Ok, so we all probably know and listen to the well known artists such as little Walter, Sonny boy, Kim Wilson, Jason Ricci etc. There are so many, too many to list. Who do you listen to who you rate as being a VERY accomplished player and performer, but they are not well known.
For me, I have three that I regularly listen to. Two of them are in bands that are local to me, so I’ve been lucky enough to see them a few times. The third is my out and out favourite, and who i consider to be among the best in the UK right now.
So I urge you to give these guys a listen to - im confident you wont be disappointed.
No.1. Steve West Weston, He has been around for a long time, and most famously plays in a Band called Trickbag.
No.2. John (smokey doo dah) Smith, of the band The big sets, and more recently
Smokeys king shufflers.
No.3. Morgen Robbens, of the Mighty Howlers.
Who are your fave players that are less well known?
I promis i will give them a listen.
Cheers all.
Not well known depending on where you live and what you listen to… but all of these are very accomplished players
List revised to include video links. Enjoy.
Andy Just, Thiago Cerveira
Flávio Guimarães
Mátyás Pribojszki
Andy Santana, Aki Kumar
Nico Smoljan
RJ Mischo
Natacha Seara
Wallace Coleman
Victor Puertas
Unless if you know me on Facebook, were living in Nashville during his lifetime, had an actual interest in country/gospel music, or were related to him, I’d say Terry McMillan. He was a criminally underrated harmonica player, musician, and performer. I got introduced to his playing back in 2010 when I was 8 years old, 3 years after he died. I was listening to Garth Brooks’s “Ain’t Goin’ Down ('til the Sun Comes Up)” on a local country music station and heard probably some of the best harmonica playing I heard in my life. Terry’s playing style was unlike anything I ever heard before up to that point. It was very bluesy and emotionally raw, that it almost sounded like the harmonica was crying. After that moment, I kept hearing his playing on the radio, even with artists whom I least expected him to play on their records: Alan Jackson, Daryl Singletary, and even Randy Travis (I never thought he could play more traditional sounding stuff compared to his usual playing style).
In 2017, a year before I started my harmonica journey, I found out about Terry McMillan through a memoir written by Garth Brooks called “The Anthology Part 1” because there was a chapter dedicated to “Ain’t Goin’ Down” and Terry was featured in there. I found his gospel melody playing a few months into the instrument and I discovered a new side to his sound.
Ever since those moments in my life before and during the time I was learning the harmonica, I knew I wanted to sound like him much to the dismay of the people who think that harmonica should be stuck in the 50s and 60s. Those people would rather want me to play like Little Walter or Charlie McCoy rather than listen to my heart. I got made fun of a lot for talking about Terry and got pushed around by power hungry admins whom I tried to bend over backwards for just to please them because they have never seen a young person who was really dedicated to the instrument and not wanting to play Chicago Blues or Traditional Country.
Even when I told people that I’m autistic, I get told that I should “shut up and play”, stop thinking about my passion for wanting to learn Terry’s stuff, or that I need to go to therapy and this went on for years. One “player” harassed me for a year and even tried to manipulate me because he thinks that since he works at a college teaching harmonica and has hung out with doctors, that he knows my autism better than me. Even after I blocked him on Facebook and Gmail, I had to leave Harp-L a few months ago because of the ableism I was receiving from the other players, not just him. I got cancelled on there because a few guys thought I was ignoring advice and being annoying. The owner of the forum is actually very nice and she even understands how bad the forum can be, especially with misogyny.
It took me a long time to find a harmonica player who actually liked Terry’s playing (especially one who was actually influenced by him) and wanted to help me out. The guy who became my teacher and my close friend is a player named Todd Parrott. I have him to thank for making me into the player that I am today. He is incredibly nice and an amazing talent, too. Before I met him, I was an okay player, but was often criticized for “making ears bleed”. After I started taking lessons with Todd, I still get the occasional critic but I found a lot more people who were understanding about me liking Terry.
If you want to hear some samples of Terry playing harmonica and even singing: I have a Spotify playlist dedicated to his non-Garth Brooks harmonica works and two Youtube playlists, one for mostly his session works that weren’t on Spotify and one for his TBN appearances.
Moses Concas!
@Mister_Blow great post! I’ve made a note of these players and look forward to checking them out.
@BnT I haven’t listened to most of the players on your list. I’ve bookmarked this page so I can check out all your links. Thanks!
Maybe everybody is already familiar with Paul Delay, but I’ve just started listening to him within the last few months, and I’m loving his unconventional playing, plus I was Van Halen fan growing up and his voice reminds me so much of David Lee Roth.
Thank you. As a complete newbie, looking for inspiration, Terry seems to hit the spot! I will enjoy going througn the links.
After hearing Buddy Greene play he has to be on the list. Check out his performance on U Tube at Carnegie Hall. It was planned by the announcer but not expected. He lite up the whole place.
Buddy Greene is a super nice guy, my playing was complimented by him a while ago and it is my greatest achievement as a harmonica player. I don’t know what it is with country and gospel harmonica players, but they tend to be the nicest people you’ll ever meet.
My favourite players in no particular order.
Rick Estrin
Paul Delay
Kim Wilson
William Clarke
Rod Piazza
Little George Smith
Both Sonny Boy 1 and 2
Big Walter Horton
Little Walter
Greg fingers Taylor
Paul Butterfield
Alan Blind Owl Wilson
Cary Bell
James Cotton.
Junior Wells
King Biscuit boy
I listen to these the most and lots of others depending on what mood I’m in.
I am surprised that nobody has mentioned Mark Feltham (Nine Below Zero)… all round fantastic player who has played for the best, and is a nice guy as well.
Interestingly he is not a tongue blocker (not unusual in the UK where its considered a bit of a toy instrument) and like myself only uses his tongue for splitting octaves.
Well known for his intro to ‘Riding on the L&N’ on their ‘live at the Marquee’ album but he has a fabulous tone and control.
Another of my all time favourites is Mickey Raphael just because everything he does ‘sounds’ simple but aint…(its all about the tone).
Nine below zero are not a bad band Mark is pretty good, but there’s also Paul Lamb who does it all, Honey boy Hickling, I do love Eduardo Allen’s playing from the Terraplanes blues band. Eduardo is a very nice guy from Portugal he tells me the blues is really popular there. He’s a purser that only blocks occasionally but he plays interesting stuff, the band on the whole are a great band who write their own stuff. And unusually for the UK are not just a guitar driven heavy rock band calling themselves blues. These guys sound authentic
I think you will find a fair few blockers in the UK, it’s just our music scene has been destroyed by Covid and greed on the part of breweries And landlords and bad promoters. It’s really in dire straights at the moment. I both Block and purse
Certainly there are lots of blockers in the UK now…pre Internet that really wasn’t the case…either way its just goid that people are playing!
@Marttheharp welcome to the forum! So glad you have joined us. I think I found the version of the song you’re talking about. It’s quite a blazing tempo. This it? https://youtu.be/RhOiKmdsgxQ?si=v6XxVd7g3bDP0cF2&t=15
Thats the one! I started playing harp because of Lee Brilleaux but kept playing because of Mark Feltham.
I played with Lee Brilleux he was a friend of mine
Lucky you!
Very influential in my musical tastes for always!
He was a great Bloke, smoked like a chimney drank like a fish very intense at times and very kind in the heat of a heart he could be very contradictory. But I got on very well with him.
Toots Thielmans is the best hands down. He is gone now but his music is second to none. Just my opinion
Not my cup of tea, not a big Jazz fan. When I listen to Jazz I like Basie Ellington anything with Horns, that’s where my style really comes from horn players mostly. I did have a couple Theilmans albums but he whistled more than he played harp. I didn’t see the point