Blues Moments in Time...

February 26 is where American music gets dragged through the mud — the day stolen sounds made millions, promised rights were stripped bare, and the blues rose up from the wreckage to tell the truth nobody wanted to hear.

IN THIS EPISODE:

[00:00] - Introduction

[00:49] - The Cultural Landscape

[02:30] - The Political Climate

[03:43] - Exploring the Music

[04:33] - Births

[06:19] - Passings

[07:39] - Conclusion

KEY FIGURES MENTIONED:

Fats Domino (1928 - 2017)

Bob “The Bear” Hite (1943 - 1981)

Bukka White (1909–1977)

DIG DEEPER:

Fats Domino - The Fat Man

Canned Heat - Going Up the Country

Bukka White - Parchman Farm Blues

If you're loving these daily blues history drops, leave us a review via your favourite podcast platform - it helps other blues lovers find the show.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.

Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblueshotel

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblueshotel

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theblueshotel.com.au

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBluesHotel

©2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

On February 25, history didn’t whisper — it shouted. From a Senate seat reclaimed from the Confederacy to a young Muhammad Ali refusing to bow, this date shows how defiance, survival, and raw truth shaped the blues.

IN THIS EPISODE:

[00:00] - Introduction

[00:46] - The Cultural Landscape

[01:51] - The Political Climate

[02:54] - Exploring the Music

[04:07] - Births

[05:25] - Passings

[06:43] - Conclusion

KEY FIGURES MENTIONED:

Hiram Rhodes Revels

First African American U.S. Senator, seated in 1870 — a moment of Reconstruction audacity that foreshadows the political roots of the blues.

Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay)

His 1964 upset over Sonny Liston embodied the same refusal to “lose quietly” that fuels blues storytelling.

James P. Johnson

“Father of Stride Piano,” whose 1927 recordings fused ragtime precision with blues emotion.

Buddy Guy

Finally recognized by the industry in 1992 with a Grammy — decades after peers called him the greatest living blues guitarist.

Ida Cox

The “Uncrowned Queen of the Blues,” whose feminist anthem Wild Women Don’t Have the Blues broke barriers before the word “feminism” was mainstream.

Andrew Brown

Chicago guitarist of fluid brilliance, under‑recorded but revered by those who heard him live.

Louisiana Red (Iverson Minter)

Survivor of unthinkable trauma who turned sorrow into slide‑driven testimony; passed on Feb 25, 2012.

DIG DEEPER:

Ida Cox - Wild Women Don't Have the Blues - https://youtu.be/Sa2GuMZ1t6A

James P. Johnson - Snowy Morning Blues - https://youtu.be/55k5BJe6Im8

Buddy Guy - Damn Right, I've Got the Blues - https://youtu.be/QUKC-RHuJhQ

Louisiana Red - Sweetblood Call - https://youtu.be/TeL6z1Qp_2Q

If you're loving these daily blues history drops, leave us a review via your favourite podcast platform - it helps other blues lovers find the show.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.

Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblueshotel

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblueshotel

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theblueshotel.com.au

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBluesHotel

©2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

From Kentucky’s defiance of emancipation to B.B. King’s Grammy honor and Memphis Slim’s Paris exile, this episode traces how February 24th captures the blues’ journey from oppression and field hollers to British blues explosions, arena stages, and worldwide recognition.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.

Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/

Keep the blues alive.

© 2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

From W.E.B. Du Bois’ intellectual scaffolding to Mississippi’s fraught readmission to the Union, this episode traces how February 23 threads through the social, political, and musical birth of the blues. We follow recording milestones from Bertha “Chippy” Hill to Oliver Nelson, and celebrate the legacies of Johnny Winter, Melvin Taylor, Big Maceo Merriweather, and John Little John. Together, their stories reveal how one date illuminates the blues as protest, survival, and enduring artistic innovation.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.

Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/

Keep the blues alive.

© 2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.

February 22 charts the blues slipping through the front door of mainstream culture and roaring back as a modern protest voice. In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, we follow Elvis Presley’s 1956 hit “Heartbreak Hotel” as a slow-blues “Trojan horse” that smuggled Beale Street feeling onto the pop charts and accidentally sparked a 1960s blues revival, sending young listeners digging for Muddy Waters, Son House, and Howlin’ Wolf.

We then jump to 2019 and Gary Clark Jr.’s This Land, where fuzz-drenched riffs turn Woody Guthrie’s optimism into a battlecry of Black ownership and survival. Along the way, we drop into Jabo Smith’s 1929 “Sleepy Time Blues” as the Delta puts on a sharp Chicago “city suit,” and honor Texas Johnny Brown, Ernie K‑Doe, Papa John Creach, and Linsey Alexander—artists who prove the blues is still a living, breathing documentary of the Black experience.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective - your home for EVERYTHING BLUES.

Website: https://www.theblueshotel.com.au/

Keep the blues alive.

© 2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.