At 81 years old, Charlie Musselwhite still calls himself “just a working stiff.” With ‘Look Out Highway’ (out now via Forty Below Records), he shows how a lifetime of quiet dedication can still thunder loud in the blues.

Blues lifer Larry McCray has walked through Heartbreak City and come out with songs that carry both scars and soul. Produced by Joe Bonamassa and Josh Smith, his new album draws from a lifetime of hard knocks and the fire first lit by his sister Clara. With ‘Heartbreak City,’ out June 13 via KTBA Records, McCray proves once again that he’s singing the blues like he means it.

Queenie is part heartache, part heat, and all her own. From growing up under mixing desks to her charting debut and a ten-year breakup that fueled it, the Australian rocker opened up at Blues on Broadbeach about the journey so far—and what’s next.

“Great songs live in the ordinary.” – Eli “Paperboy” Reed, speaking from Blues on Broadbeach, reflecting on two decades of hard-earned soul and authenticity.

Sunpie Barnes and Dom Turner talk spirit-led collaboration, Phil Wiggins’ legacy, improvisation, and the unexpected paths that led from the NFL and Australia’s blues underground to a soul-deep musical bond on the Gold Coast stage.

In this week’s installment of The Language of the Blues, we dig into the word “Captain”—once a title for plantation overseers, later adopted by white employers and prison wardens in the Jim Crow South. Through blues lyrics from Big Bill Broonzy to Son House, Debra Devi traces how this word carried the weight of control, resistance, and survival.

Live from Blues on Broadbeach, Eric Gales reflects on musical influences like B.B. King, the hunger ignited by Grammy recognition, and the deep personal meaning behind his upcoming tribute album. With dreams of collaborating with John Mayer and a fierce commitment to growth, Gales keeps pushing forward, inspiring the next generation to do the same.

With a voice that can shake the rafters and a story spanning seven Grammy nods, what she calls five careers, and one unforgettable life, Bettye LaVette is still singing like it’s the last song she’ll ever sing—wondering why the world’s only just catching up.

Go inside the haunted heart of Bentonia blues with Ryan Lee Crosby. American Blues Scene premieres the live-to-tape video for “I’ve Been Worried,” recorded at the legendary Blue Front Cafe—and takes a deep dive with Crosby on the spirit of the style, the wisdom of Jimmy “Duck” Holmes, and the making of ‘At the Blue Front.’