By the time B.B. King recorded “The Thrill Is Gone” in 1969, the blues had already traveled far beyond its point of origin.

NPR's Scott Detrow talks with Smithsonian curator John Troutman and blues musician Dom Flemons about the new folk music album, Playing for the Man at the Door. DOM FLEMONS: This is a collection that ...

Muddy Waters once sang: "the blues had a baby and they named it rock and roll." But it's more than rock… the blues makes a strong case for itself as the most influential sound in American music ...

If they’re good, music documentaries can serve as a time machine — an immersive experience that transports the viewer back to the magic of another era, where the soundtrack envelops you, and an artist ...

Christone "Kingfish" Ingram, musical heir to a long line of blues greats from the Mississippi Delta, has been compared to the likes of B.B. King. But while the legendary guitarist is one of Ingram's ...

NPR's Scott Detrow talks to Smithsonian curator John Troutman and blues musician Dom Flemons about a new folk album, Playing for the Man at the Door, from late chronicler Mack McCormick's collection.

As the National Museum of African American Music opens its doors, journalists from the USA TODAY Network explore the stories, places and people who helped make music what it is today in our expansive ...

As the National Museum of African American Music opens its doors, journalists from the USA TODAY Network explore the stories, places and people who helped make music what it is today in our expansive ...

The blues took form in the Mississippi Delta and nearby river towns, where Black workers used song to mark time, trade news, and voice grief under Jim Crow rules. Travel to these places adds context ...

Harold Washington Library staffer Sarah Zimmerman shares a commemorative brochure from the fourth annual Chicago Blues Festival in 1987. Credit: James Hosking When it comes to the blues, sometimes ...