You’ve heard Lonnie Johnson’s “Broken Levee Blues”, but the history of Levee’s remain important to the blues. Debra Devi enlightens us in this weeks Language of the Blues!
Search Results: Language of the Blues (345)
I’m a CRAWILN KINGSNAKE…. John Lee Hooker used to say. But this word’s meaning digs DEEP — back to Africa. Uncover the mysterious and fascinating origins of “Kingsnake”
You think you know what Killin’ Floor means?? Hubert Sumlin says you’re wrong… this is one of the most revealing and interesting LOTB articles we’ve ever put out!
This is the latest installment of our weekly series, The Language of the Blues, in…
A juke or juke joint is a funky little bar that provides dance music from a piano player, but it’s real meaning goes MUCH deeper than that. Discover the fascinating hidden history behind the word “Juke”
John the Conqueror root has been a staple of hoodoo magical practices since the 1850s…
A jelly roll is a dessert made of sponge cake that has been spread with jam (or jam mixed with cream) and rolled up into a log, but this is the blues and that’s not all it means!
The Wolof word yees means to become extremely lively or energetic. It evolved during American slavery into the Southern slang term “jass”…
To jam is to improvise with other musicians. Linguist David Dalby traced jam to a Wolof word… check out where your favorite musician get-together came from!
In the blues, Jake isn’t just a name! Find out the boozy, interesting, and moonshine-steeped history of the Jake Leg that Tommy Johnson himself even sang about!