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Posts tagged as “Blues Music”

MUSIC MONDAY: “The Crossroads: A Blues Halloween Playlist” (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “The Crossroads: A Blues Halloween Playlist” (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on October 20, 2025

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Threads: @stlmarlonwest IG: stlmarlonwest Bluesky: @marlonweststl.bsky.social Spotify: marlonwest)

It’s Music Monday and Halloween here at Good Black News! It’s your friend and selector, the groove conductor, Marlon West. I’ve returned once more during this Season of the Witch with another collection.

I am just back from a screening and discussion with Ryan Coogler and part of his creative team behind SINNERS. It was the fifth viewing for me, in whole or in part.

I saw it opening day laser projected, two weeks later on 70mm IMAX, streamed it twice, once with a sista in the lower right corner offering Black ASL, and today a 70mm print projected at the Directors Guild of America‘s theater with a very diverse and reactive crowd early on a Sunday morning. I was delighted to run into our GBN Editor-In-Chief Lori Lakin Hutcherson and her mother at the same screening.

I came right home and started pecking a few words on this season’s music collection, The Crossroads: A Blues Halloween Playlist.

As any of you that enjoy my Music Monday playlist knows, I love me some Halloween. This is at least the fifth All-Hallows Eve collection I’ve done for Good Black News.

The cinematic juggernaut that is SINNERS is a good reminder of just how much the blues has dealt with scares both supernatural and real-world based.

From Robert Johnson’s mythic trip the the crossroads to Blind Willie Johnson’s “Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground,” the blues has provided its share of eerie moments. Bo Diddley’s iconic ‘Who Do You Love” opens with following boasts:

I walked forty-seven miles of barbed wire
Used a cobra snake for a necktie
Got a brand new house on the roadside
Made from rattlesnake hide
Got a brand new chimney made on top
Made out of a human skull

Oh, that’s a Halloween song, all right! Howlin’ Wolf, Koko Taylor, RL Burnside, Norma Tanega, Gary Clark Jr., and so many more purveyors of the blues are present for this Halloween collection.

Whether your plans include handing out candy to hobgoblins of all ages, chillin’ with friends,  or kickin’ at home with that porch light out, here is another autumnal offer to enjoy during this Halloween Season.

Please enjoy this collection, and poke around for my others too:
(https://open.spotify.com/user/marlonwest)

See ya next month!

And as always, stay safe, sane, and kind!

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)
MUSIC MONDAY: “Snatch It Back and Hold It” – Celebrating Chicago Blues (LISTEN)

MUSIC MONDAY: “Snatch It Back and Hold It” – Celebrating Chicago Blues (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on August 10, 2020

[Photo: Otis Spann & James Cotton rehearsing in Muddy Waters’ basement, Chicago, IL, 1965. Courtesy Chicago History Museum]

Chicago blues began to emerge following the Great Migration of African Americans from the southern U.S. to the industrial cities of the north, particularly Chicago.

This new population included musicians, and the blues evolved as a result of these influences from musicians playing as street musicians, at rent parties, and other events in African-American communities.

One of the most significant early incubators for Chicago blues was the open-air market on Maxwell Street in the 1930s and ’40s.

This collection includes some of the great including, McKinley “Muddy Waters” Morganfield, Chester “Howlin’ Wolf” Burnett, Little Walter Jacob, Junior Wells, Koko Taylor, and many others.

Enjoy, and of course, stay safe, sane, and kind.

[spotifyplaybutton play=”spotify:playlist:6cuqIAcGLdph6kjRL5zADc”/]

by Marlon West (FB: marlon.west1 Twitter: @marlonw IG: stlmarlonwest Spotify: marlonwest)

Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)

R.I.P. Blues Music Legend Bobby "Blue" Bland

By goodblacknews on June 25, 2013

Bobby "Blue" BlandRobert Calvin “Bobby” Bland (January 27, 1930 – June 23, 2013, né Brooks), also known as Bobby “Blue” Bland, was an American singer of blues and soul. He was an original member of the Beale Streeters, and was sometimes referred to as the “Lion of the Blues”. His storied career came to an end this weekend, when he passed away at the age of 83 due to complications from an ongoing illness.
Bland was also known as the “Sinatra of the Blues” because of his super-suave persona and his flawless 1961 album Two Steps From the Blues, which should be required listening for anyone who appreciates soul.  Along with such artists as Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, and Junior Parker, Bland developed a sound that mixed gospel with the blues and R&B. His music was also influenced by Nat King Cole.
Bland was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1981, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992, and received theGrammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997.

To learn more about his life and music, click here. To see him do his thing, click below:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pn1lZP5uPXw&w=420&h=315]
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson