This Week In The Blues: June 14 - June 20, 2026

HEY BLUES FANS

Here's the latest episode of "This Week In The Blues" for the week of June 14 - June 20, 2026.

Some of the highlights include one of the defining voices of swamp blues harmonica, Lazy Lester, Oklahoma bluesman Flash Terry, and the day the song “Love with a Feeling” was first recorded.

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:

Lazy Lester: They Call Me Lazy - Live from Lafayette (2014) - https://youtu.be/J7mgL8x_bxk?si=bXbTDdXPtZVj1JCp

Charley Patton - "Pony Blues" - https://youtu.be/JZ1zOarIoEA?si=NdJJa_Vml-V3Ccz_

PLEASE CONSIDER joining the Blues Society of Oklahoma and helping them continue their mission - https://bluessocietyoklahoma.com/membership/

ALSO - 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!

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 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

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Transcript

Charley Patton recorded the track “Pony Blues” on June 14 in 1929. Patton wrote the song sometime around the age of 19. With the help of record store owner H. C. Speir, Patton obtained his first recording session for Paramount Records. He cut 14 sides, including "Pony Blues", "Banty Rooster Blues" and "Down the Dirt Road". The track "Pony Blues" was also the first song to be released by Patton on the Paramount label. He would record another rendition of this song as "Stone Pony Blues" in 1934.

Chicago blues singer and bass guitar player Aron Burton was born on June 15, 1938.  In a long career as a sideman, he played with Freddie King, Albert Collins and Junior Wells and released several solo albums. His recorded work was nominated four times for Blues Music Awards. In 1978, Burton joined his brother, Larry, in Albert Collins's backing band, the Icebreakers, and performed on Collins's Grammy Award–nominated album Ice Pickin'.

The song “Love with a Feeling” was first recorded by Tampa Red in Chicago on June 16, 1938. It began as a mid-tempo twelve-bar blues featuring his slide guitar and relatively mild lyrics. The song quickly spread, with Tampa Red revisiting it in 1950 in a more electrified Chicago style. Freddie King reshaped it in 1960, recording in Cincinnati and scoring a chart hit in 1961. Later, Junior Wells emphasized its bawdier side, showing how the song evolved across decades and styles.

Oklahoma bluesman Flash Terry, was born on June 17, 1934. He helped shape the state’s early blues and blues rock sound with a gritty guitar style and expressive vocals. Performing widely from the late 1950s, he built a strong regional following, highlighted by recordings like “Enough Troubles of My Own.” Alongside his brother Wiley Terry, he contributed to Oklahoma’s evolving blues and R&B scene. Inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1994, Terry died on March 18, 2004, leaving a lasting local legacy.

Here’s a bit of blues history for you. Recorded in New York City on June 18, 1929, the song “When the Levee Breaks” by Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie captured the devastation left behind by the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. The disaster flooded thousands of square miles across the Delta, killing hundreds and displacing countless families. Their haunting blues recording joined other flood-inspired songs by Bessie Smith, Barbecue Bob, and Charley Patton, preserving one of the worst natural disasters in American history through the voice of the blues.

Big Bill Morganfield, born June 19, 1956, is the son of Muddy Waters. He was raised in Florida and had limited contact with his father. He first worked as a teacher before turning to blues after Muddy Waters’ death in 1983. After years of study, he broke through in the mid-1990s, releasing Rising Son in 1999 with notable Chicago players. Winning a W.C. Handy Award in 2000, Morganfield built an international career, honoring tradition while performing his own material.

One of the defining voices of swamp blues harmonica, Lazy Lester was born June 20, 1933. He insisted his nickname didn’t reflect his work ethic. Raised near Baton Rouge, he drew influence from Jimmy Reed and Little Walter. His career took off after a chance bus meeting with Lightnin' Slim, leading to a strong musical partnership. Lester’s steady playing anchored classics like “I’m a Lover Not a Fighter” and “I Hear You Knockin’,” helping define the swamp blues sound.

Alright blues fans, if you want to know more about these stories or other things that happened this week in the blues, then head over to BigTrainBlues.com and explore the archives. Better yet, follow us on social media and see every blues history post. We’ll be back next week with more blues stories, legends, and history. Until then, we will See you at the next stop!