Blues Moments in Time...

Blues Moments in Time - March 13: When the Blues Split the World in Two

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0800

On March 13, two very different front lines—Selma, Alabama and swinging‑London—revealed how deeply the blues runs through global culture. As civil rights marchers faced state violence to secure the vote in 1965, a young Eric Clapton walked away from pop stardom to chase the raw truth of Black blues music. This episode traces how the blues, born from oppression and survival, shaped political resistance in the American South and ignited a musical revolution in Britain. A story of courage, conviction, and the enduring power of a sound that refuses to be silenced.

IN THIS EPISODE:

[00:00] - Introduction

[01:31] - The Cultural Landscape

[02:58] - The Political Climate

[04:19] - Exploring The Music

[07:02] - Births

[08:03] - Passings

[08:52.] - Conclusion

MUSIC USED IN THIS EPISODE:

Track: I'm Your Witchdoctor (1965)

Artist: John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers

Album: Bluesbreakers feat. Eric Clapton - Deluxe Edition

Label: Fontana

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Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.

Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/

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Blues Moments in Time - March 12: Blues on the Line — Justice, Pressure, and Reinvention

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0800

=Listener Discretion=

This episode of Blues Moments in Time, includes historical discussion of racism and systemic injustice in the United States and may include the names and stories of people who are no longer with us.. We approach these topics in a factual, educational context, but listener discretion is advised.

This episode traces how March 12 reveals the blues as a mirror of struggle — from A. Philip Randolph’s fight for fair employment and the pressure placed on Billie Holiday to the creative spark of Jesse Fuller and the Allman Brothers’ Fillmore East breakthrough. Together, these moments show how the blues evolves while staying rooted in the lived experiences of its creators.

IN THIS EPISODE:

[00:00] - Introduction

[01:47] - The Cultural Landscape

[02:32] - The Political Climate

[03:02] - Exporing The Music

[04:15.] - Births

[04:47] - Passings

[05:07] - Conclusion

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.

Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblueshotel

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblueshotel

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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBluesHotel

Blues Moments in Time - March 11: Deferred Dreams and the Whooping Harp

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0800

From the Broadway debut of A Raisin in the Sun to the haunting "whoop" of Sonny Terry’s harmonica, March 11th is a day where the blues speaks the truth of the American experience.

IN THIS EPISODE:

[00:00] - Introduction

[00:46] - The Cultural Landscape

[01:27] - The Political Climate

[01:55] - Exploring The Music

[02:57] - Births

[03:23] - Passings

[03:46] - Conclusion

KEY FIGURES MENTIONED:

Sonny Terry (1911–1986)

Dusty Brown (1929–2016)

Lorraine Hansberry (1930–1965)

Fannie Lou Hamer (1917–1977)

MUSIC:

Sonny Terry - Lost John

Dusty Brown - Hurry Home

Harvey Mandel - Wade In The Water

Manfred Mann - I've Got My Mojo Working (Early B-Side, released shortly after the name change)

FURTHER READING:

Cultural - A Raisin In The Sun

Political - Reverend James Reeb

Music - Mann-Hugg Blues Brothers

Music - Sonny Terry

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.

Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblueshotel

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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBluesHotel

Blues Moments in Time - March 10: From the Underground Railroad to the Broadcasters

Tue, 10 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0800

Today, we honour the legacy of Harriet Tubman, celebrate the birth of guitar great Ronnie Earl, and revisit the historic 1972 Gary Convention.

IN THIS EPISODE:

[00:00] - Introduction

[00:43] - The Cultural Landscape

[01:20] - The Political Climate

[01:56] - Exploring The Music

[02:26] - Births

[02:56] - Passings

[03:26] - Conclusion

KEY FIGURES MENTIONED:

Harriet Tubman (1822–1913)

Luis Russell (1902–1963)

Ronnie Earl (1953–Present)

LaVern Baker (1929–1997)

Ernestine Anderson (1928–2016)

MUSIC:

LaVern Baker - Tweedle Dee

Ronnie Earl & The Broadcasters - I’ll Take Care of You

Ernestine Anderson - Never Make Your Move Too Soon

FURTHER READING:

Political - The National Black Political Convention

Music - Luis Russell

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.

Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblueshotel

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Blues Moments in Time - March 9: The Bridge, The Law, and the Birth of Mr. Personality

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0800

Today on March 9, we follow the marchers back to the bridge in Selma, witness a historic legal victory for freedom in the Amistad case, and celebrate the New Orleans legend who gave us "Lawdy Miss Clawdy."

IN THIS EPISODE:

[00:00] - Introduction

[00:43] - The Cultural Landscape

[01:10] - The Political Climate

[01:35] - Exploring The Music

[01:58] - Births

[02:18] - Passings

[02:42] - Conclusion

KEY FIGURES MENTIONED:

Lloyd Price (1933 - 2021)

Ornette Coleman (1930 - 2015)

Henry Stuckey (1897 - 1966)

MUSIC:

Lloyd Price - Lawdy Miss Clawdy

Ornette Coleman - Blues Connotation

Skip James - Hard Time Killing Floor Blues (reflecting Stuckey's tuning)

FURTHER READING:

Cultural - Turnaround Tuesday

Political - The Amistad Case

Music - Lloyd Price

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.

Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblueshotel

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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBluesHotel

Blues Moments in Time - March 8: The Matriarchs, The Mayor, and the Master

Sun, 08 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0800

From the halls of the Senate to the gentle strings of Mississippi John Hurt, today we explore how March 8th shaped the soul of the blues.

IN THIS EPISODE:

[00:00] - Introduction

[00:43] - The Cultural Landscape

[01:17] - The Political Climate

[02:01] - Exploring The Music

[02:31] - Births

[03:00] - Passings

[03:21] - Conclusion

KEY FIGURES MENTIONED:

Mississippi John Hurt (1893–1966)

Willie King (1943–2009)

P.B.S. Pinchback (1837–1921)

Henry L. Marsh III (Born 1933)

MUSIC:

Mississippi John Hurt - Candy Man

Willie King - I Am The Blues

Ma Rainey - Prove It On Me Blues

FURTHER READING:

Cultural - International Women's Day

Political - Henry L. Marsh, III

Music - Mississippi John Hurt

Music - Willie King

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.

Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblueshotel

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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBluesHotel

Blues Moments in Time - March 7: Bloody Sunday, Blues DNA, and the Transatlantic Story

Sat, 07 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0800

March 7 is where the blues steps onto the bridge—literally and metaphorically. From Bloody Sunday in Selma to the first commercial jazz record, from Townes Van Zandt’s haunted ballads to Lowell Fulson’s West Coast grit and Ali Farka Touré’s desert trance, this date reveals the blues as a transatlantic story of terror, tenderness, and the stubborn pursuit of dignity.

IN THIS EPISODE:

[00:00] - Introduction

[00:42] - Cultural & Political

[02:54] - The Music

[03:51] - Births

[04:51] - Passings

[06:22] - Conclusion

KEY FIGURES MENTIONED:

Townes Van Zandt (1944–1997)

Lowell Fulson (1921–1999)

Ali Farka Touré (1939–2006)

John Lewis (1940–2020)

Hosea Williams (1926–2000)

MUSIC:

Townes Van Zandt – Snake Mountain Blues

Lowell Fulson – Reconsider Baby

Ali Farka Touré – Ai Du

Original Dixieland Jazz Band – Livery Stable Blues

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.

Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblueshotel

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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBluesHotel

Blues Moments in Time - March 6: From Dred Scott to Soul Blues — Receipts for Survival

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0800

On March 6, the blues steps into history as both witness and verdict. From the Dred Scott decision’s brutal denial of Black humanity to Ghana’s first sunrise of independence a century later, and from Furry Lewis’s bottleneck slide to King Floyd’s New Orleans soul‑blues grooves, this date shows the blues as more than music—it’s a receipt for every hardship endured and every victory claimed.

IN THIS EPISODE:

[00:00] - Introduction

[00:43] - Cultural & Political

[01:52] - The Music

[02:26] - Births

[03:02] - Passings

[03:29] - Conclusion

KEY FIGURES MENTIONED:

Furry Lewis (1893–1981)

Dave Clark (1909–1997)

Walter Trout (1951– )

King Floyd (1945–2006)

MUSIC:

Furry Lewis – Kassie Jones

B.B. King – Why I Sing the Blues (song co-written by Dave Clark)

Walter Trout – Say Goodbye to the Blues

King Floyd – Groove Me

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.

Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblueshotel

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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBluesHotel

Blues Moments in Time - March 5: Resistance, Revolution, and the Rise of Modern Blues

Thu, 05 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0800

March 5th is a day where resistance, reinvention, and raw musical power collide. From the Boston Massacre’s spark of defiance to Churchill’s Iron Curtain warning, from Little Walter’s amplified revolution to Elvis reshaping R&B on national television, this date shows the blues as more than music — it’s a running commentary on freedom, migration, and the human fight to be heard. It’s the story of how political pressure, cultural upheaval, and electrifying talent shaped the soundtrack of modern America.

IN THIS EPISODE:

[00:00] - Introduction

[00:44] - Cultural & Political

[01:39] - The Music

[02:43] - Births

[03:07] - Passings

[03:36] - Conclusion

KEY FIGURES MENTIONED:

Tommy Tucker (1933–1982)

Teena Marie (1956–2010)

Roy Ayers (1940–2024 approx.)

John Belushi (1949–1982)

Elvis Presley (1935–1977)

Little Walter (1930–1968)

Frank Sinatra (1915–1998)

MUSIC:

Tommy Tucker – Hi-Heel Sneakers

Teena Marie - I'm Gonna Have My Cake (And Eat It Too)

Roy Ayres - Everybody Loves The Sunshine

John Belushi (The Blues Brothers) - Sweet Home Chicago

Elvis Presley - That's All Right

Little Walter – My Babe

Frank Sinatra - Old Devil Moon

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.

Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblueshotel

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblueshotel

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theblueshotel.com.au

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBluesHotel

Blues Moments in Time - March 4: Constitutional Promises and Memphis Grit

Wed, 04 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0800

On March 4th, the blues walks a tightrope between promise and reality—from the ink drying on the U.S. Constitution to the breadlines and work camps of the Great Depression, from Piedmont porches to distorted Memphis amplifiers and British stages. It’s a day where legal frameworks, social upheaval, and guitar tone all collide, revealing the blues as a living, breathing history of resilience—stretching from the halls of Congress to the grit of a cranked‑up amp.

IN THIS EPISODE:

[00:00] - Introduction

[00:47] - CUltural & Political

[01:56] - The Music

[02:25] - Births

[03:03] - Passings

[03:30] - Conclusion

KEY FIGURES MENTIONED:

Bobby Womack (1944–2014)

Willie Johnson (Howlin’ Wolf guitarist) (1923–1995)

Pete Haycock (1951–2013)

Willie Walker (1896–1933)

John Cephas (1930–2009)

DIG DEEPER:

Bobby Womack – Across 110th Street

Howlin’ Wolf (with Willie Johnson) – How Many More Years

Climax Blues Band (Pete Haycock) – Couldn’t Get It Right

Willie Walker – South Carolina Rag

John Cephas & Phil Wiggins – Dog Days of August

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.

Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblueshotel

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblueshotel

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theblueshotel.com.au

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBluesHotel

Blues Moments in Time - March 3: Fingerpicks, Protest, and Power

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0800

On March 3rd, the blues stands in the glare of history—between the first sunrise of freedom and the harsh light of a camcorder capturing Rodney King’s beating. From Mississippi John Hurt’s gentle fingerpicking to Junior Parker’s velvet Memphis groove, from Buffalo Springfield’s protest anthems to the regional guardians who kept Delta traditions alive, this date reveals the blues as more than music—it’s a living record of struggle, memory, and the fight to be heard.

IN THIS EPISODE:

[00:00] - Introduction

[01:13] - Cultural & Political

[02:31] - The Music

[03:12] - Biths

[04:41] - Passings

[05:16] - Conclusion

KEY FIGURES MENTIONED:

Mississippi John Hurt (1893–1966)

Junior Parker (1927–1971)

John Primer (1945– )

Buffalo Springfield (Founded 1966)

Danny Overbear (d. 1994)

Mark Salings (d. 2009)

DIG DEEPER:

Mississippi John Hurt – Candyman Blues

Junior Parker – Mystery Train

John Primer – Poor Man Blues

Buffalo Springfield – For What It’s Worth

Danny Overbea - I'm Tired of Being Tossed Around

Mark Sallings - The Crawl

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.

Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblueshotel

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblueshotel

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theblueshotel.com.au

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBluesHotel

Blues Moments in Time - March 2: From Chains to Change

Mon, 02 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0800

On March 2nd, the blues stands at a crossroads—where empires shift, borders break, and a single beat can change the future of American music. From the end of the international slave trade to the birth of the Bo Diddley rhythm, from Son House’s spiritual fire to Rory Gallagher’s global roar, this date captures the blues in motion: evolving, resisting, and reshaping the world one note at a time.

IN THIS EPISODE:

[00:00] - Introduction

[00:54] - Cultural & Political

[02:28] - The Music

[03:40] - Births

[04:27] - Passings

[05:02] - Conclusion

KEY FIGURES MENTIONED:

Bo Diddley (1928–2008)

Miles Davis (1926–1991)

Son House (1902–1988)

Rory Gallagher (1948–1995)

Jeff Healey (1966–2008)

Chris Barber (1930–2021)

DIG DEEPER:

Music

Bo Diddley – Bo Diddley

Miles Davis – Freddie Freeloader

Son House – Death Letter Blues

Rory Gallagher – A Million Miles Away

Jeff Healey – See the Light

Chris Barber's Jazz Band - New St. Louis Blues

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.

Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblueshotel

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblueshotel

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theblueshotel.com.au

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBluesHotel

Blues Moments in Time - March 1: Women, Walkouts, and the Future Sound of the Blues

Sun, 01 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0800

March 1 is where the blues looks forward—women building the industry from the ground up, students walking out for justice, and a musical bloodline that runs from boogie‑woogie piano to calypso activism, turntables, and neo‑soul. It’s one date, but a whole century of people using rhythm as a weapon, a refuge, and a roadmap.

IN THIS EPISODE:

[00:00] - Introduction

[00:53] - The Cultural Landscape

[01:36.] - The Political Climate

[02:15] - Births

[03:56] - Passings

[04:54] - Conclusion

KEY FIGURES MENTIONED:

Bessie Smith (1894–1937)

Ma Rainey (1886–1939)

Albert Ammons (1907–1949)

Harry Belafonte (1927–2023)

Grandmaster Flash (1958– )

Angie Stone (1961–2025)

Roy Ayers (1940–2025)

DIG DEEPER:

Bessie Smith - Downhearted Blues

Ma Rainey - See See Rider Blues

Albert Ammons - Boogie Woogie Stomp

Harry Belafonte - Day-O (Banana Boat Song)

Grandmaster Flash - The Message

Angie Stone - No More Rain (In This Cloud)

Roy Ayers - Everybody Loves The Sunshine

Hosted by: Rufus Tate

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.

Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblueshotel

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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBluesHotel

Blues Moments in Time - February 28: From Broadway to Deep Space

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0800

On February 28, the blues doesn’t just mark a date on the calendar—it marks a crossroads. From a Broadway stage where Black voices first shook the walls of segregation, to a three–chord guitar riff launched into outer space, to indictments that finally cracked the armor of Jim Crow justice, this single day traces the blues’ journey from Southern streets to the stars. In this episode, we follow February 28 across decades: the opera that smuggled the blues into the mainstream, the red-hot chart symbol that changed who got heard, the birth of guitar mystics and British blues missionaries, and the passing of a man who carried Robert Johnson’s ghost into the modern age. February 28 is more than a date—it’s a living timeline of how the blues remembers, resists, and keeps moving forward.

IN THIS EPISODE:

[00:00] - Introduction

[00:52] - The Cultural Landscape

[02:37] - The Political Climate

[03:44] - Exploring the Music

[04:54] - Births

[07:12] - Passings

[08:23] - Conclusion

KEY FIGURES MENTIONED:

Anne Brown (1912-2009)

Todd Duncan (1903-1998)

Chuck Berry (1926-2017)

John Fahey (1939-2001)

Brian Jones (The Rolling Stones) (1942-1969)

John Hammond (John Hammond Jr.) (1942-2026)

DIG DEEPER:

Todd Duncan / Anne Brown - I Loves You Porgy

Chuck Berry - Johnny B. Goode

John Fahey - Sunflower River Blues

Hosted by: Rufus Tate

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.

Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblueshotel

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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBluesHotel

Blues Moments in Time - February 27: Resistance in the Key of Blues

Fri, 27 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0800

February 27 is where the blues bares its teeth — from lunch-counter beatings and legal double standards to record-breaking rock ’n’ roll and road-worn survivors, this is a day when Black talent keeps breaking through walls that were never meant to let it in. It’s resistance, release, and raw genius, all stamped on the same square of the calendar.

IN THIS EPISODE:

[00:00] - Introduction

[00:45] - The Cultural Landscape

[02:30] - The Political Climate

[04:00] - Exploring the Music

[06:15] - Births

[06:15] - Passings

[06:15] - Conclusion

KEY FIGURES MENTIONED:

Little Richard (1932-2020)

James Brown (1933-2006)

Mildred Bailey (1907-1951)

Roosevelt Holtz (1905-1994)

Eddie Kirkland (1923-2011)

DIG DEEPER:

Little Richard - Long Tall Sally

James Brown - Say It Loud - I'm Black And I'm Proud (Pt. 1)

Mildred Bailey - Rockin' Chair

Roosevelt Holts - Roosevelt Holts: Presenting The Country Blues

Eddie Kirkland - Have Mercy On Me

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.

Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblueshotel

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblueshotel

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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBluesHotel

Blues Moments in Time - February 26: The Day the Blues Drew Its Line

Thu, 26 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0800

February 26 is where American music gets dragged through the mud — the day stolen sounds made millions, promised rights were stripped bare, and the blues rose up from the wreckage to tell the truth nobody wanted to hear.

IN THIS EPISODE:

[00:00] - Introduction

[00:49] - The Cultural Landscape

[02:30] - The Political Climate

[03:43] - Exploring the Music

[04:33] - Births

[06:19] - Passings

[07:39] - Conclusion

KEY FIGURES MENTIONED:

Fats Domino (1928 - 2017)

Bob “The Bear” Hite (1943 - 1981)

Bukka White (1909–1977)

DIG DEEPER:

Fats Domino - The Fat Man

Canned Heat - Going Up the Country

Bukka White - Parchman Farm Blues

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.

Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblueshotel

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblueshotel

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theblueshotel.com.au

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBluesHotel

Blues Moments in Time - February 25: Audacity, Hard Times, and the Testimony of the Blues

Wed, 25 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0800

On February 25, history didn’t whisper — it shouted. From a Senate seat reclaimed from the Confederacy to a young Muhammad Ali refusing to bow, this date shows how defiance, survival, and raw truth shaped the blues.

IN THIS EPISODE:

[00:00] - Introduction

[00:46] - The Cultural Landscape

[01:51] - The Political Climate

[02:54] - Exploring the Music

[04:07] - Births

[05:25] - Passings

[06:43] - Conclusion

KEY FIGURES MENTIONED:

Hiram Rhodes Revels

First African American U.S. Senator, seated in 1870 — a moment of Reconstruction audacity that foreshadows the political roots of the blues.

Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay)

His 1964 upset over Sonny Liston embodied the same refusal to “lose quietly” that fuels blues storytelling.

James P. Johnson

“Father of Stride Piano,” whose 1927 recordings fused ragtime precision with blues emotion.

Buddy Guy

Finally recognized by the industry in 1992 with a Grammy — decades after peers called him the greatest living blues guitarist.

Ida Cox

The “Uncrowned Queen of the Blues,” whose feminist anthem Wild Women Don’t Have the Blues broke barriers before the word “feminism” was mainstream.

Andrew Brown

Chicago guitarist of fluid brilliance, under‑recorded but revered by those who heard him live.

Louisiana Red (Iverson Minter)

Survivor of unthinkable trauma who turned sorrow into slide‑driven testimony; passed on Feb 25, 2012.

DIG DEEPER:

Ida Cox - Wild Women Don't Have the Blues - https://youtu.be/Sa2GuMZ1t6A

James P. Johnson - Snowy Morning Blues - https://youtu.be/55k5BJe6Im8

Buddy Guy - Damn Right, I've Got the Blues - https://youtu.be/QUKC-RHuJhQ

Louisiana Red - Sweetblood Call - https://youtu.be/TeL6z1Qp_2Q

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.

Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblueshotel

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblueshotel

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theblueshotel.com.au

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBluesHotel

Blues Moments in Time - February 24: From Chains to Champions — Blues Resistance, Revival, and Global Reach

Tue, 24 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0800

From Kentucky’s defiance of emancipation to B.B. King’s Grammy honor and Memphis Slim’s Paris exile, this episode traces how February 24th captures the blues’ journey from oppression and field hollers to British blues explosions, arena stages, and worldwide recognition.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.

Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - February 23: In the Crucible of the Blues

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0800

From W.E.B. Du Bois’ intellectual scaffolding to Mississippi’s fraught readmission to the Union, this episode traces how February 23 threads through the social, political, and musical birth of the blues. We follow recording milestones from Bertha “Chippy” Hill to Oliver Nelson, and celebrate the legacies of Johnny Winter, Melvin Taylor, Big Maceo Merriweather, and John Little John. Together, their stories reveal how one date illuminates the blues as protest, survival, and enduring artistic innovation.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.

Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - February 22: Trojan Horses, Battlecries, and City Suits

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0800

February 22 charts the blues slipping through the front door of mainstream culture and roaring back as a modern protest voice. In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, we follow Elvis Presley’s 1956 hit “Heartbreak Hotel” as a slow-blues “Trojan horse” that smuggled Beale Street feeling onto the pop charts and accidentally sparked a 1960s blues revival, sending young listeners digging for Muddy Waters, Son House, and Howlin’ Wolf.

We then jump to 2019 and Gary Clark Jr.’s This Land, where fuzz-drenched riffs turn Woody Guthrie’s optimism into a battlecry of Black ownership and survival. Along the way, we drop into Jabo Smith’s 1929 “Sleepy Time Blues” as the Delta puts on a sharp Chicago “city suit,” and honor Texas Johnny Brown, Ernie K‑Doe, Papa John Creach, and Linsey Alexander—artists who prove the blues is still a living, breathing documentary of the Black experience.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.

Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - February 21: From Malcolm X to “Sweet Home Chicago”

Sat, 21 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0800

February 21 captures the blues in motion—from revolution to the White House, from “race records” to the pop charts. In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, we trace how the 1965 assassination of Malcolm X pushed Black American music from polished optimism into a grittier, electrified, politically charged sound that helped fuel funk and blues‑rock, and how B.B. King’s 1970 hit “The Thrill Is Gone” broke through the pop Top 20, tearing down the wall between segregated “race records” and mainstream America.

We then jump to the 2012 “Red, White, and Blues” concert at the White House, where President Barack Obama joined Buddy Guy and B.B. King on “Sweet Home Chicago”—a surreal vindication for a music born in the Jim Crow South. Along the way, we honor the births of Nina Simone and Corey Harris, and the twin 2013 losses of Magic Slim and Cletha Staples, whose lives embodied the tavern and church branches of the blues.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.

Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - February 20: From Frederick Douglass to John Glenn — The Blues as a Living Newspaper

Fri, 20 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0800

This episode traces the powerful crossroads of February 20—from Frederick Douglass’s passing in 1895 and the rise of the blues under Jim Crow, to the electric defiance of the 1956 Montgomery Bus Boycott. We jump to 1962, when Lightning Hopkins improvised a blues tribute as John Glenn orbited Earth, and spotlight key February 20 birthdays that shaped the genre. A date that proves the blues doesn’t just remember history—it reports it, responds to it, and plays a little louder every time.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.

Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - February 19th: New Negro Confidence, Bluebird Beat, and Arena‑Sized Blues

Thu, 19 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0800

February 19th captures the blues in motion—from global Black consciousness to the electrified sound of mid‑century Chicago and the roar of arena rock. We begin in 1919, when W.E.B. Du Bois convenes the first Pan‑African Congress in Paris, laying the intellectual groundwork for the New Negro movement and building the cultural confidence that helped open the recording industry to Black artists like Mamie Smith just a year later.

The date also intersects with World War II and the “Double V” campaign. On February 19, 1945, as U.S. forces land on Iwo Jima, Black Marines fight abroad while demanding dignity at home. Returning veterans refuse Jim Crow and head north, fueling the Great Migration and transforming the blues from rural folk expression into an electrified urban shout.

That same day in Chicago, Big Bill Broonzy records with Big Maceo and Buster Bennett, capturing the “Bluebird beat”—a polished, swinging bridge between Delta roots and the amplified power soon to define Muddy Waters’ era.

We also mark the birth of Mississippi’s Sam Myers in 1936, a drummer‑turned‑harmonica powerhouse whose voice carried the stark truths of life and death, and the 1980 passing of AC/DC’s Bon Scott, a rocker whose shouting, 12‑bar swagger showed just how far the blues could travel.

February 19th stands as a snapshot of transition—intellectual, political, and musical—showing how the blues moves from Paris to Chicago to global stages without ever losing its pulse.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.

Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - February 18th: From Germantown Protest to ‘What’d I Say’

Wed, 18 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0800

February 18th pulls together moral resistance, civil rights sacrifice, and some of the most important turning points in modern Black music. We start in 1688 in Germantown, Pennsylvania, where a small group of Quakers draft the first formal protest against slavery in the English colonies—a quiet but radical act that lights the torch of moral resistance at the heart of the blues. Nearly three centuries later, in 1965, Alabama activist Jimmie Lee Jackson is shot while protecting his family during a protest in Marion; his death becomes the spark for the Selma to Montgomery marches and helps push the blues toward a harder, electrified edge that matches the violence of the times.

Musically, February 18th is a Big Bang date. In 1959, Ray Charles records “What’d I Say,” tearing down the wall between the church and the dance hall and effectively inventing soul music by fusing gospel fervor with blues grit. Eleven years later, the Allman Brothers Band cut “Statesboro Blues,” electrifying a 1920s country blues tune for the rock generation and proving the blues is a living language that can cross time, race, and genre.

We also mark the births of two foundational voices: Lonnie Johnson, who essentially invents the modern guitar solo and shows the instrument can sing like a human voice, and Irma Thomas, the “Soul Queen of New Orleans,” whose records have carried her city’s joy and sorrow for decades. The day also holds the passing of Snooks Eaglin in 2009—the blind New Orleans “human jukebox” whose limitless repertoire and funky, bluesy guitar web embodied the idea that this music is lived, not just played.

February 18th stands as a reminder that the blues is a running report from the front lines—rooted in protest, reshaped by innovation, and carried forward by artists who turn suffering into soul.Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.

Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - February 17th: Dignity, Panthers, and the Roadhouse Blues

Tue, 17 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0800

February 17th pulls together opera stages, protest streets, and Texas roadhouses into one long blues story about dignity and defiance. We start with Marian Anderson, born this day in 1902, whose exclusion from Constitution Hall and unshakable poise turned her into a symbol of Black artistry that would not be silenced—a core truth at the heart of the blues. Then we move to 1942 and the birth of Huey P. Newton, co‑founder of the Black Panther Party, marking a shift from asking to demanding and helping push the music from acoustic back‑porch laments into electrified, militant soul blues.

On the recording side, February 17th catches the blues in conversation with other genres: Bessie Smith in 1927 cutting “After You’ve Gone,” where the Empress of the Blues meets jazz head‑on, and Bob Dylan in 1966 tracking “Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again,” a counterculture nod that rock and roll is riding on Memphis shoulders.

The date is also thick with Texas grit: drummer and songwriter Doyle Bramhall, the heartbeat behind Stevie Ray Vaughan’s sound, and Lou Ann Barton, whose voice feels like a Texas roadhouse at 2 a.m.—sweaty, fiery, and absolutely alive.

We close with two losses that signal the end of eras: Thelonious Monk in 1982, whose angular jazz piano was still built on a blues skeleton, and Henry Gray in 2020, Howlin’ Wolf’s longtime pianist and one of the last living links to the golden age of Chicago blues. February 17th stands as a microcosm of the music itself—birth and loss, opera and juke joints, quiet dignity and raised fists—all carried on a twelve‑bar spine.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.

Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - February 16: The Unwritten Library of the Blues

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0800

February 16 reveals the blues as a record of survival—a music born from laws designed to silence Black voices and sustained by generations who turned lived experience into song. In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, we trace the impact of Missouri’s 1847 literacy ban, the rise of oral tradition, and Frederick Douglass’s leadership at the Freedman’s Bank, whose collapse echoed the broken promises that shaped so many blues themes.

We explore Bessie Smith’s 1923 recording that saved Columbia Records, Fleetwood Mac’s 1968 debut that proved the blues had become a global language, and the legacies of Bill Doggett, Otis Blackwell, and Brownie McGhee—artists who carried the music from greasy organ grooves to rock and roll swagger to the pure “wood and wire” of Piedmont blues. February 16 stands as a reminder that the blues is both a survival tool and a universal truth.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.

Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - February 15: Crossroads, Kings, and the Blues Echo

Sun, 15 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0800

February 15 is a crossroads date in blues history—a day of vindication, breakthrough, and heavy loss. In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, we trace the journey from Blanch Kelso Bruce presiding over the U.S. Senate in 1879 to Mississippi declaring “B.B. King Day” in 2005, and Henry Lewis breaking the color line as the first Black conductor of a major American orchestra.

We follow the “blues echo” of the British Invasion as the Beatles hit number one in 1964, then step into Muddy Waters’ blistering 1978 Bottom Line set that reminded young rockers who wrote the book. Along the way, we spotlight “Stormy Weather” composer Harold Allen and modern torchbearer Gary Clark Jr., before reflecting on the shared February 15 losses of Nat King Cole, Little Walter, and Mike Bloomfield—a solemn reminder of the cost of carrying the blues into the future.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.

Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - February 14: From “Little Valentine” to “Respect”

Sat, 14 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0800

February 14 is more than roses and romance—it’s a cornerstone date in blues history. In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, we trace how Frederick Douglass’s chosen birthday helped inspire Black History Month, creating the cultural space for the blues to be honored as serious art, and how the founding of the SCLC in 1957 pushed the music from acoustic Delta roots into the urgent, electric sound of soul and R&B.

We drop into Mamie Smith’s 1920 “Big Bang” recording session and Aretha Franklin’s 1967 take on “Respect,” where a blues-drenched performance turned a man’s plea into a woman’s demand for equality. Along the way, we spotlight West Side guitar firebrand Magic Sam, funk-blues sax master Maceo Parker, and Chitlin’ Circuit hero G.B. Coleman—voices that prove February 14 is a day when the blues speaks of identity, struggle, and triumph.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.

Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - February 13: Royalties, Resistance, and the Electric Future of the Blues

Fri, 13 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0800

February 13 traces a century of change in the blues—from backroom deals to royalty checks, from quiet suffering to anthems of resistance. In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, we look at how the founding of ASCAP in 1914 laid the groundwork for blues songwriters to finally claim their intellectual property, and how the 1960 Nashville sit-ins helped push the music from “my baby left me” laments to soul-drenched protest songs.

We revisit key recording sessions by Lonnie Johnson and Earl “Fatha” Hines that bridged Delta roots with urban sophistication, and mark the births of King Floyd and Peter Tork, artists who smuggled blues feeling into funk and pop. Finally, we reflect on the deaths of Piedmont master Blind Boy Fuller and “outlaw” country legend Waylon Jennings, two figures whose lives bookend the journey from acoustic street corners to the electric roar of Chicago and beyond.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.

Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - February 12th: From Freedom’s Promise to Shock Rock

Thu, 12 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0800

February 12 is a landmark date in blues history—a day where politics, culture, and legendary artists intersect. This episode explores how the founding of the NAACP protected early blues musicians on the road, why Abraham Lincoln’s birthday became a reminder of freedom still out of reach, and how Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue pushed the blue note into high society.

We spotlight the birthdays of Piedmont great Pink Anderson and Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek, and reflect on the passing of Delta master Ishmon Bracy and the theatrical trailblazer Screaming Jay Hawkins. Together, their stories show how February 12 captures the blues as a force that shaped America and influenced music worldwide.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.

Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - February 11th: Land of the Blacks, Downhearted Blues, and ‘I Am a Man’

Wed, 11 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0800

February 11th traces a straight line from the first legal Black resistance in colonial America to Bessie Smith’s breakthrough and the streets of Memphis. We begin in 1644 New Amsterdam, where eleven enslaved Africans petitioned for—and won—their freedom, creating the “Land of the Blacks” and setting an early precedent for legal resistance inside a hostile system. Centuries later, in 1990, Nelson Mandela walks free after 27 years in prison, a living embodiment of the liberation themes long carried in spirituals, blues, and jazz.

We then move to Memphis, 1968. After sanitation workers Echol Cole and Robert Walker are killed in a faulty garbage truck, more than 700 of their coworkers gather on February 11 to vote to strike. Their “I Am a Man” signs transform a labor dispute into a demand for basic humanity and draw Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to the city—while the soul and blues of Stax Records become the movement’s soundtrack.

On the musical side, February 11, 1923, marks Bessie Smith’s first recording session for Columbia, cutting “Downhearted Blues” and selling nearly 800,000 copies. That single proves the blues is not just folk expression but a major commercial force, opening the door for artists to make a living telling hard truths on record.

We round out the date with the lives tied to it: Josh White, the Piedmont bluesman who turned his guitar into a weapon for justice; Otis Clay and Little Johnny Taylor, who helped carry the music from Delta grit into urban soul and R&B; Whitney Houston, whose church‑rooted voice stands on that same foundation; and Nashville session great Jerry Kennedy, who blurred the lines between country and R&B. February 11th emerges as a day where courts, picket lines, and recording studios all echo the same message: the blues is resistance set to music.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.

Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - February 10th: Soul Men, Civil Rights, and the Architects of the Blues

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0800

February 10th is a hinge date where the blues steps into the mainstream, the law catches up—partly—to the music’s demand for dignity, and key architects of the sound enter and exit the story. We start in 1964, when the U.S. House of Representatives passes the Civil Rights Act, the beginning of the end for the segregated touring map that kept B.B. King, Muddy Waters, and countless others confined to the Chitlin’ Circuit and the back doors of the venues they filled.

Then we jump to 1979, when The Blues Brothers’ version of “Soul Man” hits the Billboard Top 20. What began as a comedy act becomes a Trojan horse for Memphis and Chicago soul—smuggling Duck Dunn, Matt “Guitar” Murphy, Aretha Franklin, and John Lee Hooker into suburban living rooms and giving a second wind to veteran careers. It’s the moment the blues “went Hollywood and actually won,” proving it could survive—and thrive—inside modern mass media.

We trace the lives tied to this date: Dave Van Ronk, the “Mayor of MacDougal Street,” whose February 10, 2002 passing closes the chapter on the folk‑blues bridge that carried Delta songs into Greenwich Village and onto Bob Dylan’s setlists; and Steve Cropper, who dies on February 10, 2026— the Stax Records guitarist and co‑writer of “In the Midnight Hour” and “Soul Man,” leaving a poetic symmetry with that 1979 chart climb.

Along the way, we nod to the foundations: Chick Webb, born this day in 1905, whose hard‑swinging drums underpinned jump blues and early R&B; Larry Adler, born 1914, who proved the “pocket piano of the blues”—the harmonica—belonged on the world’s grandest stages; and Buddy Tate, the Texas tenor torchbearer whose 2001 passing marks another link in the chain gone. February 10th emerges as a day where law, charts, and individual genius all intersect to keep the blues alive, amplified, and undeniable.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.

Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - February 9th: Re‑Imported Blues, Civil Rights, and the Road from Porch to Pavement

Mon, 09 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0800

February 9th marks a turning point where the blues loops back into American culture, fuels political change, and evolves from rural porch music into an urban force. In 1964, 73 million viewers watched the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show, unknowingly witnessing the “re‑importation” of the blues as British bands sent American teenagers searching for Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and the Chicago masters who shaped them.

The date also sits at the heart of the Civil Rights era: in 1965, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. met with President Lyndon Johnson to strategize the Voting Rights Act, giving political voice to the dignity long expressed in Delta blues. But February 9 also recalls darker moments—like Senator McCarthy’s 1950 Red Scare speech, which blacklisted folk‑blues artists who dared to speak out.

Musically, the day captures key transitions: Big Bill Broonzy’s 1932 recordings bridging country blues and city grit, and Elvis Presley’s 1957 chart‑topping momentum signaling the shift from pop‑blues to raw rock and roll.

We also mark the births of bassist Walter Page, inventor of the walking bassline, and Chicago soul star Major Lance, alongside the passings of Bentonia bluesman Jack Owens and the velvet‑voiced Tyrone Davis.

February 9th stands as a snapshot of the blues in motion—crossing oceans, shaping politics, and carrying the music from front porches to city streets and global stages.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.

Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - February 8th: Coded Blues, Justice Joints, and the Lead Guitar Voice

Sun, 08 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0800

February 8th traces the blues from survival code to social justice soundtrack and global rock foundation. We start in 1915 with the premiere of The Birth of a Nation, a racist propaganda film that pushed Black communities into constant vigilance and turned early Delta blues into coded music of survival—songs that said one thing on the surface and another underneath.

We then move to 1968 and the Orangeburg massacre in South Carolina, when police killed three students protesting a segregated bowling alley. In the wake of that tragedy, the blues grew a sharper edge, shifting from juke‑joint escape to “justice joint” advocacy and paving the way for soul blues artists to speak truth to power.

Along the way, February 8th spotlights key musical figures and turning points: the 1899 birth of Lonnie Johnson, who turned the guitar into a true lead voice with single‑note solos; Eddie “Guitar” Burns, who carried Mississippi mud to Detroit’s Motor City; and the 1956 hit “See You Later Alligator,” a Bobby Charles blues tune that became a Bill Haley rock and roll smash—an example of how Black architects built the house while others got their names on the deed.

We close with Marvin Sease, who died on February 8, 2011—a Chitlin’ Circuit giant whose raw, funny, and scandalous shows kept Southern blues alive long after mainstream radio moved on. February 8th stands as a reminder that the blues is resilience in motion: coded, borrowed, electrified, and always rooted in the full, messy human experience.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.

Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - February 7th: Black History, Beatlemania, and High-Voltage Blues

Sat, 07 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0800

February 7th marks the moment the blues stepped into the historical spotlight, the global stage, and the electric future. In 1926, Dr. Carter G. Woodson launched Negro History Week, creating the first national space where the stories behind the blues could be recognized as essential American history.

Fast‑forward to 1964: the Beatles land at JFK, openly praising Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf, forcing a segregated America to confront—and finally value—its own blues heritage.

The date also captures key musical turning points: Johnny Dodds’ 1929 Chicago recordings shifting from New Orleans improvisation to the hard, driving pulse of Chicago blues, and Little Richard’s 1956 “Long Tall Sally,” where pure R&B plugged straight into rock and roll.

We celebrate the 1934 births of Earl King and King Curtis—regional giants who shaped New Orleans R&B and Texas tenor sax—and remember the 1959 passing of Guitar Slim, the flamboyant, distortion‑driven pioneer who redefined what a blues guitar hero could be.

February 7th stands as a crossroads where history, fandom, and raw sonic power pushed the blues into new eras and new ears.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.

Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - February 6th: Exile, Resistance, and the Global Blues Journey

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0800

This episode traces February 6th as a date where exile, protest, and musical reinvention all converge in the story of the blues. We begin in 1820 with the departure of the ship Elizabeth—the “Mayflower of Liberia”—carrying 86 free African Americans toward Sierra Leone. That voyage planted the early seeds of spiritual restlessness, the feeling of being a stranger in one’s own land, a theme that would echo through field hollers and later shape the urban laments of Chicago blues.

We then move to 1961 and the “jail no bail” protest in Rock Hill, South Carolina, where SNCC leaders like Diane Nash joined the Friendship 9 in refusing to pay fines for a lunch‑counter sit‑in. Their decision to sit in jail rather than bend to an unjust system mirrors the resilience at the heart of the blues—a refusal to break, even when the world demands it.

From there, February 6th becomes a map of musical evolution. In 1936, Bumblebee Slim records “Hard Rocks in My Bed,” a gritty Depression‑era track that bridges the piano‑driven blues of the 1920s with the electrified Chicago sound to come. In 1913, Bob Geddins is born in Texas; after moving to Oakland, he builds the West Coast blues from the ground up, crafting classics like “Tin Pan Alley” and proving the blues had a home far beyond the Delta. And in 1958, a teenage George Harrison joins the Quarrymen—setting in motion the Beatles’ rise as global ambassadors who would introduce Muddy Waters and other American blues giants to audiences who might never have heard them otherwise.

We close by honoring the losses tied to this date: Irish guitar titan Gary Moore, whose ferocious playing showed the blues could fill stadiums, and “Microwave” Dave Gallagher, a cornerstone of the Alabama scene and a tireless educator devoted to keeping the craft alive. February 6th stands as a reminder that the blues is a journey—across oceans, across eras, and across generations—carried by people who refused to let the music or the truth behind it fade.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.

Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - February 5th: Sharecroppers, City Lights, and Modern Sounds of the Blues

Thu, 05 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0800

In this episode, we land on February 5th—a date that traces the blues from broken promises in the cotton fields to boundary‑breaking sessions in New York studios. We start in 1866 with Thaddeus Stevens’ failed attempt to grant 40 acres to freed families, and follow how that defeat forced Black Southerners into the debt trap of sharecropping—the “pressure cooker” where field hollers hardened into the blues as an emotional escape from unkept American promises. Then we jump to 1917, when the Immigration Act choked off foreign labor, opening Northern factory doors and fueling the Great Migration that carried the music from acoustic front porches to the electrified clubs of Chicago.

From there, the calendar turns into a studio log. In 1953, Willie Mabon cuts “I’m Mad” in Chicago, taking the city’s sound in a cooler, jazz‑tinged direction that still tops the R&B charts. In 1962, Ray Charles walks into Capitol Studios to begin Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, proving that the “high lonesome” of country and the “worried mind” of the blues are two sides of the same coin—and that genre lines are meant to be crossed.

We also trace the lives tied to this date: Memphis jug band leader Will Shade, who helped define Beale Street’s 1920s sound; Al Kooper, whose work with the Blues Project helped bridge Chicago blues into the ’60s rock counterculture; Chicago guitarist Kenneth “Buddy” Scott, the lifeblood of Westside clubs when the blues slipped off the mainstream radar; and blues shouter Piney Brown, who carried the fire from the swing era into the R&B explosion. February 5th emerges as a full arc in miniature—from dusty promises and forced labor to city lights, crossover hits, and revival scenes—showing how the blues keeps turning hard history into enduring truth.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.

Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - February 4th: Rosa Parks, Race Records, and the Price of the Blues

Wed, 04 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0800

This episode turns to February 4th, a date where civil rights, commerce, and the blues all collide. We begin in Tuskegee, Alabama, with the birth of Rosa Parks—the “mother of the civil rights movement”—and trace how her quiet refusal in 1955 echoes the core themes of the blues: sorrow, resolve, and the demand to be treated as human. Her era becomes the backdrop for modern electric blues, as Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf plug in and give that struggle a roaring voice.

We then move to 1971, when Major League Baseball finally agrees to honor Negro League players in the Hall of Fame, a moment that mirrors the music industry’s late recognition of “race records” as American masterpieces. From there, the story shifts to money and mainstream power: Johnny Winter’s record‑shattering $600,000 Columbia deal in 1969 proves the blues can fill arenas, and the 1977 release of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours shows how a band that started as Chicago blues disciples could transform that language into one of the biggest pop albums of all time.

Along the way, we spotlight the births of Mississippi‑born guitarist Joe Beard, who carried Delta DNA to Rochester, and harmonica ace Curtis Salgado, whose mentorship of John Belushi helped spark The Blues Brothers phenomenon. We close by honoring the deaths of Louis Jordan—the “King of the Jukebox” whose jump blues lit the fuse for rock and R&B—and Cecil Gant, the “GI singing sensation” who proved a bluesman could shake the house and break your heart at the piano. February 4th emerges as a snapshot of how the blues moves: from bus seats to ballparks, from juke joints to platinum records, always insisting on dignity and leaving its fingerprints on everything it touches.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.

Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - February 3rd: Ballots, Ballparks, and the Blues Revival

Tue, 03 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0800

This episode sits with February 3rd—a single date that reads like a compressed history of Black struggle, joy, and reinvention through the blues. We start in 1870 with the ratification of the 15th Amendment, tracing how the promise of the vote and its betrayal in Reconstruction hardened field hollers into 12‑bar blues, the emotional soundtrack of disenfranchisement and sharecropping. We then move to 1956, when Autherine Lucy walked onto the campus of the University of Alabama, her fight for dignity echoing the quiet demands embedded in 1950s blues lyrics.

From there, we step onto the diamond in 1920 as Rube Foster launches the Negro National League, drawing a powerful parallel between the Negro Leagues and the Chitlin’ Circuit—two traveling ecosystems of Black excellence sharing the same roads, hotels, and communities. The date then becomes a studio logbook: Muddy Waters cutting “My Eyes Keep Me in Trouble” in 1955 with Little Walter and Willie Dixon, Bob Dylan’s early blues‑soaked demos in 1961, and The Blues Brothers’ A Briefcase Full of Blues hitting number one in 1979, dragging Chicago and Memphis grooves into suburban living rooms and jump‑starting a mass blues revival.

We spotlight the births of Johnny “Guitar” Watson—space‑age jump‑blues pioneer turned funk‑blues icon—and Jesse “Baby Face” Thomas, whose decades‑long career anchors the Texas sound. Finally, we confront February 3rd as a day of loss: the death of session wizard Wild Jimmy Spruill, and the 1959 plane crash that took Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper—a moment remembered as “the day the music died,” but also a deep cut to the blues, as Holly’s Bo Diddley‑inspired rhythms carried the music to the world. February 3rd emerges as a living ledger of resilience, where ballots, ballparks, and backbeats all feed the same river called the blues.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - February 2nd: Ma Rainey, Chitlin Circuits, and the Rebel Child of the Blues

Mon, 02 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0800

In this episode, we turn the calendar to February 2nd and watch the blues reshape itself—on stage, in the streets, and across the ocean. We begin in 1904 with the marriage that created “Ma and Pa Rainey,” tracing how Gertrude “Ma” Rainey rose to become the “Mother of the Blues,” standardizing the 12‑bar form, mentoring Bessie Smith, and turning a traveling act into a cultural force.

From there, we jump to 1948, when President Harry Truman’s civil rights message to Congress—calling for an end to poll taxes and lynching—echoed the dignity and defiance long sung on the Chitlin Circuit, where Black musicians faced Jim Crow every night on the road.

We then follow the “rebellious child of the blues” into rock and roll: Buddy Holly’s final Winter Dance Party show in 1959, and the Beatles’ first professional gig outside Liverpool in 1962, where British bands absorbed Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry and sold the blues back to the world.

Finally, we trace a poetic twist in the story of the Mississippi Sheiks: the birth of guitarist Walter Vincent in 1901, the death of bassist Sam Chapman in 1983—both on February 2nd—bookending a legacy that runs from “Sitting on Top of the World” to the outer edges of the genre with James Blood Ulmer’s boundary‑breaking blend of blues, funk, and free jazz. February 2nd emerges as a day when the blues marries tradition to rebellion, and local struggle to global sound.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - February 1st: Freedom’s Dawn and the Funk of the Blues

Sun, 01 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0800

On this episode, we zoom in on a single date—February 1st—and uncover how it became a crossroads of freedom, protest, and musical reinvention in blues history. We trace the arc from the 1865 signing of the 13th Amendment and National Freedom Day to the start of Black History Month, framing the blues as a living “sonic record” of the journey from emancipation to the ongoing fight for equality.

We then move to Greensboro, 1960, where four students at a lunch counter helped turn the old Delta moan into a sharper, louder weapon for justice, reshaping the blues into music of direct protest. From there, we drop the needle on February 1st, 1965, as James Brown records “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag,” bending the 12‑bar form into a new rhythmic heartbeat and pushing the blues into funk for a new generation.

Along the way, we honor the births of poet Langston Hughes—whose pages “bled blues”—and slide guitar visionary Sonny Landreth, as well as the passing of Chicago Westside masters John Little John and Jimmy Johnson. February 1st emerges not just as a date, but as a living marker of how the blues remembers, resists, and reinvents itself.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - January 31: Mahalia’s Farewell and the Blues That Changed the World

Sat, 31 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0800

January 31 is more than a date on the calendar—it’s a crossroads of faith, struggle, and sound. In this episode, we stand in Chicago in 1972 at the funeral of Mahalia Jackson, where over 40,000 mourners gathered and Aretha Franklin’s closing song turned grief into a living testament to gospel, blues, and the Civil Rights Movement. We explore how Mahalia’s voice became both a spiritual anchor and a political force, from the March on Washington to national recognition from the White House.

From there, we trace how the emotional DNA of the blues flows into global pop: The Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back” topping the charts in 1970, Blondie’s “The Tide Is High” riding rhythms born from Black musical traditions, and rock innovators like Terry Kath and Phil Manzanera carrying Mississippi’s echoes into new sonic territories.

We close with the haunting legacy of Slim Harpo, the “swamp blues” master whose hypnotic grooves powered the Rolling Stones and modern blues rock. January 31 becomes a story of farewells and ripples—of how gospel, blues, and soul keep reshaping culture, politics, and the way the world feels its music.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - January 30: The Day the Blues Echoed Through History

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0800

January 30 isn’t packed with famous blues birthdays or deaths—but that’s exactly what makes it powerful. In this episode, we trace how one ordinary date became a lens on the entire evolution of the blues. From Charlie Patton’s raw Delta masterpiece “Jersey Bull Blues” in 1934 to Sonny Boy Williamson II’s electric Chicago session with an all-star band in 1960, we follow the music’s journey from dusty backroads to neon-lit city nights.

We then step onto the London rooftop in 1969 for The Beatles’ final performance and explore how British rock giants carried the blues back to the world, amplifying its roots for new generations. Alongside these musical milestones, we confront the darker shadows of January 30—the rise of Hitler, the assassination of Gandhi—and ask how global turmoil seeps into the blues’ sound, spirit, and stories.

This episode is a meditation on legacy, resilience, and the countless unnamed artists whose lived experiences shaped the music we still feel today—proof that the blues is less about dates on a calendar and more about an unbroken, echoing human heartbeat.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - January 29: Law, Loss, and the Blueprint of the Blues

Thu, 29 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0800

In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, we trace January 29 as a fault line where law and music collide. We start in the 19th century, with Henry Clay’s Compromise of 1850 and Mississippi’s short-lived 1873 civil rights bill—moments that built the legal scaffolding of slavery, sharecropping, and Jim Crow. These aren’t just dates in a textbook; they’re the backdrop to every blues lyric about a “mean old world” and a “high sheriff” who never played fair.

From there, we move to January 29, 1992, and the passing of Willie Dixon—the bassist, songwriter, and producer whose work at Chess Records became the blueprint for modern blues, rock, and soul, and whose legal battles helped secure artists’ rights. Finally, we meet Jonny Lang, born January 29, 1981, a teenage prodigy who carried that legacy into the age of MTV and streaming. Together, these stories reveal January 29 as a day where courtrooms, state houses, and recording studios all feed the same river: the blues as a lifelong argument for dignity, justice, and emotional truth.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - January 28: Birth, Death, and the Electric Turning Point

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0800

In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, we stop the clock on January 28—a single date that captures the blues as a living, breathing continuum. We move from the elegant Piedmont finger-picking of Luke Jordan, born January 28, 1892, to the community-rooted legacy of DC Minner, born January 28, 1935 in an all-Black Oklahoma town, and finally to the passing of Alabama harmonica original J-Bird Coleman on January 28, 1950.

Set against the tense political backdrop of McCarthyism, early Civil Rights organizing, and the rise of television, we drop into 1950 as Sam Phillips opens his Memphis studio and Muddy Waters and Little Walter refine the amplified Chicago sound at Chess Records. This episode traces how one date threads together front-porch Piedmont blues, smoke-filled Chicago clubs, and schoolroom blues education—showing that the music is never frozen in time. It’s a torch, passed from hand to hand, generation to generation.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - January 27: Lightbulbs, Liberation, and the Cry of the Slide Guitar

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0800

In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, January 27 becomes a day where history’s heaviest shadows and music’s brightest sparks sit side by side. We begin with International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the liberation of Auschwitz in 1945, drawing a line between that global reckoning with atrocity and the blues as a vessel for suffering, survival, and the demand to be seen as fully human. The same emotional current that runs through memorial candles and testimonies runs through 12‑bar laments and soul‑deep shouts.

We then flip the switch—literally—to 1880, when Thomas Edison’s light bulb patent helped create the modern night: clubs, bars, theaters, and, eventually, recording studios where blues musicians could plug in, turn up, and be documented. Electric light didn’t just change how we see; it changed where and when the blues could be played, recorded, and remembered.

January 27 is also a birthday roll call for two giants: Elmore James, born in 1918, whose slide guitar could cut straight through the soul and whose riffs would echo in the work of players like Jimi Hendrix and B.B. King; and Bobby “Blue” Bland, born in 1930, whose smooth, gospel‑infused vocals helped shape modern soul blues and left a catalog singers still study like scripture.

Around them, the date traces the blues’ cross‑genre fingerprints: Elvis Presley releasing “Heartbreak Hotel” in 1956, a rock and roll milestone built on blues structure and emotion; the 2014 passing of Pete Seeger, who carried songs like “Goodnight Irene” from Lead Belly’s world into the American mainstream and tied folk, blues, and activism together; and the Punch Brothers’ The Phosphorescent Blues in 2015, a roots‑steeped acoustic record that shows how the genre’s DNA keeps resurfacing in new forms.

January 27 stands as a microcosm of the blues itself—birth and loss, darkness and illumination, slide guitars and protest songs—reminding us that this music is a universal language of resilience, forever carrying history’s weight and still finding new ways to shine.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - January 26: Survival Songs and the Backbone of the Blues

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0800

In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, January 26 becomes a powerful meeting point of invasion, survival, protest, and sound. From Invasion Day/Survival Day and the 1938 Day of Mourning in Australia to the U.S. Civil Rights echoes inside the blues, we explore how music and resistance share the same emotional core—truth-telling, resilience, and identity reclamation.

We then trace how that core travels through time and genre: into Eddie Van Halen’s blues-soaked rock guitar, Prince’s funk-and-soul alchemy, and Billie Eilish’s stark, confessional pop. Along the way, we spotlight Alexis Korner and the global spread of the blues as a foundational language beneath modern music.

January 26 isn’t just a date on the calendar—it’s a reminder that every groove holds a memory, and every note carries the weight of history, survival, and the ongoing fight to be heard.Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Listen Tomorrow for: Another Blues Moment in Time

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - January 25: Robots, Reverence, and the Voices That Bent Time

Sun, 25 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0800

In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, January 25 becomes a date where machines, empires, and human voices all collide around the blues. We start in 1920 with the premiere of Karel Čapek’s play R.U.R., the work that gave the world the word “robot” and announced a new, mechanical age. While factories roared and the idea of replaceable workers took hold, blues musicians were out there doing the opposite—putting names, fears, hopes, and everyday truths back into a world that was starting to feel cold and automated. The blues became the human counterweight to a century speeding up.

We zoom out further to 1554 and the founding of São Paulo, a reminder that long before the first 12‑bar progression, colonial power and forced migration were setting the stage for the African diaspora. Those global shifts—ports, plantations, and new cities—created the conditions in which the blues would eventually emerge in the American South as a distinct, defiant art form: a way for displaced people to claim identity and voice inside someone else’s system.

January 25 is also a birthday roll call for two giants who show the range of what the blues can be. Blind Willie Johnson, born in 1897, carved out the sound of gospel blues with his searing slide guitar and apocalyptic vocals—records from the late 1920s that still feel like they’re coming straight out of the earth. And Etta James, born in 1938, carried that same emotional fire into soul, gospel, and pop, turning every song into a lived confession and dragging the blues into mid‑ and late‑20th‑century radio, stages, and soundtracks.

There are no marquee blues deaths tied to January 25, which makes it feel less like a day of endings and more like a day of beginnings and reflections—a moment to think about the countless known and unknown artists who gave this music its shape. January 25 reminds us that the blues has always sat at the crossroads of history and humanity: forged in colonial shadows, sung over industrial noise, and carried forward by voices that refuse to sound mechanical, no matter how fast the world turns.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - January 24: Lovesick Lines, Blues Brothers, and an Empire’s Shadow

Sat, 24 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0800

On this episode of Blues Moments in Time, we drop the needle on January 24—a date that quietly sits at the crossroads of blues, country, empire, and pop culture. We trace how Hank Williams Sr.’s 1949 release of “Lovesick Blues” carried blues phrasing and emotional storytelling straight into the heart of mainstream country, blurring genre lines and revealing just how deep the blues runs in American music.

From there, we jump to the birth of John Belushi, whose work with The Blues Brothers helped ignite a late-20th-century blues revival, using film, television, and live performance to reintroduce legends to a new generation. Finally, we zoom out to 1901 and the death of Queen Victoria, exploring how the end of the Victorian era and shifting colonial structures shaped the conditions of the African diaspora—and, ultimately, the world that birthed the blues as a voice of resilience and identity.

This is January 24: not a single headline moment, but an echo of legacy—where every guitar bend and soulful lyric carries the weight of history forward.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - January 23: Lead Belly’s Birthday, Street Sermons, and the Blues on the Airwaves

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0800

In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, January 23 shows up as a bridge date—linking chain gangs and street corners to Broadway stages and European radio countdowns. We start with Huddie “Lead Belly” Ledbetter, born this day in 1888, whose 12‑string guitar and booming voice carried the stories of the Jim Crow South from prison farms to Northern concert halls. His songs—about work, violence, love, and survival—turned Black suffering into a global conversation and helped define what we now call American roots music.

We then walk alongside Reverend Dan Smith, another January 23rd child, blowing harmonica and preaching gospel blues on city sidewalks, insisting that Black lives and Black faith mattered in neighborhoods marked by poverty and neglect. From there, we step into the world of May Barnes and the Mills Brothers, where the blues slips into Broadway, cabarets, and radio—Charleston steps, smooth harmonies, and songs like “St. Louis Blues” quietly smuggling Black repertoire into mainstream American sound.

January 23 also lives in the present tense: European radio specials crowning French rocker Manu Blandon’s Man on a Mission, and new releases like Elise Frank’s I Didn’t Pay for It keeping the focus on truth‑telling, vulnerability, and grit. Along the way, we remember John Mills Jr., gone at 25, whose work with the Mills Brothers helped normalize Black vocal groups on records and radio, blending jazz, pop, and blues into a new popular language.

Taken together, January 23 traces the blues’ long journey—from Southern fields to Northern studios, from storefront churches to folk festivals, from juke joints to international airwaves—proving that this music is still a living conversation, not a relic, and that its core job hasn’t changed: tell the truth, no matter where the microphone is.Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - January 22: Poll Taxes, Recording Bans, and the Long Road from Jug Bands to Blues-Rock

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0800

In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, January 22 becomes a date where money, law, and music all collide around the blues. We start in 1943 with the American Federation of Musicians recording ban, a labor showdown over royalties that shut down studio sessions and hit Black blues musicians especially hard. It’s a reminder that behind every beloved record is a fight over who gets paid, who gets credited, and who gets left out of the deal.

We then move to 1964 and the ratification of the 24th Amendment, abolishing the poll tax—a key brick pulled out of the wall of Jim Crow. That political victory reshaped the world the blues was singing about, loosening the grip of voter suppression and pushing the music’s stories of resilience and injustice into a new era of civil rights and possibility.

On the musical side, January 22 tracks the genre’s evolution. In 1957, Johnny Burnette and the Rock and Roll Trio cut “Lonesome Train on a Lonesome Road” in Nashville, a rockabilly blast that shows how directly the blues fed into early rock and carried its energy all the way to places like Australia. And in the life and work of Barry Goldberg—who would later play with Dylan at Newport and help define blues‑rock keyboards—we hear how those same roots got wired into amplifiers and pushed onto festival stages.

Threaded through the date are the lives of Hammie Nixon, the Memphis jug and harmonica man whose riffs powered Sleepy John Estes; and Sam Cooke, born this day in 1931, whose gospel‑soaked voice and songwriting carried the emotional honesty of the blues into soul and pop. January 22 reveals the blues as both protest and blueprint—a soundtrack to labor battles and voting rights, and the deep foundation under rockabilly, soul, and electrified blues‑rock.Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - January 21: B.B.’s Library, School Days, and the Many Rooms of the Blues

Wed, 21 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0800

In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, January 21 becomes a tour through the libraries, studios, and bandstands that prove the blues is both archive and engine. We start in 1982 with B.B. King’s quiet revolution: donating his massive personal collection of records to the University of Mississippi. In one move, “Blues Royalty” takes the music from juke joints to the stacks, insisting that these 78s and LPs be treated not as disposable entertainment, but as protected cultural heritage and serious history for scholars, students, and anyone willing to listen closely.

From there, we drop into Chess Records on January 21, 1957, as Chuck Berry cuts “School Days”—a rock and roll anthem built on blues riffs, storytelling lyrics, and a backbeat that would launch a thousand bands. We trace that same backbone through the drumming of Francis Clay, whose blend of jazz finesse and blues power with Muddy Waters helped define the feel of electric Chicago blues and quietly schooled a generation of British rock drummers.

January 21 is also a date of loss and lineage: the passing of Champion Jack Dupree, the New Orleans barrelhouse storyteller who kept the raw, rocking spirit of early blues alive; the death of Charles Brown, whose smooth West Coast sound proved the blues could be as elegant as it was earthy; and the birthday of Zora Young, a singer who threads traditional blues, gospel, and contemporary grooves into one living voice.

Taken together, January 21 shows the blues in all its rooms—archived in universities, roaring out of Chicago studios, rolling from New Orleans pianos, gliding through West Coast lounges, and carried forward by modern voices. It’s a reminder that the genre is not one sound but a whole house of styles, all built on the same deep foundation.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - January 20: Lead Belly’s America, Etta’s Truth, and the Blues as a Living Archive

Tue, 20 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0800

In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, January 20 stands as one of the most powerful dual anniversaries on the blues calendar — the birth of Lead Belly in 1888 and the passing of Etta James in 2012. Together, they form a kind of hinge in American music history: one artist who turned the struggles of his era into a living cultural record, and another whose voice carried that emotional truth into the modern age with unmatched force.

We begin with Lead Belly, the Louisiana-born giant whose 12‑string guitar and booming voice made him more than a musician — he became a chronicler of America itself. His songs captured presidents, movie stars, prison walls, labor fights, and the everyday hopes of ordinary people. He sang about the Scottsboro boys, about injustice, about the South he came from, and about the world he saw changing around him. January 20 becomes a reminder that the blues has always been political, always been a voice for the voiceless, always been a record of the country’s heartbeat.

Then we turn to Etta James, whose death on this date in 2012 marked the end of one of the most emotionally fearless careers in American music. Her voice — raw, volcanic, tender, and unguarded — could shake the walls of any room. She moved effortlessly between blues, soul, and R&B, carrying the genre’s emotional vocabulary into new spaces and new generations. Her performances didn’t just tell stories; they broke your heart and stitched it back together in the same breath.

January 20 reminds us that the blues is both archive and emotion — a record of struggle and a vessel for truth. Through Lead Belly’s storytelling and Etta James’ soul-deep delivery, the date captures the full sweep of what the blues has always been: history you can feel, memory you can hear, and a living testament to the American experience.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - January 19: Gloom, Grit, and the Women Who Shifted the Spotlight

Mon, 19 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0800

In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, January 19 becomes a crossroads where literature, politics, and raw musical power all collide. We begin with Edgar Allan Poe, whose birthday sets the emotional tone for the day. His “American gloom,” haunted corners, and aching sense of longing form a surprising but unmistakable emotional blueprint for the blues — the same shadows that singers later turned into moans, hollers, and truth-telling verses.

From there, the date widens into political history. Indira Gandhi’s rise as India’s first female prime minister and Betty Ford’s bold push for equality both signal a global shift toward representation — the kind of cultural opening that helped women step into the spotlight of blues, soul, and roots music with greater force and visibility. January 19 becomes a reminder that political courage and artistic courage often move in tandem.

Musically, the day stretches from the operatic fire of Verdi’s Il trovatore — whose long, lived‑in phrases seeped into American vocal traditions — to the 1994 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductions of The Animals, The Band, and Duane Eddy, all artists who built their sound on the bones of the blues. And it’s a birthday roll call of emotional heavyweights: Janis Joplin, whose voice hit like a storm front; Dolly Parton, whose songwriting carries the same struggle and soul as Delta storytellers; and Poe himself, the literary ancestor of every blues singer who ever turned pain into poetry.

We also honor the losses of Carl Perkins, the rockabilly architect whose swagger came straight from blues phrasing, and Wilson Pickett, the “Wicked” soul shouter whose gospel‑charged fire still echoes across R&B.

January 19 shows how the blues is never just a genre — it’s a long, intertwined history of struggle, storytelling, and emotional truth, stretching from Gothic literature to juke joints, from cabinet rooms to concert halls, always shaping the sound of modern music.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - January 18: Quiet Rooms, Loud Truths, and the Blues That Never Makes the History Books

Sun, 18 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0800

In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, January 18 isn’t about one famous record—it’s about the rooms, rituals, and lives that keep the blues breathing. We drop into Sunday night residencies in Los Angeles and small, snowbound rooms at the Thredbo Blues Festival, where two-hour sets and close-up stages turn ordinary evenings into living laboratories of the blues. Here, standards get bent back toward the 12‑bar truth, and the music exists as it always has: in the air between player and listener, undocumented but unforgettable.

We trace how, when January 18 falls on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the blues takes on an extra charge—used by teachers, preachers, and activists to connect field hollers to freedom songs, turning the 12‑bar form into testimony rather than nostalgia. The date becomes a hinge between the Delta’s private pain and the public push for civil rights, reminding us that the blues is not just entertainment, but evidence of how Black Americans turned suffering into sound.

January 18 also marks the births of Motown great David Ruffin and jazz drummer Al Foster, artists who carried the emotional vocabulary of the blues into soul hooks and behind-the-beat jazz grooves. And we sit with the losses of Harlem Renaissance trailblazer Gladys Bentley—tuxedoed, barrelhouse, and defiantly queer at the piano—and Eagles co-founder Glenn Frey, whose songs rode on blues changes and drifter stories all the way to the arenas.

Taken together, January 18 is a portrait of the blues as it really lives: in bar gigs and jam sessions that never make the textbooks, in voices and beats that don’t always call themselves “blues” but feel like it anyway, and in the quiet, consistent work of turning hard history into sound.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - January 17: Empty Houses, British Bridges, and the Blues in Between

Sat, 17 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0800

In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, January 17 becomes a date where the blues steps out of tents, into studios, and across oceans. We start in 1929 New York City with Clara Smith cutting “Empty House Blues” and “Tell Me When,” capturing the moment when classic blues singers moved from Southern tent shows to Northern recording rooms—turning a regional oral tradition into a commercial force that would reshape American music.

From there, we trace the constant dialogue between blues, jazz, and rock: Charlie Watts tipping his hat to Charlie Parker in 1969, and The Doors’ 1970 Felt Forum performances, steeped in blues phrasing and later immortalized on Absolutely Live. January 17 also marks the birth of Mick Taylor, whose fluid guitar work with John Mayall and the Rolling Stones helped bridge American blues to a global audience, alongside artists like Jeff Berlin and Steve Earle, who carry its DNA into fusion and singer‑songwriter traditions.

Threaded through it all is the political and cultural backdrop—the long arc from segregation to civil rights—that shaped where and how this music could be played. January 17 reminds us that the blues is built on memory: of singers in cramped studios, drummers writing tributes, rock bands channeling old grooves, and communities that refused to let these sounds fade.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - January 16: Speakeasy Nights, Swing Roots, and the Unplugged Blues

Fri, 16 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0800

January 16 is one of those dates where the blues doesn’t just show up in a single moment — it threads itself through a century of American culture, from hidden speakeasies to televised acoustic stages. We start in 1919 with the ratification of Prohibition, a law meant to “clean up” America that instead created the speakeasy underground — the backroom bars and after‑hours joints where Black musicians found new stages, new audiences, and a new urban electricity. These were the rooms where the blues became the soundtrack to defiance, thriving in spaces that were illegal, glamorous, and essential to the Great Migration’s cultural explosion.

From there, we drop the needle on two landmark January 16 recording sessions, exactly sixty years apart. In 1932, Duke Ellington records “It Don’t Mean a Thing”, crystallizing swing with bent notes, call‑and‑response, and the rhythmic feel of the blues hiding in plain sight. Then in 1992, Eric Clapton sits down for his MTV Unplugged session — a global broadcast that reintroduced acoustic blues to millions and became the bestselling live album of all time.

January 16 is also a birthday roll call for artists who expanded what the blues could be. Robert Wilkins, the Memphis country‑blues guitarist whose songs fueled the folk revival. Barbara Lynn, the left‑handed Texas trailblazer who wrote and played her own R&B hits, breaking gender and racial barriers with every chord. And Sade, whose soul‑jazz elegance carries the emotional vocabulary of the blues into modern Black music.

Taken together, January 16 becomes a long conversation across time — from Memphis street corners to Prohibition backrooms, from swing‑era studios to global acoustic stages. It’s a reminder that the blues adapts, survives, and keeps finding new rooms to fill.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - January 15: Kings, Hookers, and the Chicago Wind

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0800

In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, January 15 becomes a crossroads where civil rights, Chicago clubs, and streaming-era singles all meet. We begin with the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., tracing how his fight against Jim Crow reshaped the emotional climate and working reality of blues musicians—opening doors to integrated audiences, safer touring routes, and a new alignment between blues laments, freedom songs, and soul anthems of protest.

From there, we turn to the births of Earl Hooker, John Lee Hooker Jr., and Captain Beefheart: a slide-guitar wizard who rewired Chicago phrasing, a son who rebuilt his life into a modern urban blues voice, and an avant-garde shapeshifter who twisted Delta and Chicago traditions into something surreal but still unmistakably blues at the core.

We also mark January 15, 1998, the passing of harmonica great Junior Wells—Muddy Waters sideman, Buddy Guy partner, and one of the fiercest ambassadors of the electrified Chicago sound. And we land in the present, where January 15 remains a working date on the blues calendar, hosting new releases like Bob Corritore & Bobby Rush’s “I’ve Got Three Problems” and fresh digital-era slow blues. Taken together, the day shows the blues as a living calendar entry—rooted in struggle, reinvented by each generation, and still very much on the release schedule.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - January 14: Segregation Forever, Jams Forever, and the Blues Beneath It

Wed, 14 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0800

In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, January 14 becomes a study in how the blues can be everywhere and almost nowhere at the same time—rarely named, but always humming underneath. We stand in Golden Gate Park in 1967 at the Human Be-In, where long jams, electric drones, and extended solos helped launch the counterculture. The music is billed as psychedelic rock, but its bones are pure blues: stretched time, bent notes, and improvisation as a way of searching for freedom in public.

Then we move to Montgomery, Alabama, in 1963, where Governor George Wallace declares “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever.” His words try to freeze inequality in place, codifying the very systems the blues had been lamenting for decades. In the wake of that speech, the music shifts—from private laments in juke joints to public witness in freedom songs, folk blues, and soul that names injustice out loud.

January 14 is also a birthday roll call for architects of sound: Clarence Carter, who smuggled deep blues feeling into Southern soul hits like “Slip Away” and “Patches,” and Allen Toussaint, the quiet New Orleans genius whose piano, arrangements, and productions carried blues spirit into R&B, funk, and rock. Even without a marquee “blues” recording on this date, January 14 shows how the music lives as subtext—inside counterculture jams, political backlash, and the grooves crafted by behind-the-scenes masters who made the blues part of the American bloodstream.Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - January 13: Prison Stages, Chess Studios, and the Long Echo of the Blues

Tue, 13 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0800

In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, January 13 unfolds as a full panorama of what the blues really is—music, yes, but also prisons, politics, studios, and classrooms. We step into Folsom Prison in 1968, where Johnny Cash sings “Folsom Prison Blues” to 2,000 incarcerated men, turning their reality into a hit record and a quiet act of solidarity. We spin back to 1962, when Chubby Checker’s “The Twist” returns to number one, a Black R&B club groove that explodes into a global dance craze and loosens the rules of how bodies—and cultures—move together.

We then trace the political arc to 1990, when Douglas Wilder is inaugurated as the first elected Black governor in U.S. history, a moment that feels like a long echo of the stories the blues has told for decades about punishment, freedom, and the slow crack in the old order. In the studio, we drop in on January 13, 1955, as Lowell Fulson cuts “Reconsider Baby” in Chicago—a smooth, horn-laced, electrified sound that bridges West Coast finesse and South Side grit, helping define the polished club blues that would shape rock, soul, and R&B.

January 13 is also a hinge between continuity and loss: the birth of Texas bluesman Wes Jeans, plugging old Texas feeling into modern amps, and the passing of Thomasina Winslow, a tradition bearer who taught chords, tunings, and stories to the next generation. Taken together, this date becomes a microcosm of the blues itself—a living, shifting force that moves from prison yards to dance floors, from statehouses to small-town stages, always telling the truth about the American experience.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - January 12: Ruth Brown, Living Memorials, and the Joy of What Was Born

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0800

In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, January 12 steps forward not as a day of tragedy or legislation, but as a celebration — a date stamped with beginnings, resilience, and the way we choose to remember. At the center is Ruth Brown, the “girl who sang the blues,” whose birthday becomes a kind of living memorial. We follow her journey from sneaking out to teenage club gigs, through car crashes, industry neglect, and years working as a domestic, to her return as a celebrated artist and fierce advocate for musicians’ rights.

We also look at how modern storytellers have intentionally claimed this date — from the online premiere of Ruth Brown, The Girl Who Sang the Blues to the way streaming-era commemorations teach audiences to mark the calendar and check back in with her story each year. January 12 shows how blues history is not frozen in old shellac, but constantly rewritten by how we share and revisit these lives.

Unlike many dates in music history, January 12 isn’t dominated by famous deaths from the blues pantheon. Instead, it leans toward birth, renewal, and the quiet politics of personal struggle — the contracts signed, the pay fought for, the respect demanded over a lifetime. In a genre so often marked by hard endings, January 12 stands as a reminder that some days on the blues calendar belong to the joy of what was born, not the sorrow of what was taken away.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - January 11: Bread, Roses, and the Hammond Soul

Sun, 11 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0800

On this episode of Blues Moments in Time, January 11 becomes a day where labor strikes, inventions, and sidemen’s stories all braid into the blues. We start in 1912 with the “Bread and Roses” strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts, where immigrant textile workers demanded not just wages to live on, but dignity and beauty in their lives—a cry that mirrors the emotional script of the blues: hard times, unfair systems, and a stubborn insistence on something better.

From there, we follow the Great Migration into the industrial Midwest, where factories, steel mills, and assembly lines became the backdrop for urban, electrified blues. Into this world arrives Lawrence Hammond, born January 11, 1895, whose Hammond organ would change the sound of church and club alike—its “churchy swell” bridging Sunday-morning gospel and Saturday-night moans, giving soul blues and blues rock one of their most powerful voices.

We also mark the birthdays of swamp-blues master Slim Harpo, alto sax man Tab Smith, New Orleans-rooted bandleader Wilbur de Paris, and Hammond himself—architects of grooves, horn lines, and tones that shaped mid-century Black music. Finally, we honor the passing of trumpeter Bob Enos of Roomful of Blues, a working-band stalwart whose horn kept big-band blues energy alive on stages and in studios. January 11 reminds us that the blues is built by workers, inventors, and “everyday geniuses” whose sounds carry both bread and roses in every note.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - January 10: Birth, Migration, and the Day the Wolf Fell Silent

Sat, 10 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0800

January 10 runs like a hidden thread through blues history – a single date where beginnings and endings collide. On this day, the business language of Black music was quietly revolutionized by Jerry Wexler, who helped retire the “race records” label and usher in “Rhythm and Blues.” It’s the birthday of Max Roach, whose insistence that music could be a weapon for civil rights reshaped the climate in which blues artists told their truths. And it’s also the day the stage lights dimmed on one of the music’s fiercest architects, when Howlin’ Wolf left this world in 1976.

In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, we trace January 10 across the map – from Mississippi plantations and Southern barracks to Chicago’s Westside clubs and neighborhood bars where the amps still buzz. We meet Eddie “The Chief” Clearwater, who strapped rock and roll fire onto traditional blues, and Byron “Wildchild” Gibson, a working-band lifer who proves the music survives not just in legends, but in local rooms and late nights.

Through these intertwined stories, January 10 becomes more than a date on the calendar. It’s a lens on migration and memory, the fight against segregation, the politics of who gets named and who gets forgotten, and the constant tug-of-war between preserving the roots and chasing the next electric spark.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - January 9: Echoes of Struggle, Shadows of the Blues

Fri, 09 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0800

In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, January 9 becomes less about a single record and more about the world the blues speaks to. We travel to Panama in 1964, where students marching to raise their flag in the U.S.-controlled Canal Zone sparked deadly riots and a national reckoning. Their fight for dignity and sovereignty mirrors the same emotional core that runs through the blues and the American Civil Rights Movement—a demand to be seen, heard, and treated as fully human.

Musically, we drop the needle on 1976, when Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” sat at the top of the UK charts, a snapshot of the moment when blues grooves, tones, and phrasing had seeped so deeply into rock that most listeners no longer heard them as “blues” at all—just the sound of popular music. The episode traces how the genre’s DNA quietly underpins rock, folk, and pop, even when the label disappears.

We also mark the birthdays of Joan Baez, Jimmy Page, and Dave Matthews—three very different artists who each carried the spirit of the blues into new spaces: protest folk, thunderous hard rock, and globally inflected jam-band improvisation. And in the silence of major recorded blues deaths on this date, we sit with what’s missing: the countless early blues voices who lived and died off the record, without obituaries or headstones. January 9 becomes a meditation on how the blues lives on in echoes, influences, and the stories history forgot to write down.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - January 8: Battlefields, Birthdays, and the Blues Beneath It All

Thu, 08 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0800

In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, January 8 becomes a crossroads where battlefields, politics, and backbeats all meet. We start with the Battle of New Orleans and trace how a 19th‑century skirmish turned into the fiddle tune “The 8th of January” and, eventually, the hit “The Battle of New Orleans”—a piece of southern storytelling cut from the same cloth as the blues, capturing place, pride, and memory in melody.

From there, we move to 1964 and Lyndon B. Johnson’s “War on Poverty” declaration, a moment when the nation finally named the conditions that shaped the very communities who are the blues. We explore how the amplified, weary blues of the 1960s carried the tension between promise and betrayal, federal investment and ongoing displacement, hope and hard reality.

January 8 is also a musical birthday roll call: Tampa Red, “The Guitar Wizard” who helped define Chicago blues guitar; Elvis Presley, the rockabilly lightning rod who carried blues structures to a global stage while raising hard questions about credit and compensation; and Shirley Bassey, whose dramatic, orchestral pop still bears the unmistakable imprint of blues feeling.

And in the relative quiet of recorded deaths on this date, we sit with what’s missing—the unmarked graves, unknown dates, and lost stories of countless blues artists. January 8 reminds us that the blues is a river fed by remembered legends and forgotten lives alike, all flowing into the music we hear today.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - January 7: Hoochie Coochie Declarations and the Road to Chicago

Wed, 07 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0800

In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, we zoom in on January 7—a date that captures the blues in motion: migrating, electrifying, protesting, and reinventing itself. We follow the Great Migration as it carries the solitary acoustic blues of the Mississippi Delta into the crowded streets of Chicago, where the music plugs in, turns up, and becomes the raw, urban sound of Chicago blues and the backbone of “race records” that sold not just songs, but stories of escape and aspiration.

At the heart of the episode is Muddy Waters’ January 7, 1954 recording of “I’m Your Hoochie Coochie Man”—a stop-time, chest-thumping declaration that helped define electric Chicago blues and laid a blueprint for the rock and roll revolution. Along the way, we meet Alabama-born DIY trailblazer Bob Jenkins and bassist Rod Hicks of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, whose work bridged musical innovation and the Civil Rights era’s push for integration.

We also mark the losses of British blues sparkplug Cyril Davies and soul great James Carr, tracing how their sounds—whether through the British blues boom or the aching honesty of “The Dark End of the Street”—carry the same stories of struggle, resilience, and hope. January 7 becomes a living snapshot of the blues as coded protest, cultural migration, and a history still humming beneath modern music.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - January 6: Censored Hips, Defiant Blues, and the Beat of Protest

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0800

Join Kelvin Huggins as he dives deep into the tangled roots and resonant echoes of blues history.

In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, we zero in on January 6—a day where blues-soaked music crashes headlong into cultural conservatism, joyful pop spectacle, and raw political truth. From Elvis Presley being filmed only from the waist up on national TV to contain his “blues-infused” energy, to a studio audience spontaneously inventing the “YMCA” dance on American Bandstand, we explore how music keeps testing the limits of what the mainstream will accept.

We trace the blues back to its roots in Southern work songs and prison fields, where it emerged as a voice of protest and survival, a first draft of the story later sung by the anthems of the Civil Rights Movement. Along the way, we drop the needle on key January 6 milestones: Frampton Comes Alive, Pink Floyd beginning Wish You Were Here, the Rolling Stones’ first headlining tour, and Carly Simon’s chart-topping “You’re So Vain.”

We also mark the births of Kim Wilson and Earl Scruggs, and honor the passing of giants like Dizzy Gillespie and Lou Rawls—artists who carried the blues’ spirit of defiance, innovation, and soul into new musical worlds. January 6 becomes more than a date; it’s a snapshot of how the blues keeps pushing, protesting, and pulsing through modern music.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Momentsin Time - January 5: Blues, Bloodlines, and the Long Shadow of Freedom

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0800

Join Kelvin Huggins as he dives deep into the tangled roots and resonant echoes of blues history.

On this episode of Blues Moments in Time, we drop the needle on January 5—a date where the blues, history, and activism all collide. From the Great Migration and the rise of the Chitlin’ Circuit to the blues as a living form of testimony against Jim Crow and racial injustice, we trace how this music became both a soundtrack and a weapon in the struggle for equality.

We celebrate the births of Elizabeth Cotten, Wilbert Harrison, and Johnny Adams—artists whose genius reshaped folk, R&B, and soul—and reflect on the passing of towering figures like Charles Mingus, whose bass lines and compositions burned with righteous anger. Along the way, we connect the early steps of Bruce Springsteen and a young Prince to the deep roots of the blues, showing how its tendrils reach into every corner of modern music.

This isn’t just a date on the calendar—it’s a reminder that the blues is a living, breathing tradition, still carrying stories of hardship, resistance, and hope.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - January 4: From Back Porch to Boardroom

Sun, 04 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0800

January 4th reads like a time‑lapse of the blues—how it was born in struggle, electrified onstage, commercialized in boardrooms, and woven into the DNA of global popular music. In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, Kelvin Huggins traces how a single winter date captures the journey of the blues from Southern folk expression to worldwide cultural force.

We start with the commercial and cultural shift marked by CBS buying the Fender Guitar Company in 1965—turning the Telecasters and Stratocasters that powered Muddy Waters and Buddy Guy from working musicians’ tools into corporate assets. From there, we jump to Hamburg’s Star Club, whose 1975 reopening reminds us how European venues became shrines to American R&B and blues, shaping bands like The Beatles before they helped launch the British Invasion.

Kelvin then digs into the political heartbeat of the blues—music born in the shadow of Jim Crow, Parchman Prison, and a legal system stacked against Black Americans. The blues emerges here as more than entertainment: it’s protest, testimony, and survival, the sound of a people insisting on being heard.

January 4th also proves to be a landmark recording day. We revisit a young Elvis Presley cutting a demo in 1954 that would help ignite rock and roll, then step into Chess Records in 1967, where Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, and Little Walter convene for a Super Blues session on the very same day The Doors unleash their dark, blues‑infused debut. Two years later, Fleetwood Mac make their own pilgrimage to Chess, recording with their Chicago heroes in a moment of deep respect and musical communion.

Along the way, we mark the births of Sonny Blake, an authentic Memphis blues voice, and John McLaughlin, a genre‑bending guitarist who carried the language of the blues into jazz fusion and beyond. And we pause to remember Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy and Ray Thomas of The Moody Blues—artists whose rock legacies were rooted in blues feeling, storytelling, and grit.

January 4th, in the end, isn’t just a date on the calendar. It’s a snapshot of the blues’ full arc: from juke joints to global stages, from protest to profit, from the Delta to Hamburg and back again—proving once more that beneath so much of modern music, the blues is still beating.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - January 3: Danny Overbea -The Rock & Roll Pioneer History Forgot

Sat, 03 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0800

In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, Kelvin Huggins shines a long‑overdue spotlight on Danny Overbea, born January 3rd, 1926 — a musician whose fingerprints are all over the birth of rock and roll, even if his name rarely appears in the headlines.

We explore how Overbea’s 1953 Checker recordings, “Train Train Train” and “4 Cups of Coffee,” pre‑dated the widely accepted dawn of rock and roll by two full years. His sound — raw, rhythmic, and electrifying — helped shape the musical revolution that would soon sweep the world. Yet Overbe’s story is more than a discography; it’s a portrait of a performer whose acrobatic showmanship, inspired by T‑Bone Walker, made him a sensation on early rock and roll stages. Guitar behind the back, guitar with the teeth, dropping into the splits mid‑solo — Overbea embodied the spirit of a genre still finding its name.

We trace his journey from Philadelphia to Chicago’s South Side, through DuSable High School, into World War II service at just 15, and onto the stages where DJ Alan Freed championed him as one of the true architects of the new sound. Despite his talent and versatility — from smooth ballads to Italian‑language recordings — Overbea never achieved the commercial fame that later artists built atop the foundation he helped lay.

To understand Overbea’s life, we step back into 1926, a year shaped by the Great Migration, the rise of “race records,” and the transformation of the blues from rural roots to urban electricity. It was a world where Jim Crow still cast a long shadow, but where Black creativity was forging the future of American music.

Danny Overbea’s legacy reminds us that the history of rock and roll is not just the story of the stars we know — it’s also the story of the innovators who came first, the ones who “laid down the tracks that others would follow.”

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - January 2: Quiet Threads, Powerful Moments — A Blues Tapestry

Fri, 02 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0800

January 2nd may not mark a single defining milestone in blues history, but it offers something just as meaningful — a window into the forces that shaped the blues long before any one date could claim significance. In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, Kelvin Huggins explores how this day reflects the deeper cultural, political, and musical currents that forged the genre.

We begin with the broader landscape of the African‑American experience, where the blues was born not from isolated events but from daily life — from community, migration, hardship, creativity, and the ongoing search for dignity and voice. Against the backdrop of Jim Crow segregation, the Great Migration, and the Civil Rights movement, the blues became a living conversation with the world, shaped by struggle and sustained by resilience.

January 2nd also brings us the birth of artists who carried the music forward. We spotlight Chicago guitarist Little Smoky Smothers, whose blend of Mississippi roots and Chicago electricity helped define the city’s postwar sound. His collaborations with Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Magic Sam, and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band reveal a musician who stood at the crossroads of tradition and innovation. We also acknowledge the wider American roots lineage through figures like Roger Miller and the transatlantic reach of the blues through Chick Churchill of Ten Years After.

But the date also holds a somber note. On January 2nd, 1955, the blues community gathered in Memphis for the funeral of Johnny Ace, a rising star whose life ended too soon. His passing underscored the vulnerability of mid‑century musicians and the tight‑knit bonds that held the blues world together.

Taken together, these stories show that January 2nd is more than a date — it’s a microcosm of the blues itself. A blend of quiet threads and powerful moments, of loss and renewal, of artists leaving us too soon and new voices stepping forward to carry the tradition on. It’s a reminder that the blues is not just history — it’s a living, breathing tapestry of expression, identity, and endurance.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - January 1: Three Moments That Shaped the Blues

Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0800

January 1st isn’t just the start of a new year — it’s a crossroads in blues history. In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, Kelvin Huggins explores how a single date echoes across generations, marking three defining moments that shaped the music, the culture, and the people who carried the blues forward.

We begin with the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, the moment that planted the earliest seeds of the blues. It was a day of jubilee and a day of reckoning — a “complicated freedom” that mixed liberation with the long, painful struggle that followed. From cotton fields to Jim Crow, this tension became the emotional bedrock of the blues, the very soil from which its stories grew.

Next, we celebrate the birth of Gary “BB” Coleman in 1947 — a soul‑blues torchbearer whose late‑blooming career became a testament to perseverance. As an artist, producer, and mentor, Coleman kept the soul‑blues flame burning, shaping the sound of countless musicians and ensuring the tradition didn’t fade.

Finally, we reflect on the passing of Alexis Korner in 1984, the “founder of British Blues.” His passion and mentorship ignited the British Blues Explosion, inspiring the musicians who would carry the blues back across the Atlantic and reintroduce it to a new generation of American listeners.

Together, these three January 1st moments reveal a powerful truth: the blues is more than music. It’s history. It’s struggle. It’s resilience. And it’s the sound of people refusing to be silenced.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time – December 23: The Day the Blues Spoke Up

Tue, 23 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0800

The Blues Hotel Christmas Edition

Drops December 24th, 2025!

Join Kelvin Huggins as he dives deep into the tangled roots and resonant echoes of December 23rd in blues history.

December 23 becomes a surprising fault line in the story of the blues – a single date that connects a roaring Carnegie Hall piano, a church-soaked soul voice, a modern electric torchbearer, and a jazz giant whose every note was steeped in blues feeling. From Albert Ammons shaking New York’s most prestigious concert hall in 1938, to the birth of soul‑blues singer Wee Willie Walker, to the arrival of guitarist Kirk Fletcher and the passing of Oscar Peterson, this date traces how the blues rose from rent parties and juke joints to the world’s big stages without ever losing its earthy core. Along the way, the episode explores the blues as a shared musical language that flows into gospel, soul, boogie‑woogie, and jazz, and shines a light on the missing pages in the global record – a call for listeners in places like Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and Europe to help write their local blues histories into the books.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Keep the blues alive.

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Special Subscriber Gift – The Blues Hotel Christmas Edition

Subscribe to The Blues Hotel Collective before December 24th and receive an exclusive bonus episode featuring blues legends getting into the festive spirit. This special Christmas edition won't be released publicly—it's our gift to you. Subscribe now: https://preview.mailerlite.io/forms/1388278/172318053380392029/share

Blues Moments in Time: December 20 — Quiet Dates, Loud Echoes

Sat, 20 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0800

The Blues Hotel Christmas Edition

Drops December 24th, 2025!

Join Kelvin Huggins as he dives deep into the tangled roots and resonant echoes of December 20th in blues history.

December 20th may not shine with blockbuster recording sessions or chart‑shaking releases, but its story runs deep in the veins of blues history. In this episode, we explore how a seemingly understated date becomes a crossroads of resilience, community, and musical evolution.

From the 1966 birth of Chris Robinson—future frontman of The Black Crowes and a torchbearer for blues‑drenched rock—to Joe Walsh’s game‑changing arrival in the Eagles lineup in 1974, December 20th reveals how the blues keeps shaping mainstream sound in unexpected ways. We also revisit the 1968 Stax Records Christmas celebration, a moment of soul, solidarity, and cultural uplift during one of the label’s most transformative eras.

Together, these threads remind us that the blues isn’t only preserved in headline milestones. It lives on through the artists who carry its fire, the communities that gather in its spirit, and the quiet dates on the calendar that end up echoing louder than anyone expects.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Listen Tomorrow for: Another Blues Moment in Time

Keep the blues alive.

Mentioned in this episode:

Special Subscriber Gift – The Blues Hotel Christmas Edition

Blues Moments in Time — December 19: Sorrow, Celebration & the Circle of Sound

Fri, 19 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0800

The Blues Hotel Christmas Edition

Drops December 24th, 2025!

Join Kelvin Huggins as he dives deep into the tangled roots and resonant echoes of December 19th in blues history.

December 19th sits at a crossroads in blues and rock history — a single date where the music’s deepest contrasts collide. It’s a day of beginnings, marked by the births of two transformative forces: Professor Longhair, the New Orleans piano wizard whose rhythmic inventions shaped an entire city’s sound, and Alvin Lee, the British rock‑blues firebrand who pushed guitar speed and intensity into new territory.

But woven into that same date are some of the genre’s most poignant farewells. Blind Lemon Jefferson, one of the first national stars of the blues, died under mysterious circumstances on December 19th. Chicago blues cornerstone Jimmy Rogers and gospel‑blues patriarch Roebuck “Pops” Staples also passed on this day, leaving behind legacies that continue to anchor the music’s emotional and spiritual core.

And as if to underline the blues’ eternal cycle, December 19th has also hosted unforgettable live moments — from Fleetwood Mac’s breakthrough U.S. performance to explosive AC/DC shows in Australia, and a legendary on‑stage meeting between The Rolling Stones and John Lee Hooker, hailed as “the ultimate blues meeting.”

This episode explores a date where joy and loss, innovation and remembrance, all converge. December 19th reminds us that the blues is not just a genre — it’s a living rhythm of sorrow and celebration, forever turning.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Listen Tomorrow for: Another Blues Moment in Time

Keep the blues alive.

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Special Subscriber Gift – The Blues Hotel Christmas Edition

Blues Moments in Time — December 16: Innovators & Torchbearers

Tue, 16 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0800

The Blues Hotel Christmas Edition

Drops December 24th, 2025!

Join Kelvin Huggins as he dives deep into the tangled roots and resonant echoes of December 16th in blues history.

December 16th traces a striking duality in the blues story — a day where boundary‑breaking innovation meets the quiet, steadfast grind of regional tradition. This episode celebrates the births of two giants who pushed the genre into new territory: Sugar Blue, the harmonica firebrand often hailed as “the Jimi Hendrix of harmonica,” and Billy Gibbons, the Texas guitar architect whose work with ZZ Top carried blues grit onto the global rock stage.

But the date also carries a deeper, humbler resonance. We honor the lives and legacies of Tommy Bankhead, a St. Louis mainstay who spent fifty years keeping Delta blues alive in working‑class bars and neighborhood joints, and Pete Mayes, the Texas “T‑Bone Man” whose devotion to the music preserved a lineage stretching back to the greats.

Together, these four artists — two born, two departed — reveal the full arc of the blues: from explosive reinvention to the quiet, lifelong labor of keeping tradition alive. This is the blues as it truly lives: expansive, rooted, restless, and enduring.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Listen Tomorrow for: Another Blues Moment in Time

Keep the blues alive.

Mentioned in this episode:

Special Subscriber Gift – The Blues Hotel Christmas Edition

Blues Moments in Time - December 8: Crossroads of Legacy and Loss

Mon, 08 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0800

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Join Rufus as he dives deep into the tangled roots and resonant echoes of December 8th in blues history.

December 8th is a pivotal date in the history of blues and related genres, marked by significant births, landmark recordings, legendary performances, and the passing of influential artists. The date's importance is underscored by the birth of Gregg Allman in 1947, whose work with The Allman Brothers Band fused blues with southern rock. It is also tragically linked to Otis Redding, who recorded his iconic song "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" the day before this date in 1967, just two days prior to his death. The date further commemorates the passing of blues masters Big Walter Horton and Hollywood Fats, a historic live performance by Rory Gallagher, a chart-topping achievement by Guy Mitchell, and a key release in Bob Dylan's transition to an electric sound. These events collectively establish December 8th as a day of profound beginnings, poignant farewells, and enduring legacies within the blues tradition.

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Special Subscriber Gift – The Blues Hotel Christmas Edition

Blues Moments in Time - December 2: Blues Kings and Altamont Nightmares

Tue, 02 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0800

🎁 Special Subscriber Gift – The Blues Hotel Christmas Edition

Subscribe before December 24th and receive an exclusive bonus episode featuring blues legends getting into the festive spirit. This special Christmas edition won't be released publicly—it's our gift to you.

👉 Subscribe now: https://preview.mailerlite.io/forms/1388278/172318053380392029/share

Join Kelvin Huggins as he dives deep into the tangled roots and resonant echoes of December 2nd in blues history.

December 2nd emerges as a date of profound significance in the timeline of blues and popular music, encapsulating the genre's core dualities of creation and loss, triumph and tragedy. On this day, the blues world mourned the passing of foundational figures like boogie-woogie pioneer Albert Ammons and civil rights icon Odetta, while also celebrating seminal creative milestones. These include Ammons's groundbreaking recordings, The Rolling Stones' legendary Muscle Shoals sessions for Sticky Fingers, and the release of their Grammy-winning tribute album, Blue and Lonesome. The date is also scarred by the infamous Altamont Free Concert, a tragic event that starkly contrasted with the creative magic happening in the studio on the same day in 1969. This convergence of pivotal events makes December 2nd a microcosm of the blues itself—a day that, as host Kelvin Huggin states, "roars like a barrelhouse piano at midnight."

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Listen Tomorrow for: Another Blues Moment in Time

Keep the blues alive.

Mentioned in this episode:

Special Subscriber Gift – The Blues Hotel Christmas Edition

Blues Moments in Time - December 1st: Birth, Death, and Everything Between

Mon, 01 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0800

Join Kelvin Huggins as he dives deep into the tangled roots and resonant echoes of December 1st in blues history.

December 1st stands as a noteworthy date in the annals of blues and related music genres, marked by a dense concentration of significant events. An analysis of historical data reveals that this date encapsulates the full spectrum of the music world's lifecycle, from the births of influential, multi-million-selling artists to the untimely deaths of rising stars. Landmark recording sessions, from the foundational era of the 1920s to contemporary projects, have taken place on this day. Furthermore, December 1st has been the date for notable album releases, the inauguration of major festivals, and memorable live performances and broadcasts. Key figures associated with this date include artists such as Lou Rawls, Billy Paul, Arthur "Blind" Blake, and Magic Sam, whose careers were either celebrated or commemorated on December 1st across different decades. The events connected to this date span the entire history of recorded blues music, from its early preservation on Paramount Records to modern festival culture, underscoring its consistent relevance within the global blues community.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Listen Tomorrow for: Another Blues Moment in Time

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - November 29: Home Recordings and Rock Festivals

Sat, 29 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0800

Join Kelvin Huggins as he dives deep into the tangled roots and resonant echoes of November 29th in blues history.

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Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Listen Tomorrow for: Another Blues Moment in Time

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - November 28: Briefcases, Farewells, and Festivals

Fri, 28 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0800

Join Kelvin Huggins as he dives deep into the tangled roots and resonant echoes of November 28th in blues history.

November 28th stands as a significant date in the history and ongoing vitality of blues music, encapsulating its cyclical nature of commercial success, profound loss, and enduring celebration. This date marks the 1978 release of The Blues Brothers' "Briefcase Full of Blues," a commercially dominant album that reintroduced blues and soul to a mainstream American audience, boosting the careers of legacy artists despite criticism from purists. Concurrently, the date is a somber memorial for two influential but often overlooked master guitarists: Dave "Snaker" Ray, a raw practitioner of the Delta tradition who passed away in 2002, and Wayne Bennett, a versatile and foundational session musician known for his work with Bobby "Blue" Bland, who died in 1992. Demonstrating the music's living legacy, November 28th also launches major contemporary festivals in Australia and New Zealand, bringing together thousands to celebrate the genre, proving that the blues continues to evolve and thrive globally.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Listen Tomorrow for: Another Blues Moment in Time

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - November 27: A Crossroads in Blues Music History

Thu, 27 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0800

Join Kelvin Huggins as he dives deep into the tangled roots and resonant echoes of November 27th in blues history.

November 27 stands as a uniquely significant date in the chronicle of blues music, acting as a historical crossroads where pivotal events converge across different eras. An analysis of this single calendar day reveals a dense tapestry of births, deaths, landmark recordings, and influential releases that have shaped the genre and its descendants. Key figures like Jimi Hendrix were born on this day, while pioneers such as Paul Butterfield passed away. Critically, November 27, 1936, marks the day Robert Johnson recorded "Crossroads Blues" during his mythical Gunter Hotel sessions, laying a foundational stone for modern blues and rock. Furthermore, the date is associated with the release of seminal works by artists ranging from Howlin' Wolf to George Harrison, demonstrating its enduring relevance. The events of November 27 collectively illustrate the core narrative of the blues: a living, evolving tradition of sorrow and joy, passed down through generations and continually finding new voices and forms.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Listen Tomorrow for: Another Blues Moment in Time

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - November 25: Birth, Loss, and the Blues That Keep Rolling

Tue, 25 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0800

Join Kelvin Huggins as he dives deep into the tangled roots and resonant echoes of November 25th in blues history.

November 25 isn’t a headline day in blues history—it’s a heartbeat. Three births, two farewells, and a living tradition carried night after night in small rooms and big hearts. We trace Chicago guitar firebrand Jimmy Johnson (1928), piano architect Eddie Boyd (1914), and harmonica sage Jerry Portnoy (1943), alongside the tender remembrance of Fenton Robinson (d. 1997) and the stage-bound final vow of Coco Robicheaux (d. 2011). The music costs something—but what they gave us is priceless.

You’ll hear why the blues doesn’t live in one big moment—it lives in all the small ones. From birthday tributes and museum nights to dive-bar transmissions, this episode places November 25 inside the long arc of authenticity, gospel-rooted feeling, and standards that keep working because they tell the truth. “Five Long Years” still rings; Portnoy’s harmonica still breathes; Johnson’s church-born soul still sings through steel.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Listen Tomorrow for: Another Blues Moment in Time

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - November 22: A Living Tradition

Sat, 22 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0800

Join Kelvin Huggins as he dives deep into the tangled roots and resonant echoes of November 22nd in blues history.

November 22nd—a single date that reveals the blues as a living tradition, constantly evolving while staying true to its emotional core. From Bunny Berigan’s 1938 recording of Jelly Roll Blues and the Miles Davis Quintet’s groundbreaking Carnegie Hall debut, to Bob Dylan’s early blues standards, Muddy Waters’ electrifying jam with The Rolling Stones, and ZZ Top’s One Foot in the Blues, this episode highlights how the genre has blurred boundaries with jazz, folk, and rock while inspiring generations across the globe. With stories stretching from Chicago to Sydney, November 22nd proves that the blues transcends geography, race, and time, speaking to universal human experiences of joy, sorrow, love, and resilience.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Listen Tomorrow for: Another Blues Moment in Time

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - November 21: Preservation, Mentorship, Evolution

Fri, 21 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0800

Join Kelvin Huggins as he dives deep into the tangled roots and resonant echoes of November 21st in blues history.

November 21 threads three pillars of the blues into one luminous line: how we preserve, how we pass on, and how we push forward. We revisit Lead Belly’s 1948 Minneapolis house concert—an intimate, hour-long recording alive with classics, on-the-spot invention, and scathing social truth, a treasured document of a master in his final season. We honor Robert Lockwood Jr., the only guitarist taught directly by Robert Johnson, whose seven-decade journey carried Delta tradition into jazz-tinted sophistication and Blues Hall of Fame acclaim. And we reflect on Wilco Johnson’s choppy, percussive fire—Dr. Feelgood grit that helped seed British punk—proof that blues evolves by electrifying what it touches. Together, these moments show the blues as a living art: preserved in tape, handed through hands, and forever reinvented onstage.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Listen Tomorrow for: Another Blues Moment in Time

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - November 20: The Doorway Between Past and Pulse

Thu, 20 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0800

In this episode, Rufus talks November 20 in blues history. He begins with foundational births that shaped distinct traditions: the country blues touch of Chanel Charity in 1920, the gravel-and-gris-gris New Orleans hymn of Dr. John in 1940, and the slide-lit Southern sermon of Dwayne Allman in 1946. It also holds space for remembrance—Chris Whitley’s stark, skeletal truth in 2005 and Mike Pinera’s tone-first feel in 2024. And the story keeps breathing in real rooms: a one-man blues engine stomping at George Lane in St Kilda, Sydney’s grassroots flames at Kiss My Brass and Miss Celie’s, and Lisbon’s open-sky blues night where conversation becomes a chorus. This episode steps through that doorway—past, present, and future—finding the blues still waiting inside, ready to speak.

Hosted by: Rufus Tate

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Listen Tomorrow for: Another Blues Moment in Time

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - Trailer

Thu, 20 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0800

Blues Moments in Time takes you back to the crossroads where history happened. We're talking about those electric nights in Chicago studios, those dusty Delta afternoons, those chance encounters that changed everything.

This is where you'll hear about the day Muddy Waters plugged in and shook the world, the session where Robert Johnson laid down his legacy, the moment B.B. King named his guitar Lucille. These aren't just dates and facts—they're the living, breathing stories of how the blues became the blues.

Each moment is a snapshot: the artists, the circumstances, the magic that happened when talent met opportunity. Sometimes it's triumph, sometimes it's tragedy, but it's always real. Because the blues has always been about truth, and these moments tell that truth better than anything else.

Whether it's a legendary recording session, a groundbreaking performance, or a personal turning point that shaped an artist's sound, Blues Moments in Time brings you there. You'll feel the room, hear the backstory, and understand why that particular moment still matters today.

This is blues history you can feel—one moment at a time.

Blues Moments in Time is a production of The Blues Hotel Collective

Blues Moments in Time - November 19: A Living Blues Tapestry

Wed, 19 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0800

November 19 isn’t just another date on the calendar—it’s a crossroads where the past, present, and future of the blues converge. In this episode, we trace the genre’s heartbeat through milestones that span continents and generations: the birth of West Coast legend Chris Kaine, the passing of trailblazer Danny Kalb of The Blues Project, and Bill Coleman’s groundbreaking 1937 Paris session that carried “Big Boy Blues” across the Atlantic. We spotlight the release of genre-defining albums—from Frank Zappa’s Joe’s Garage in 1979 to Dion and When Rivers Meet’s acclaimed works in 2021—that prove the blues remains endlessly inventive. And we celebrate how November 19 continues to resonate today, with live performances lighting up stages from Australia to the UK. This episode reveals how the blues is not a relic of history but a living, evolving art form—an ongoing global conversation between its roots and its reinvention.

Blues moments in time - November 18: Echoes of Triumph, Silence, and Soul

Tue, 18 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0800

November 18 isn’t crowded with headlines—but the blues rarely needed them. This episode traces a date defined by what’s felt as much as what’s recorded: the quiet passing of journeyman pianists whose fingerprints are all over the music, the velvet-smooth voice of Junior Parker gone too soon, blues-rock’s surge into the mainstream, and the global echoes still ringing in Berlin clubs decades later. We explore how the genre’s deepest truths live between the lines—where songs traveled by memory, names faded, and legacies were carried in calloused hands and night-to-night gigs. This is the blues as it’s lived: triumph and loss in equal measure, and the stories we still owe the ones who never made it to tape.

Blues Moments in Time - November 17: Hidden Threads in Blues History

Mon, 17 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0800

November 17 may look like just another date on the calendar, but in the world of blues and its far-reaching influence, it holds remarkable significance. In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, host Kelvin Huggins uncovers the unseen importance of November 17—a day that gave us Jack Owens, the haunting voice of the Bentonia blues; Tab Benoit, the bayou guitarist whose mission extends from music to environmental activism; and Jeff Buckley, the genre-defying artist whose love for Robert Johnson shaped his emotional soundscapes.

We also revisit Elton John’s legendary 11/17/70 live recording, a performance that captured the raw, blues-infused energy of his early career. Together, these stories reveal how the blues is not a relic of the past but a living tradition—passed from porch to juke joint to festival stage, evolving across generations and geographies.

Tune in as we celebrate the haunting minor keys of Mississippi, the swampy grooves of Louisiana, and the timeless emotional power that continues to ripple through rock, folk, and beyond. November 17 proves that even ordinary dates can hold extraordinary meaning in the soundtrack of American music.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Listen Tomorrow for: Another Blues Moment in Time

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - November 16: Father, Fire, and the Sunburnt Blues

Sun, 16 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0800

Join Rufus Tate as he dives deep into the tangled roots and resonant echoes of November 16th in blues history.

November 16 maps a bold arc of the blues—from W.C. Handy putting the music “down on paper” and giving it a popular voice, to Jimi Hendrix blasting those roots into a cosmic, electric future with Electric Ladyland at the top of the charts. We trace that lineage into the present day, where Australia’s scene—Ash Grunwald’s stompbox thunder, Chain’s long-running grit, and festival stages from Queenscliff to Thredbo—keeps the acoustic Delta dust alive while pushing the edges of blues-rock. This episode is a timeline you can feel: arranged, amplified, and roaring across continents. Cue up Handy’s classics, spin Hendrix’s “Voodoo Child,” then step onto Australia’s sunburnt stages—the blues travels, adapts, and gets bloody loud on November 16.

Blues Moments in Time - November 15: Slide, Spark, and the Sun-Drenched Blues

Sat, 15 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0800

Join Rufus Tate as he dives deep into the tangled roots and resonant echoes of November 15th in blues history.

November 15 traces a living blues lineage—from the bottleneck fire of James “Kokomo” Arnold, whose “Old Original Kokomo Blues” seeded Robert Johnson’s “Sweet Home Chicago,” to the single-take grit of Tyler Bryant’s 2025 release “Falling Up,” echoing the raw instinct of Freddy King. We ride that feeling across oceans to Western Australia, where the Blues at Bridgetown festival turns a quiet valley into a roaring hub of roots, slide, and late-night soul—spotlighting local flavors from Scarlet’s Way to Videlli. This episode is a travelogue of tone and time: Delta sparks, modern ignition, and the sun-drenched, sometimes darker Aussie vibe that proves the blues keeps breathing, evolving, and reaching new ears—one November 15 at a time.

Blues Moments in Time - November 14: From Delta Roots to Global Stages

Fri, 14 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0800

Join Kelvin Huggins as he dives deep into the tangled roots and resonant echoes of November 14th in blues history.

November 14 echoes with the pulse of blues history—from the dusty slide of John Henry Barbee to the jazz-blues finesse of Art Hodes and the harmonica fire of Carey Bell. This episode honors the birth of genre-bending talents like Anson Funderbergh and Aynsley Lister, while remembering legends like Junior Parker and Eddie Map whose voices still ripple through the music. We drop the needle on landmark recording sessions by Louis Jordan and Bob Dylan, tracing the evolution of blues into swing, jump, and folk-rock. And we spotlight the vibrant present: Eugene “Hideaway” Bridges in New South Wales, Jools Holland in Bournemouth, and harmonica masterclasses in Midhurst. From studio sparks to festival stages, November 14 proves the blues is not just remembered—it’s reborn, night after night.

Blues Moments in Time: November 13 - Echoes of the Blues

Thu, 13 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0800

Join Kelvin Huggins as he dives deep into the tangled roots and resonant echoes of November 13th in blues history.

On this date, the blues sings loud and clear across generations and continents. From the birth of revivalist John P. Hammond to the passing of Chicago blues architect Willie Dixon, November 13 marks a crossroads of legacy and innovation. We revisit the only blues song to ever top the UK pop charts—The Rolling Stones’ “Little Red Rooster”—and celebrate Shemekia Copeland’s genre-bending release, Talking to Strangers. Tune in for tales of swamp harmonicas, psychedelic guitarists, and unforgettable live sets—from Howlin’ Wolf in Denmark to Buddy Guy in London. With stops in Australia and New Zealand, this episode charts the global heartbeat of blues culture, proving that November 13 is no ordinary day—it’s a moment in time where the blues remembers, roars, and reaches out.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Listen Tomorrow for: Another Blues Moment in Time

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time: November 12th – Echoes Across Eras

Wed, 12 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0800

Join Kelvin Huggins as he dives deep into the tangled roots and resonant echoes of November 12th in blues history.

From Delta dirt roads to psychedelic soundscapes, November 12th hums with the heartbeat of blues history. In this episode, we trace the legacy of three genre-shaping artists born on this day—Bukka White, Booker T. Jones, and Neil Young—each a torchbearer in their own right. Their stories span bottleneck slide riffs, Memphis soul grooves, and folk-rock introspections steeped in blues tradition.

We revisit Bobby "Blue" Bland’s pivotal 1960 recording session for Two Steps from the Blues, a soul-blues cornerstone that still resonates with raw emotion and Muscle Shoals magic. Then we celebrate the 55th anniversary of Electric Ladyland, Jimi Hendrix’s final studio masterpiece—a kaleidoscope of blues rock and sonic innovation that redefined the genre’s boundaries.

Industry milestones echo through time: Chuck Berry’s 1955 Billboard accolade marked the blues’ crossover into mainstream rock, while the 2014 passing of Mitch Mitchell reminds us of the rhythmic fire behind Hendrix’s sound. And in a modern twist, we spotlight Jeff Lang’s electrifying 2022 performance at the Oakland Blues Festival in New Zealand—a testament to the genre’s global pulse and enduring spirit.

Tune in as we honor the artists, albums, and anniversaries that make November 12th a day of deep resonance in the blues calendar. This isn’t just history—it’s a living, breathing groove.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Listen Tomorrow for: Another Blues Moment in Time

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time: November 11 — From sorrow to song, a lineage that transforms

Tue, 11 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0800

This episode traces November 11 as a microcosm of the blues’ journey—creation, tragedy, evolution, and legacy. From Louis Armstrong’s 1926 Hot Five session where jazz phrasing pulsed with blues ache and hope, to Mose Allison’s dry-witted bridge between jazz and rock, and Ernestine Anderson’s silky strength threading jazz-pop and blues grit, the day reveals the genre’s emotional DNA at work across eras.

We move through St. Louis Jimmy Oden’s haunting “Goin’ Down Slow,” B.B. King’s early life milestone, and Chris Smither’s folk-blues fingerpicking that keeps the Delta pulse alive. Billie Holiday’s “Lady Sings the Blues” farewell at Carnegie Hall blurs art and autobiography—pain woven into poetry, every note a goodbye. The heartbreak mirrors on: Berry Oakley’s motorcycle death near Duane Allman’s, reminding us the blues sometimes writes in circles.

Finally, Graham Edge’s passing in 2021 carries the blues’ spirit into symphonic rock and dreamlike soundscapes—proof the genre never fades, only transforms. November 11 stands as a living thread through jazz, rock, soul, and folk: truth, joy, survival, and the unbroken voice rising from sorrow to song.

Blues Moments in Time: November 10 – A Living Tradition in Motion

Mon, 10 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0800

Hosted by Rufus Tate for the Blues Hotel Collective, this episode of Blues Moments in Time dives deep into the soul of November 10—a date that threads together songwriting brilliance, stage-burning funk, orchestral evolution, and heartfelt loss. From the twin births of Sir Mack Rice and Bobby Rush in 1933 to Duke Ellington’s genre-bridging 1946 performance, the Moody Blues’ symphonic leap in 1967, and the passing of soul torchbearer Gerald Levert in 2006, this broadcast maps a lineage of innovation and emotional truth.

Through these milestones, the blues emerges not as a museum piece, but as a living, breathing tradition—one that pulses through Detroit soul, chitlin’ circuit funk, jazz concert halls, and symphonic rock. It’s a sound that adapts, survives, and connects, echoing from Mississippi juke joints to London clubs and beyond.

This episode honors the legends, the unsung, and the ever-evolving spirit of the blues. Tune in for a journey that’s as poetic as it is powerful.

Blues Moments in Time - November 9 A Living Lineage

Sun, 09 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0800

Join Kelvin Huggins as he dives deep into the tangled roots and resonant echoes of November 9th in blues history.

Hosted by Kelvin Huggins of The Blues Hotel Collective, we rewind the reel to November 9—a date that hums with historical resonance and global rhythm. From the coal country grit of Frank Hutchinson’s slide guitar to the gospel-fired urgency of Susan Tedeschi’s blues-rock, and the hypnotic Hill Country grooves of RL Boyce, this episode traces a lineage that refuses to fade.

But this isn’t just a look back. It’s a celebration of the blues as a lifeblood—timeless, borderless, and alive. Across Australia, the UK, and North America, November 9 pulses with live jams, street soul, and festival fire. Whether it’s Bridgetown’s final festival notes, London’s funk-fueled explosions, or Toronto’s smoky riffs, the blues is kicking hard and echoing louder than ever.

With poetic nods to James Talley’s storytelling and a global roundup of contemporary events, this broadcast proves one thing: the blues is not a relic. It’s a moment in time that keeps on playing.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Listen Tomorrow for: Another Blues Moment in Time

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - November 8: A Blues Chronicle Across Time

Sat, 08 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0800

Join Kelvin Huggins as he dives deep into the tangled roots and resonant echoes of November 8th in blues history.

From bottleneck pioneers to Grammy-winning trailblazers, November 8th stands as a sacred date in the blues calendar—a day where past, present, and future harmonize in soulful tribute. This episode of Blues Moments in Time journeys through the birth of Bonnie Raitt and the legacy of Kokomo Arnold, tracing the genre’s evolution from pre-war Chicago to contemporary British harmonica riffs. We spotlight Australia’s Blues at Bridgetown festival, celebrate new releases like Blues is Still Alive by Will Wilde, and preview upcoming broadcasts that honor the genre’s fusion with jazz. With archival echoes from Chet Baker’s 1979 session, this date becomes a living testament to the blues’ enduring spirit, global reach, and ever-deepening groove.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Listen Tomorrow for: Another Blues Moment in Time

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - November 7: The Blues Keeps Time

Fri, 07 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0800

Join Kelvin Huggins as he dives deep into the tangled roots and resonant echoes of November 7th in blues history.

From jug bands to jukebox legends, November 7th marks a quiet but powerful rhythm in the history of blues. In this episode, we trace the genre’s heartbeat across generations—from the final recordings of the Memphis Jug Band in 1934 to the electrified roar of B.B. King opening for The Rolling Stones in 1969. We celebrate the births of Johnny Rivers and Joni Mitchell, artists who carried the blues into rock and folk, and reflect on the poetic soul of Leonard Cohen, whose passing on this day in 2016 echoed the blues’ emotional depth.

We also look ahead to the future of the genre, as Chicago harmonica master Billy Branch releases The Blues is My Biography, proving that the blues isn’t just surviving—it’s evolving. Whether it’s Eddie Cochran sparking the British blues boom or new voices rising at festivals across the globe, November 7th reminds us that the blues is a living tradition, always in motion, always in tune.

Tune in for a journey through time, tone, and transformation—where every note tells a story, and every November 7th keeps the blues alive.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Listen Tomorrow for: Another Blues Moment in Time

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - November 6: From Avalon to Albany: November 6th and the Blues’ Global Pulse

Thu, 06 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0800

Join Kelvin Huggins as he dives deep into the tangled roots and resonant echoes of November 6th in blues history.

November 6th hums with history. In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, we trace the genre’s lineage from the rhythmic clang of Washboard Sam to the tremolo fire of Magic Sam’s Black Magic. We celebrate the birth of Rory Block, whose fingerpicked tributes to Son House and Mississippi John Hurt keep the Delta flame alive, and we honor Dion’s Son of Skip James, a modern-day invocation of blues reverence and grit.

We revisit Bob Dylan’s recording of “All Along the Watchtower,” a folk-blues spark that Hendrix would turn into a rock-blues inferno. And we look ahead to November 6, 2025, where the blues stretches across continents—from Frank Sultana’s raw soul in Albany to Morgan Freeman’s orchestral experiment in Calgary.

This date is more than a marker—it’s a movement. Tune in as we walk the watchtower, strum the washboard, and ride the river blues into the future.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Listen Tomorrow for: Another Blues Moment in Time

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - November 5: Open the Door, Plug In the Soul: November 5th in Blues Time

Wed, 05 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0800

Join Kelvin Huggins as he dives deep into the tangled roots and resonant echoes of November 5th in blues history.

November 5th is no ordinary date—it’s a sonic crossroads where the blues bends, breaks, and builds anew. In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, we swing through Jack McVea’s sax-driven jump, ride shotgun with Ike Turner’s “Rocket 88,” and feel the sting of Lucille as B.B. King records Blues is King live in Chicago.

We honor the birth of Charles Bradley, the “screaming eagle of soul,” and mourn the passing of slide guitar master Robert Nighthawk, whose electric phrasing shaped the Chicago sound. From Wes Montgomery’s thumb-picked jazz-blues fusion to Colin James’ modern-day Open Road, November 5th proves the blues is a living language—spoken in riffs, remembered in rhythm.

Tune in as we crack open the door to a date that echoes with innovation, loss, and the relentless pulse of American music.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Listen Tomorrow for: Another Blues Moment in Time

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - November 4: Let It Roll: November 4th and the Blues’ Living Diary

Tue, 04 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0800

Join Kelvin Huggins as he dives deep into the tangled roots and resonant echoes of November 4th in blues history.

From the dusty keys of Willie Love’s Delta piano to the roaring amps of The Doors’ “Roadhouse Blues,” November 4th echoes with the soul, sorrow, and swing that shaped generations. This episode of Blues Moments in Time traces the genre’s heartbeat through a single date—a crossroads of birth, death, reinvention, and celebration.

We honor Buddy Bolden’s mythic fire, Chris Bouchillon’s rhythmic storytelling, and Delbert McClinton’s genre-blending grit. We revisit B.B. King’s late-career masterpiece Deuces Wild, where the blues danced with rock, soul, and pop royalty. And we journey to Wangaratta, Australia, where the blues blooms anew each year in festival form—alive, local, and loud.

November 4th isn’t just a date—it’s a diary entry written in riffs, recordings, and reverberations. Tune in as we let it roll, baby roll, through the global grooves of blues history.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Listen Tomorrow for: Another Blues Moment in Time

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - November 3: Blues on the Third: Birth, Echo, and Recognition

Mon, 03 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0800

Join Kelvin Huggins as he dives deep into the tangled roots and resonant echoes of November 3rd in blues history.

November 3rd is no ordinary date—it’s a crossroads of blues history, where birth, remembrance, and celebration converge. In this panoramic episode of Blues Moments in Time, host Kelvin Huggins traces the genre’s heartbeat through decades of milestones. From the birth of Mable John, Sonny Roads, Lulu, and Courtney Barnett—artists who carried the blues into soul, rock, and indie—to the recording of Marty Robbins’ crossover hit “Singing the Blues,” the day pulses with creative energy.

We revisit Son House’s fiery comeback in 1964, Robert Cray’s breakout in 1980, and the ongoing tradition of November 3rd concerts that keep the blues alive in cities across the globe. The episode also honors the passing of pre-war guitarist John Henry Barbee and the posthumous Hall of Fame induction of Big Bill Broonzy, reminding us that legacy is built on both memory and momentum.

From Nashville to Melbourne, Wabash to the Cerritos Center, November 3rd stands as a blues calendar cornerstone—a day when the genre’s past, present, and future all play in harmony.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Listen Tomorrow for: Another Blues Moment in Time

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - November 2: Hurt, Cassidy, and Cream

Sun, 02 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0800

Join Kelvin Huggins as he dives deep into the tangled roots and resonant echoes of November 2nd in blues history.

On this date across decades, three blues-infused legacies took shape—one faded gently, one burned briefly, and one exploded in electric color. In this reflective episode of Blues Moments in Time, host Kelvin Huggins traces the quiet brilliance of Mississippi John Hurt, whose fingerpicked melodies whispered through Avalon and into the folk revival; the haunting voice of Eva Cassidy, whose posthumous rise turned a nursery worker into a global songbird; and the genre-bending release of Cream’s Disraeli Gears, a psychedelic storm rooted in Delta soil.

Through archival sounds, poetic narration, and deep musical insight, we explore how the blues stretches across lifetimes and genres—sometimes heard too late, sometimes felt forever. These stories remind us that legacy doesn’t follow a schedule, and that the blues, in all its forms, keeps echoing through the airwaves.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Listen Tomorrow for: Another Blues Moment in Time

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - November 1: Born, Gone, and Reborn

Sat, 01 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0800

Join Kelvin Huggins as he dives deep into the tangled roots and resonant echoes of November 1st in blues history.

From the birth and passing of the “Texas Nightingale” Sippy Wallace, to the death of Daddy Stovepipe, possibly the earliest-born blues artist ever recorded, this date captures both the dawn and twilight of the blues’ formative years.

We’ll trace the thread through James Brown & The Famous Flames’ first demo of “Please, Please, Please” — a moment that bridged blues into the soul and funk era — and mark the birth of Dutch singer Johnny Kendall, proof that the blues had become a truly global language.

Through these intertwined stories of struggle, joy, and resilience, we uncover how November 1st serves as a microcosm of the entire blues journey — from the dusty streets of Mobile, Alabama, to the world stage. As Kelvin reflects, “the blues continues to evolve while keeping its roots deeply planted in American cultural history.”

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Listen Tomorrow for: Another Blues Moment in Time

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - October 31: The 31st Note: How the Blues Haunts Time

Fri, 31 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0800

Join Kelvin Huggins as he dives deep into the tangled roots and resonant echoes of October 31st in blues history.

From the birth of Kansas City’s sly and swinging Julia Lee in 1902 to the electric legacy of Johnny Moeller, born in 1970, this episode reveals how Halloween has become more than just a night of ghosts and grooves—it’s a milestone in blues history, artistry, and ambition.

We trace the genre’s unbroken line through pivotal moments: Victoria Spivey’s fearless recordings, the seismic spark between Johnny Johnson and Chuck Berry, and the quiet power of Bobby Parker’s guitar lick that echoed through The Beatles. Along the way, we uncover the blues’ fingerprints on Broadway, Motown, MTV, and beyond—often uncredited, always undeniable.

But this isn’t just a history lesson. Kelvin spotlights today’s global blues voices—from Belfast to Melbourne, London to Louisiana—proving the blues is no relic. It’s a living, borderless force that “keeps moving, keeps breathing, keeps telling its truth.”

Whether you’re lighting a candle for the ancestors or racing the Blues Music Awards deadline, October 31st is more than a date—it’s a rhythm, a reckoning, a reminder that the blues never dies. It just changes keys.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Listen Tomorrow for: Another Blues Moment in Time

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - October 30: Birth, Loss, and Legacy

Thu, 30 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0800

Join Kelvin Huggins as he dives deep into the tangled roots and resonant echoes of October 30th in blues history.

On this episode of Blues Moments in Time, we spotlight October 30th—a date that threads through the genre’s living history. From the birth of Motown architect Eddie Holland to the final notes of harmonica master Norton Buffalo, this day captures the blues as both memory and momentum. With landmark releases like Marvin Gaye’s “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” and Greg Koch’s 2024 homage to 12-bar tradition, we explore how the blues keeps breathing, teaching, and transforming. Host Kelvin Huggins guides us through this rich timeline, proving that the blues doesn’t just mark time—it makes it.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Listen Tomorrow for: Another Blues Moment in Time

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - October 29: The Blues in Balance

Wed, 29 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0800

Join Kelvin Huggins as he dives deep into the tangled roots and resonant echoes of October 27th in blues history.

On this date, the blues walks a tightrope between heartbreak and celebration. October 29 marks the loss of legends like Dwayne Allman and Muddy Waters, whose passing closed chapters in blues and rock history. Yet it also celebrates the births of guitar greats Peter Green and Otis Rush, whose tones reshaped the genre. From W.C. Handy’s “Beale Street Blues” to the transatlantic fire of The London Howlin’ Wolf Sessions, and modern releases by Joe Bonamassa and Danny Bryant, this episode explores how one day reflects the blues’ eternal rhythm—grief and grit, legacy and lift.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Listen Tomorrow for: Another Blues Moment in Time

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - October 28: Sorrow, Celebration, and the Soul of the Blues

Tue, 28 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0800

Join Kelvin Huggins as he dives deep into the tangled roots and resonant echoes of October 28th in blues history.

In this reflective episode of Blues Moments in Time, we explore October 28 as a prism through which the entire blues tradition comes into focus. It’s a day steeped in duality—marked by the birth of Boogie Woogie trailblazer Cripple Clarence Lofton and the passing of artists like Jodie "Butterbeans" Edwards and rock and roll legend Jerry Lee Lewis. These moments of joy and loss underscore the blues’ timeless rhythm of sorrow and celebration.

But the story doesn’t stop at biography. This episode dives deeper, tracing the blues as the heartbeat of rock and roll and a living, breathing tradition handed down through generations. Themes of struggle, land, heritage, and raw expression ripple outward, connecting to global narratives—from the resilience of Australian Indigenous communities to the emotional resonance of contemporary art installations.

October 28 isn’t just a date—it’s a gateway into the universal language of the blues. Tune in for a soulful meditation on legacy, loss, and the music that keeps moving through us all.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Listen Tomorrow for: Another Blues Moment in Time

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time - October 27: A Day Etched in Soul

Mon, 27 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0800

Join Kelvin Huggins as he dives deep into the tangled roots and resonant echoes of October 27th in blues history.

In this evocative episode of Blues Moments in Time, we journey through the layered legacy of October 27—a date that pulses with the lifeblood of the blues. From the birth of genre-defining artists like Henry Townsend and Sherman Robertson to the bittersweet duality of 1969, when Johnny Winter’s Second Winter dropped just as Muddy Waters suffered a serious car accident, this day captures the blues’ eternal dance between triumph and tragedy.

We trace the sonic echoes across decades, spotlighting album releases that span continents and styles—from Ten Years After’s British Blues Boom to Robert Finley’s raw, modern soul in 2023. Alongside these musical milestones, we explore how broader historical shifts—like the opening of the New York City subway—symbolize the migrations and transformations that carried the blues from Southern porches to global stages.

This episode is a time capsule of resilience, innovation, and emotional truth. October 27 isn’t just a date—it’s a crossroads where the blues breathes, breaks, and begins again.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Listen Tomorrow for: Another Blues Moment in Time

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time: October 26th – A Crossroads in Music History

Sun, 26 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0800

Join Kelvin Huggins as he dives deep into the tangled roots and resonant echoes of October 26th in blues history.

How can one ordinary date hold so many extraordinary moments? In this compelling episode of Blues Moments in Time, host Kelvin Huggin explores October 26th as a pivotal day in the evolution of the blues—and by extension, the entire landscape of modern music. From Blind Lemon Jefferson’s foundational country blues to Mahalia Jackson’s gospel power, from Muddy Waters’ electrifying British debut to the Rolling Stones’ first demo, this episode traces a remarkable constellation of events that all unfolded on the same date.

Listeners will journey through key milestones: Bob Dylan’s first record deal, The Beatles’ royal recognition, and the quiet brilliance of songwriter Jesse May Robinson. The episode also honors promoter Bill Graham’s legacy and celebrates Wilbert Harrison’s joyful anthem “Kansas City.”

Through rich storytelling and historical insight, Kelvin Huggin reveals how October 26th became a sonic crossroads—where the blues sparked revolutions, crossed oceans, and rewrote the future of sound. As Kelvin reminds us, “The Blues isn't just history, it's a conversation across time.”

Tune in to discover how one date became a testament to the enduring power of the blues. Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time – October 25: From Delta Dirt to Symphony Halls: Two Paths, One Truth

Sat, 25 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0800

Join Kelvin Huggins as he dives deep into the tangled roots and resonant echoes of October 25th in blues history.

We remember Little Mack Simmons, who left us on this day in 2000. Born in Twist, Arkansas alongside James Cotton, Mack's journey took him from the Delta to Chicago's Chess Records, through a five-year residency at Cadillac Baby's, and into owning his own club, The Zodiac Lounge. Then life happened—the ministry, prison, silence. But the blues called him home. His 1990s comeback albums proved you can't kill what's real. His version of "St. James Infirmary" still haunts anyone who hears it.

We also celebrate the 82nd birthday of Corky Siegel, the harmonica-playing pianist who asked a dangerous question: What if the blues could talk to a symphony? In 1968, conductor Seiji Ozawa heard something in Siegel's sound and brought him to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The result shattered every boundary—blues meeting Beethoven, street music becoming concert hall gold, even winning France's Grand Prix du Disque.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Listen Tomorrow for: Another Blues Moment in Time

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time – October 24: Whoops, Hollers & World Stages

Fri, 24 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0800

Join Kelvin Huggins as he dives deep into the tangled roots and resonant echoes of October 23rd in blues history.

October 24 stands tall in blues history—a date that connects the raw genius of the rural South to stages around the world. We celebrate the birth of harmonica legend Sonny Terry in 1911, whose whooping, hollering harmonica could make you hear trains screaming through the Georgia night and hound dogs on the chase. Born Saunders Terrell in Greensboro, blinded by tragedy, he turned his instrument into a voice that could laugh, cry, and howl with pure joy and pure pain.

But this date gives us more than one story. In 1962, James Brown recorded Live at the Apollo, building an electric bridge between soul and blues that changed music forever. We lost Fats Domino on this day in 2017, remembering how he brought blues-rooted rock and roll into every living room in America. And we'll trace the thread from the Delta all the way to Australia, where October blues festivals keep this living tradition alive in the Southern Hemisphere spring.

From Sonny Terry's forty-year partnership with Brownie McGhee to Carnegie Hall and Broadway, from juke joints to the global stage—this is the story of October 24, when blues became the world's music.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Listen Tomorrow for: Another Blues Moment in Time

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time – October 23: Barrelhouse, Zydeco & Surveillance Blues

Thu, 23 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0800

Join Kelvin Huggins as he dives deep into the tangled roots and resonant echoes of October 23rd in blues history.

From the floorboard-shaking barrelhouse piano of Rufus "Speckled Red" Perryman to the raw zydeco rhythms of Boozoo Chavis, we celebrate two musical pioneers born on this day—each a vital voice in the genre’s sprawling family tree.

But the blues isn’t just music—it’s resistance. We mark the 1962 launch of the FBI’s COMINFIL operation, a surveillance campaign aimed at silencing Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement. The broadcast explores how blues artists marched, sang, and suffered alongside the movement, their songs becoming the soundtrack of struggle.

Finally, we turn to the 1960s folk blues revival, where forgotten legends like Son House and Mississippi John Hurt were rediscovered—but not without tension. The episode unpacks the bittersweet dynamic of appreciation and exploitation, recognition and erasure.

This isn’t just a history lesson—it’s a meditation on the ongoing flow of blues through time, through generations, through changing audiences and unchanging truths.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Listen Tomorrow for: Another Blues Moment in Time

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time – October 22: The Echoes of a Living Legacy

Wed, 22 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0800

Join Kelvin Huggins as he explores October 22nd through the lens of blues history.

Four defining moments tell the story:

1931 – Jack Teagarden bridges blues and jazz with his landmark recording of “Beale Street Blues.”
1969 – Led Zeppelin reimagines Chicago blues as electrified, heavy rock with Led Zeppelin II.
975 – Linda Hopkins brings Bessie Smith’s spirit to Broadway in Me and Bessie, proving the blues can command the stage.
1990 – The passing of Arthur “Big Boy” Spires reminds us that the blues was built not just by legends, but by the journeymen who lived it night after night.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Listen Tomorrow for: Another Blues Moment in Time

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time... - October 21: A Bittersweet Symphony of the Blues

Tue, 21 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0800

Join Kelvin Huggins as he explores October 20th through the lens of blues history.

October 21 has long stood as a day of contrasts in American music—a true “bittersweet symphony of the blues.” On this day, the Piedmont blues lost a key voice with the untimely death of Barbecue Bob, while the world welcomed future legends: Southern soul architect Steve Cropper, blues revivalist Elvin Bishop, Chicago blues torchbearer Dion Payton, and jazz innovator Dizzy Gillespie, whose roots were steeped in the blues. Adding an ironic twist, rock and roll pioneer Chuck Berry scored his only #1 hit with the playful “My Ding-A-Ling.” In this episode, we explore how October 21 captures the sorrow, joy, and enduring legacy of the blues across genres.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Listen Tomorrow for: Another Blues Moment in Time

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time... - October 20: Roots, Legacy, and the Heart of the Blues

Mon, 20 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0800

Join Kelvin Huggins as he explores October 20th through the lens of blues history.

October 20th is a date steeped in blues history, marking the passing of activist and singer Barbara Dayne, the birth of jazz-blues pioneer Jelly Roll Morton, and the arrival of modern torchbearer Vasty Jackson. In this episode, we explore the lives of these artists and the Mississippi Delta origins of the blues—a music born in juke joints and rough shacks, shaped by the daily struggles and celebrations of working people, and a timeless outlet for community, emotion, and resilience.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Listen Tomorrow for: Another Blues Moment in Time

Keep the blues alive.

Blues Moments in Time... - October 19: The Blues as a Mirror to History

Sun, 19 Oct 2025 01:48:00 +0800

Join Kelvin Huggins as he explores October 19th through the lens of blues history.

October 19th tells a story of struggle, resilience, and cultural impact through the lens of the blues. In this episode, we reflect on the passing of Delta legend Son House, the economic shock of Black Monday, the American Negro Blues Festival’s arrival in Britain, and Paul Robeson’s landmark performance in Othello. Together, these events reveal the blues as more than music—a living chronicle of hardship, survival, and artistic resistance that continues to shape our world.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Listen Tomorrow for: Another Blues Moment in Time

Keep the blues alive.