Robert Johnson Gets Headstone;
Historian Organizes Annual Celebration

 Blues historian Gayle Dean Wardlow, who spent more than three decades searching for the location ofRobert Johnson's grave, is initiating the first annual
Robert Johnson Cross Road Memorial Days celebration oft he blues giant's life and music. The two-day event is scheduled for August 16th and 17th, beginning at the Little Zion Baptist Church near Greenwood, Mississippi, which includes the Little Zion Baptist Church Cemetery, where Johnson was buried. The day's events will also feature testimony from more than forty musicians about Johnson's work and influence, and the unveiling of a new headstone for Johnson's previously unmarked burial site.

Ernie K-Doe Dies

 Ernie K-Doe, the eccentric rhythm-and-blues singer best known for his 1961
No. 1 hit "Mother-in- Law," died on July 5 at a New Orleans hospital. He was 65. K-Doe had a handful of minor hits, such as "T'aint it the Truth,'' "Come on Home'' and "Te-Ta-Te-Ta-Ta.'' But he was forever associated with his only No. 1 single. In 1995, K-Doe opened Ernie K-Doe's Mother-In-Law Lounge near the French
Quarter, performing there every Sunday with various musicians.

John Lee Hooker Dies

 Legendary blues guitarist John Lee Hooker, whose spare hypnotic style born in the heart of the Mississippi Delta influenced generations of rock and folk stars, died on June 21 in his home near San Francisco. He was 83.

 Born Aug. 22, 1917, in Clarksdale, Miss., he learned guitar from his stepfather, Will Moore, who was friends with blues guitarists Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Blake and Charley Patton. Hooker left home at 14 and joined the Army, which sent him packing after three months. Like many Southern blacks in the 1940s, Hooker made the journey north to work in an industrial city, landing in Detroit. He played three or four nights per week in the Motor City and soon he attracted the attention of talent scouts.

 Hooker recorded prolifically for numerous labels, under numerous different names. Hooker put nine songs in the top 30 on the R&B charts and had two No. 1 R&B singles: "Boogie Chillun'' in early 1949 and "I'm in the Mood'' in late 1951. His record of "Boom Boom'' reached the R&B top 20 in June 1962

 He recorded more than 100 albums over six decades; the last was 1997's "Don't Look Back'' on the Pointblank label. He recorded so often and for so many fly-by-night producers that his music has been endlessly repackaged; last year alone, there were more than 20 Hooker releases of old material. Hooker was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 and given a lifetime achievement Grammy in 2000.

Long Lost Blind Joe Reynolds Record Discovered

 Bruce Smith, a school teacher from Ohio with an appreciation for old Blues records, wandered into the Nashville Flea Market and found the record in a stack of old 78's. He purchased three records at $1.00 each with the third being a long lost Blind Joe Reynolds record from 1929 ("Ninety Nine Blues" backed with "Cold Woman Blues"). Unaware of its value, he purchased it simply because it "looked interesting." As it turns out the record is the only known copy to exist. Richard Nevins of the Yazoo label called "Cold Woman Blues" a "masterpiece." Both sides of the recording have now been remastered and will soon appear on a Yazoo label compilation CD. Go here to listen to an mp3 of the record
.

To Durham Bluesman Blind Boy Fuller

 More than 75 people came out Saturday June 16 for the dedication of the Blind Boy Fuller marker on the American Tobacco Trail off Fayetteville Street, North Carolina. Durham Mayor Nick Tennyson declared June 16 as Blind Boy Fuller Day, then watched as the brick monument with a metal plate describing Fuller was unveiled. Fuller recorded more than 125 titles between 1935 and 1940 and became one of the country’s most popular blues artists, with songs such as "Step It Up and Go," "Mamie" and "Trucking My Blues Away."

Court Rules In Favor Of Johnnie Johnson

 United States Federal District Judge, Donald J. Stohr ruled Monday, June 11 that Johnnie Johnson will be allowed to proceed with his lawsuit against his former musical collaborator and bandmate, Chuck Berry. Last November, Johnson filed a lawsuit against Berry in Federal District Court in St. Louis, alleging that he and Berry, together, composed more than 50 songs which defined a new musical genre; rock 'n roll. The songs include "Roll Over Beethoven", "No Particular Place To Go", "Rock and Roll Music", "Sweet Little Sixteen", "Back In The USA", among others. The suit further alleges that although Berry and Johnson were co-authors, the songs were copyrighted by Berry in his name alone, thus denying Johnson proper writing credit and millions of dollars in royalties and profits generated from their compositions.

Winners Annouced For 22nd Annual Handy Awards

 The Blues world descended on Memphis, Tennessee on May 24 for the presentation of the prestigious Blues award ceremony. For a complete list of winners click here.

Boozoo Chavis Dies

 Boozoo Chavis, an accordionist, singer and bandleader who was a patriarch of Louisiana zydeco music, died May 5th in Austin, Tex., after suffering a heart attack and then a stroke late last month, said Jack Reich, his manager. He was 70 and lived in Lake Charles, La. Mr. Chavis recorded one of the first zydeco hits, "Paper in My Shoe," in 1954, and from the 1980's on he sparked a revival of button-accordion zydeco. "I don't get mad if they play my music," he told the author Michael Tisserand in "The Kingdom of Zydeco" (Arcade, 1998). "But I get mad if they mess it up." During the 1990's, Mr. Chavis was widely acknowledged as the king of zydeco music, the mixture of Cajun (Acadian) Celtic traditions and rhythm-and-blues drive that fills Gulf Coast dance halls.

Muddy Waters Cabin Returns Home

 The cabin where bluesman Muddy Waters lived has returned home. Four walls of the cabin have been installed in an exhibit at the Delta Blues Museum, along with a statue and related memorabilia. Waters moved into the cabin in 1918, at age 3, to live with his sharecropper grandparents. The cabin has been on tour since 1996, most recently at a blues exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.