Artist Index > Rock & Pop > Blues > Bestseller Artists

B.B.King　

Universally hailed as the reigning king of the blues, the legendary B.B. King is without a doubt the single most important electric guitarist of the last half century. His bent notes and staccat ..more

Lightnin' Hopkins　

Sam Hopkins was a Texas country bluesman of the highest caliber whose career began in the 1920s and stretched all the way into the 1980s. Along the way, Hopkins watched the genre change remar ..more

Muddy Waters　

Muddy Waters was the single most important artist to emerge in post-war American blues. A peerless singer, a gifted songwriter, an able guitarist, and leader of one of the strongest bands in the ge ..more

Gary Clark Jr.　

Texas guitarist Gary Clark Jr. has been compared to guitar icons like Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan, and his playing is a powerful and inspired mix of blues roots with contemporary soul ..more

Shuggie Otis　

Guitarist/singer/songwriter/producer/multi-instrumentalist Shuggie Otis may not be a household name, but his Strawberry Letter 23 is in the record collections of millions of households. The ..more

Albert King　

Albert King is truly a King of the Blues, although he doesn’t hold that title (B.B. does). Along with B.B. and Freddie King, Albert King is one of the major influences on blues ..more

Buddy Guy　

Buddy Guy is one of the most celebrated blues guitarists of his generation (and arguably the most celebrated), possessing a sound and style that embodied the traditions of classic Chicago Bl ..more

Etta James　

Few R＆B singers have endured tragic travails on the monumental level that Etta James has and remain on earth to talk about it. The lady’s no shrinking violet; her autobiography, {-Rage to Surviv ..more

Freddie King　

Guitarist Freddie King rode to fame in the early ’60s with a spate of catchy instrumentals which became instant bandstand fodder for fellow bluesmen and white rock bands alike. Employing a mo ..more

John Lee Hooker　

He was beloved worldwide as the king of the endless boogie, a genuine blues superstar whose droning, hypnotic one-chord grooves were at once both ultra-primitive and timeless. But John Lee Hooker ..more

Otis Rush　

Breaking into the R＆B Top Ten his very first time out in 1956 with the startlingly intense slow blues I Can’t Quit You Baby, southpaw guitarist Otis Rush subsequently established himself ..more

Robert Johnson　

If the blues has a truly mythic figure, one whose story hangs over the music the way a Charlie Parker does over jazz or a Hank Williams does over country, it’s Robert Johnson, certai ..more

Howlin' Wolf　

In the history of the blues, there has never been anyone quite like the Howlin’ Wolf. Six foot three and close to 300 pounds in his salad days, the Wolf was the primal force of the music spun ..more

Taj Mahal　

One of the most prominent figures in late 20th century blues, singer/multi-instrumentalist Taj Mahal played an enormous role in revitalizing and preserving traditional acoustic blues. Not con ..more

Robert Cray　

Tin-eared critics have frequently damned him as a yuppie blues wannabe whose slickly soulful offerings bear scant resemblance to the real down-home item. In reality, Robert Cray is one of a preciou ..more

Genobia Jeter　

Washington state native Genobia Jeter’s roots in gospel music run even more deeply than most soul singers; she was the niece of the legendary Rev. Julius Cheeks, and started her singing ca ..more

Elmore James　

No two ways about it, the most influential slide guitarist of the postwar period was Elmore James, hands down. Although his early demise from heart failure kept him from enjoying the fruits of the ..more

T-Bone Walker　

Modern electric blues guitar can be traced directly back to this Texas-born pioneer, who began amplifying his sumptuous lead lines for public consumption circa 1940 and thus initiated a revolution ..more

Magic Sam　

No blues guitarist better represented the adventurous modern sound of Chicago’s West side more proudly than Sam Maghett. He died tragically young (at age 32 of a heart attack), just as he was on ..more

Lowell Fulson　

Lowell Fulson recorded every shade of blues imaginable. Polished urban blues, rustic two-guitar duets with his younger brother Martin, funk-tinged grooves that pierced the mid-’60s char ..more

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