Deep blues history, record by record.
Blues Disciples treats blues history as living memory, moving between recordings, biography, and first-hand accounts from musicians and researchers. Its recent episodes linger on Mississippi, Chicago, gospel roots, Hill Country style, and the people who carried those sounds forward.
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Blues Disciples is a blues history show with patience and a record lover’s ear. It is not built around quick takes. It takes time with people, places, songs, and the circumstances that made the music. Recent episodes return often to Mississippi, especially the Tylertown area, where artists such as Roosevelt Holts and Jewel Babe Stovall connect local performance traditions to the shadow of Tommy Johnson. The show also reaches into Chicago blues through Mary Lane and Willie Buck, treating migration, club life, and late-career performance as part of the same story. The music stays central. A typical episode introduces a recording, names the players, places the artist in history, and then lets the performance carry the point. That structure gives the series a handmade feel. It can be repetitive in the way field notes are repetitive, but the repetition serves a purpose: listeners are reminded who these artists were, how they learned, and why their work survived. Dr. David Evans is a major presence in the recent run, especially in episodes about Babe Stovall, Roosevelt Holts, and Jessie Mae Hemphill. His recollections bring technical detail without stripping the music of character. The show is especially strong when it links style to lived experience, such as open tunings, percussive Hill Country guitar, spiritual call-and-response, or Chicago performances shaped by Southern roots. There is reverence here. There is also plainspoken storytelling, including kitchen-table memories, festival encounters, juke-joint beginnings, and the practical work of recording artists before their histories disappeared. Blues Disciples suits listeners who want music discovery with documentary context rather than playlist churn. It pays attention to gospel and spiritual music as part of the blues’ wider family. It also keeps the history of African American suffering, oppression, creativity, and endurance close to the surface. The show’s best moments make a recording feel less like an artifact and more like evidence of a life. For blues fans, that is the draw. For newcomers, it is a grounded way into a deep tradition.
Made for: For listeners who want blues, gospel, and spiritual recordings with patient historical context. It especially fits fans of archival music, Mississippi and Chicago blues, field recordings, and artist biography.
What sets it apart: Blues Disciples pairs recordings with specific backstories from interviews, fieldwork memories, and artist histories. Its strength is the close attention to who played, where they came from, and how the music traveled.
Each Blues Disciples podcast has a primary purpose to entertain and then to help listeners better understand the importance of the blues music genre in our history and culture. We let our listeners know of the incredible obstacles faced by generations of blues artists as they struggled to raise themselves from the poverty and oppression they faced as tenant farmers in the South. These early blues artists were self-taught for the most part and we highlight their commitments and creativity that increased their audience and differentiated them from their peers. Each podcast contains short discussions of the upcoming artists, the...
A bootlegger's coat opens, bottles clink, and you are suddenly inside blues history.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A blues portrait that turns scholarship and kitchen-table memory into something immediate.
Dr. David Evans frames Roosevelt Holtz as an entry point into the Tylertown, Mississippi blues and gospel world, and the episode keeps that lineage in view without losing the human detail.
Blues Disciples examines Bob Corritore and Friends' Ernestine Blues, a 16-song album featuring 12 blues artists.
Blues Disciples episode 277 features Jamie interviewing Dutch ethnomusicologist Guido van Rijn about Reverend Robert Wilkins, who was born in 1895 and died in 1987.
Blues Disciples examines Reverend Robert Wilkins through Jamie's conversation with Dutch blues musicologist Dr.
Blues Disciples honors Pat Thomas, who was born in Leland, Mississippi, in August 1960 and died in February 2025 after following his father James Son Thomas into Delta blues and folk-art sculpture.
Blues Disciples host Jamie interviews ethnomusicologist Dr.
This episode features blues legend David Honeyboy Edwards performing Memphis Minnie's 'Bumblebee' with background on his life and contributions to blues music.
This episode explores Dr.
This episode explores blues artist Babe Stovall through interviews with ethnomusicologist Dr.
This episode explores the historical and cultural significance of spiritual and gospel music in African American communities, featuring a 1959 field recording from the Independence Baptist Church in Mississippi.
This episode features an interview with Chicago blues legend Willie Buck, discussing his childhood, move to Chicago, and early blues influences.
This episode features excerpts from an interview with Chicago blues legend Mary Lane, discussing her life from singing in Arkansas cotton fields to becoming the queen of West Chicago blues, including her performances with icons like Howlin' Wolf and Robert Nighthawk.
This episode explores the life and music of blues legend Jessie Mae Hemphill through an interview with ethnomusicologist Dr.
This episode features an interview with Dr.
This episode profiles blues and gospel artist Jessie Mae Hemphill, highlighting her life and the contributions of those who recorded her music.
An interview with blues legend John Primer about his early life, career, and new album 'Grown in Mississippi'.
This episode features an interview with blues harp legend Jerry Portnoy discussing his new memoir 'Dancing with Muddy' and his career playing with Muddy Waters and Eric Clapton.
This episode features an interview with blues legend Bob Strozier and plays tracks from his solo album and new CD with the Headcutters.
This episode features an interview with blues musician Bob Strozier, discussing his life and career.
A podcast that plays and discusses blues music, highlighting the historical struggles and creativity of early blues artists.
An interview with Augusta Palmer about her documentary on early blues festivals in Memphis.
This episode features an interview with Augusta Palmer about her documentary 'The Blues Disciple,' which explores the 1966-1969 Memphis blues festivals and their social and musical significance.
This episode explores rediscovered blues artists through an interview with blues historian Roger Brown about his 1962 trip to Memphis.
This episode features remastered recordings of the Memphis Jug Band from 1927-1934, with host Jamie sharing historical context and playing selected tracks.
This episode introduces the Blues Disciples podcast and features blues legend Sleepy John Estes, playing his 1935 classic 'Drop Down Mama'.
Host Jamie introduces the Blues Disciples podcast and features blues artist John Tavius Willis, discussing his background and latest album.
This episode explores the story of a blues busking duo that started on 125th Street in Harlem and became a worldwide recording act.
This episode features guest host Dr.
This episode features blues music from Buddy Guy and Mavis Staples, with historical context about the artists and the genre.
This episode features blues music from Little Walter and other legends, with historical context about the artists and their struggles.
The host announces an upcoming trip to the Blues Music Awards and visits to blues landmarks in Mississippi, highlighting the importance of blues music.
An interview with blues musician Justin Showa about his friendship and collaboration with blues legend LC Ulmer, including Ulmer's early life and influences.
A tribute to blues harp legend Paul Usher, featuring his story and music, with historical context about his role in Muddy Waters' band.
The episode features an interview with blues legends John Primer and Bob Coratore about their collaborative album Crawlin' Kingsnake.
Host Jamie introduces the Blues Disciples podcast, a non-profit dedicated to blues music, and plays ZZ Top's 'Tush' while discussing the band's blues roots.