This Week In The Blues: February 15 - February 21, 2026

HEY BLUES FANS - Here's the latest episode for the week of February 15 - February 21, 2026.

Some of the highlights include John Lee Hooker’s iconic “Boogie Chillen’, James “Super Chikan” Johnson, and the blues standard “Blues Before Sunrise” .

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:

James 'Super Chikan' Johnson: A Life In Blues | Music Documentary - https://youtu.be/ycNYkytnArQ?si=XMvBNshY5AqJNrod

John Lee Hooker, Eric Clapton and The Rolling Stones: "Boogie Chillen'" (Live, 1989) - https://youtu.be/o4jo6tmMr9s?si=n3dNh0woqhfgUovJ

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

James “Kokomo” Arnold, born February 15, 1901, was a pivotal early Chicago blues figure whose ferocious left-handed slide guitar and rapid-fire vocals helped define urban blues. Born in Georgia, he moved north during the Great Migration, settling in Chicago in 1929. He earned his nickname with 1934’s “Old Original Kokomo Blues” and recorded 88 sides for Decca and Bluebird between 1934 and 1938. A major influence on Robert Johnson, Arnold later left music for factory work. He died in Chicago on November 8, 1968.

James “Super Chikan” Johnson was born February 16, 1951, in Darling, Mississippi. He’s a Delta blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter based in Clarksdale. Nephew of Big Jack Johnson, he is a modern torchbearer of raw, electrified Delta blues. Raised on Delta farms, he earned his nickname as a child and first played a homemade diddley bow. After years as a truck driver, he turned fully to music, debuting in 1997. Blending Delta, Hill Country, and funk, he became a revival leader and was inducted into the Clarksdale Walk of Fame in 2011.

Austin-based blues singer Lou Ann Barton was born February 17, 1954, and was a vital force in the city’s late-1970s blues boom. She joined Stevie Ray Vaughan and W. C. Clark in the Triple Threat Revue, later name Double Trouble, helping shape the band’s early sound. In the 1980s she toured with Roomful of Blues and released her Jerry Wexler–produced solo debut Old Enough. Barton later returned to roots blues with Antone’s Records and has remained a respected live performer, closely tied to Austin’s blues legacy.

John Lee Hooker’s iconic “Boogie Chillen’,” hit #1 on the U.S. R&B chart on February 19, 1949, becoming the first down-home electric blues song to do so. Built on Hooker’s hypnotic guitar, foot stomps, and one-chord groove, it blended Delta and Hill Country blues and reshaped popular music. Selling nearly a million copies, the song influenced generations, from Junior Parker to ZZ Top. A cornerstone of blues and rock history, it’s enshrined in multiple halls of fame and remains a foundational electric blues classic.

On February 19, 1878, Thomas Edison received a patent for the phonograph, the first device able to record and reproduce sound. Developed at his Menlo Park lab, it used a diaphragm and stylus to emboss sound waves onto a rotating tin-foil cylinder. Though fragile, the invention proved sound could be stored and replayed. Later improvements with wax cylinders made commercial recordings possible, transforming music from a live-only art into a reproducible medium and laying the foundation for the modern recording industry.

Chicago boogie-woogie pioneer Jimmy Yancey was born on February 20, variously listed as 1894, 1895, or 1901. A vaudeville performer in childhood, he became a foundational boogie pianist whose 1939 recordings were among the first to document the style. His distinctive left-hand patterns influenced Lux Lewis, Pinetop Smith, and Albert Ammons. Yancey worked for decades as a groundskeeper at Comiskey Park, recording later with his wife Mama Yancey. He remained with the White Sox until shortly before his death on September 17, 1951.

The blues standard “Blues Before Sunrise” was recorded on February 21, 1934, in St. Louis by pianist Leroy Carr and guitar player Scrapper Blackwell. Issued on the Vocalion record label, the song highlighted Carr’s smooth piano and vocals alongside Blackwell’s melodic guitar, shaping an early urban blues sound. Its theme of love and longing influenced later artists, including Robert Johnson. Part of a prolific partnership that helped move blues from rural roots to polished city styles, the song was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2016 and remains a pre-war blues classic.

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 just go out and visit our website at Big Train Blues.com. We’ll have a new episode next week and we’ll talk about Texas blues legend Johnny Winter and “The Uncrowned Queen of the Blues,” Ida Cox . It’s going to be a great show, so…we’ll see you then!