Living Blues #287 November/December 2023

WHAT'S INSIDE:

Diunna Greenleaf 

Ain’t Playing Around

By Roger Wood

Houston singer Diunna Greenleaf grew up immersed in gospel music. Encouraged by the likes of Katie Webster and Teddy Reynolds, she began to sing the blues. Now, with more that 25 years in the blues, Greenleaf has become one of its strongest voices.

Danva Johnson

Music Is the Closest Thing to My Salvation

By Mike Stephenson

Danva Johnson is the son of James “Super Chikan” Johnson and grew up in the middle of the Clarksdale, Mississippi, blues scene. After years of struggling down South, he has moved north to make a name for himself in the blues.

Pat Wilder

Extending Her Heritage

By Jim Trageser

Taj Mahal gave Pat Wilder her first real guitar back in 1997 and over the past 20 years she has become one of the Bay Area’s best blues players.

Lost Blues Files

Left Hand Charlie: The Last Great Excello & Goldband Mystery Man

By Gene Tomko

After a ten-plus year quest, writer Gene Tomko has solved the mystery of Left Hand Charlie. Charlie recorded some scorching sides for Excello and Goldband back in the mid-1950s and then disappeared. But now we finally know the story of the elusive guitarist.

Let It Roll!

Bukka White: Vocalion/OKeh Records, Chicago, March 7–8, 1940

By Jas Obrecht

Bukka White was one of the most powerful of all blues singers and one of its most creative songwriters. Just weeks after being released from Mississippi’s Parchman prison, White went to Chicago and recorded what was one of the last great pre-war country blues sessions.

Record Reviews:

• New Releases: Chris Thomas King, Johnny Rawls, and the Rising Stars Fife and Drum Band
• Reissues: Howlin’ Wolf, Ike & Tina Turner, and Sugar Boy Crawford
• Christmas Reviews

Editorial

Blues News

Catching Up: Ike Cosse

LB Talks to Tom Hambridge

Obituaries

Radio Charts 

Cover photo by Roger Stephenson

Diunna Greenleaf at the Blues Music Awards, Memphis, May 2023.