performing with her family's country band at the tender age of 4. LaLa found her true calling when the blues spoke to her at the age of 33. She entered her first blues tune, 'Blue Is Hardly The Word' in the 1998 San Diego Songwriters Guild Competition and took home first prize. Like so many blues men & women before her, she went to the Mississippi Delta. She has since become a staple of the Clarksdale, Mississippi blues scene and you can catch her live just about any day of the week.

Houston guitar player "The Ice Man" Albert Collins, was born October 1st in 1932! He was noted for his powerful playing and his use of altered tunings and a capo. His long association with the Fender Telecaster led to the title "The Master of the Telecaster". Collins is remembered for his informal and audience-engaging live performances. He would frequently leave the stage while still playing to mingle with the audience. The use of an extended guitar cord allowed Collins to go outside clubs to the sidewalk; one anecdote stated that he left a club with the audience in tow to visit the store next door to buy a candy bar without once stopping his act.

Blues guitar player and singer Coco Montoya was born on October 2, 1951. Montoya's career began in the mid-1970s when Albert Collins asked him to join his band as drummer. This is kind of turning into the “Albert Collins episode”. Anyway, Collins took Montoya under his wing and taught him his "icy hot" guitar style. The two remained friends even after Montoya left Collins' band. In the early 1980s John Mayall heard Montoya playing guitar in a Los Angeles bar. Soon after Mayall asked Montoya to join the newly reformed Bluesbreakers. He remained a member of the band for 10 years.

We have a number of things that happened on October 3rd. We’ll start with BB King. On Oct 03 in 2014, B.B. King gave his last live performance at the House of Blues in Chicago. After suffering a fall onstage, the 89-year-old was forced to pull out of eight shows, including October 12 and 13 dates at his own BB King Blues Club in Times Square, New York.

Blues guitar player Stevie Ray Vaughan was born Oct 3, 1954! Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, Vaughan began playing guitar at age seven, initially inspired by his older brother, Jimmie Vaughan. In 1972, Stevie Ray dropped out of high school, forming the band Double Trouble in 1978 and established it as part of the Austin music scene. Although his mainstream career only spanned seven years, he is considered an icon and one of the most influential musicians in the history of blues music. He became one of the world's most highly demanded blues performers.

Chicago blues harmonica great Billy Branch was born October 3, 1951! Branch is a three-time Grammy nominee and Emmy Award winner. At ten years of age he bought his first harmonica at a Los Angeles Woolsworth store. He immediately began playing simple tunes and melodies. After that initial purchase, Billy was never without a harmonica. After graduating from the University of Illinois, Branch took the place of long time Harp player Carey Bell in the Chicago Blues All-Stars band that was led by Willie Dixon.

On October 3, 1956 blues musician Deborah Coleman was born in in Portsmouth, Virginia. She was raised in a music-loving military family that played piano, guitar, and keyboards and she picked up guitar at age eight. After putting in the time in clubs and other venues, She was in demand at blues and music festivals including the North Atlantic Blues Festival, Waterfront Blues Festival, and the Monterey Jazz Festival. Coleman won the Orville Gibson Award for "Best Female Blues Guitarist " in 2001, and was nominated for a W.C. Handy Blues Music Award nine times.

Blues guitar player and singer Keb' Mo' was born on October 3, 1951. He’s a prolific songwriter and is a five-time Grammy Award winner. His post-modern blues style is influenced by many eras and genres, including folk, rock, jazz, pop and country. Born Kevin Moore in Los Angeles to parents of Southern descent, he was exposed to gospel music at a young age. His nickname "Keb Mo" was created by his original drummer, Quentin Dennard, as a "street talk" abbreviation of his given name. It stuck and was picked up by his record label.

Blues guitar player Duke Robillard was born October 4, 1948! He helped found Roomful Of Blues & has played with Bob Dylan, Tom Waits & many other greats. Michael John "Duke" Robillard is mostly known as a rock and blues guitarist, he also plays jazz and swing. A few awards and recognitions include a W. C. Handy Award for Best Blues Guitarist, several Grammy nominations, and was a Blues Music Award Winner in 2016 for The Acoustic Blues And Roots Of Duke Robillard.

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 have a great episode next week where we’ll talk about Guitar Gabriel and "Mississippi" Joe Callicott. You definitely won’t want to miss it. So….we’ll see you then!