Albert Lee

Albert Lee was born on December 21, 1943, in Herefordshire, England. He grew up in Blackheath. Lee was with a variety of bands from 1959 onwards, playing mostly R&B, country music and rock and roll. Lee first experienced commercial success as the lead guitarist with Chris Farlowe and The Thunderbirds. Read more.

BB King

"I don’t class myself other than just a blues singer."

B. B. King is in the eighth decade of his life (he turned 80 in 2005) and can probably lay claim to being America's most active senior, as well as giving James Brown competition as "The Hardest Working Man In Show Business." Read more.

Bert Jansch

Bert Jansch, legendary songwriter and guitarist, is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential musicians of all time. Since the mid 1960s, generation after generation have been held spellbound by his extraordinary groundbreaking guitar playing and classic emotive songs. Bert began performing his unique synthesis of folk, blues and jazz on the folk scene of the early 1960s. Read more.

Buddy Guy

Any discussion of Buddy Guy invariably involves a recitation of his colossal musical resume and hard-earned accolades. He’s a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, a chief guitar influence to rock titans like Hendrix, Clapton, Beck, and Vaughan, a pioneer of Chicago's fabled West Side sound, and a living link to that city's halcyon days of electric blues. Read more.

David Hidalgo and Cesar Rosas of Los Lobos

Over the past 35 years, the East L.A. five-piece Los Lobos has assembled a body of work diverse enough to cripple most bands and to captivate fans world wide. Along the way, they've redefined how a rock band—and rock music—can sound. Read more.

Doyle Bramhall II

Doyle Brahmhall II was raised in a home filled with the blues and rock and roll sounds that are indigenous to his birthplace – Austin, Texas. His father, Doyle Bramhall, Sr. was the drummer for blues legend Lightning Hopkins and a regular collaborator with Jimmie and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Read more.

Earl Klugh

In a recording career of over three decades, master guitarist Earl Klugh has been lauded first as a prodigy and ground-breaker, then a defining figure, and ultimately, as one of the true statesmen of contemporary jazz. Read more.

Eric Clapton

Clapton received an acoustic Hoyer guitar, made in Germany, for his 13th birthday, but found learning the steel-stringed instrument very difficult and nearly gave up. Despite his frustrations, he was influenced by the blues from an early age and practiced long hours to learn chords and copy the music of blues artists that he listened to on his Grundig Cub tape recorder. Read more.

Gary Clark Jr.

Gary Clark Jr. began playing guitar at the ripe young age of 12. Born and raised in Austin, TX, Gary continued to play small gigs throughout his early teens, until he popped on the radar of legendary promoter Clifford Antone, owner of the Austin blues club Antone's. Read more.

Hubert Sumlin

When Hubert Sumlin plays guitar he takes you to his World of Blues Feeling -- from despair to ecstasy, from delicate grace to raw power, from lost to found. Though he's influenced and inspired many of the most famous guitar players, Hubert owns the magic. Read more.

James Burton

On August 21, 1939, James Burton was born in Dubberly, Louisiana, but he grew up in Shreveport. Before he ever picked up a guitar, he would be beating on broom sticks and beat on pretty much everything else around the house. His parents got him his first guitar, which was an acoustic one. Read more.

Jeff Beck

Beck grew up in Wallington, England. His mother's piano playing and the family's radio tuned to everything from dance to classical made sure Beck was surrounded by music from a young age. Today he is recognized as a groundbreaking artist who's inimitable combination of primal shredding and cool perfectionism has left an indelible mark on everything from hard rock and jazz fusion to rockabilly and techno during the past 40-plus years. Read more.

Jimmie Vaughan

Jimmie Vaughan is far more than just one of the greatest and most respected guitarists in the world of popular music, as well as a three time Grammy winner. As Guitar Player magazine notes, "He is a virtual deity - a living legend." Read more.

Joe Bonamassa

As Joe Bonamassa grows his reputation as one of the world's greatest guitar players, he is also evolving into a charismatic blues-rock star and singer-songwriter of stylistic depth and emotional resonance. His ability to connect with live concert audiences is transformational. Read more.

John Mayer

The consistency with which John Mayer combines word craft and melody has earned him rarefied status in popular culture as a genuine and respected songwriter and musician. Since his acclaimed debut in 2001 with Room For Squares, each release has earned John Mayer additional accolades. Read more.

Johnny Winter

Johnny Winter has been a guitar hero without equal. Signing to Columbia records in 1969, called largest solo artist deal of it's time, Johnny immediately laid out the blueprint for his fresh take on classic blues. Read more.

Jonny Lang

While still in his teens in the mid 1990s, Jonny Lang exploded onto the national scene with a combination of highly developed blues guitar chops and a powerful voice that rivaled some musicians more than twice his age. And that was just the beginning. Read more.

Keb' Mo'

Singer-songwriter and guitarist Keb' Mo's music is a living link to the seminal Delta blues that traveled up the Mississippi River and across the expanse of America - informing all of its musical roots - before evolving into a universally celebrated art form. Read more.

Pino Daniele

Born on March 19, 1955 in Naples, Pino Daniele is a self-taught guitarist. He began his career as bass and guitar player for successful singers in the 1970s. His striking debut in the Italian music world was 1977 with the album Terra mia, which proved to be a successful mix of Neapolitan tradition and Blues sounds. Read more.

Robert Cray

Robert Cray's This Time – the first studio album on singer-songwriter-guitarist Cray's own imprint Nozzle Records, distributed by Vanguard Records – arrives at a vital juncture in the musician's career, marked by creative renewal and a key reunion with an old performing partner. Read more.

Robert Randolph

"We wanted to take our time and find ourselves," says Robert Randolph. "Find out what was really inside of me and the band and bring that out. Really try to come up with the best songs, dig deep within, and let all of the experiences that we have had in the last three years come out in the music." Read more.

Sheryl Crow

Free-spirited, fearless and fierce, Sheryl Crow has garnered nine Grammys, performed duets with musical luminaries such as Sting and Mick Jagger, released seven studio albums which sold more than 35 million records worldwide, saw the launch of her very own clothing line Bootheel Trading Co., is a cancer survivor and passionate humanitarian and has performed for President Obama! Read more.

Sonny Landreth

From the Reach, Sonny Landreth's ninth album, is the first to be released on his own Landfall label. On it, the Louisiana-based slide-guitar wizard does something unprecedented in his body of work, as he collaborates with five of the greatest guitar players on the planet — Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, Robben Ford, Eric Johnson and Vince Gill — in some jaw-dropping performances. Read more.

Stefan Grossman

In a sense, we have his father's aversion to the saxophone to thank for Stefan Grossman's lifelong engagement with the acoustic guitar. It entered his life as his brother Karl, three years Stefan's senior, took up the saxophone. After a few squawk-filled weeks, Herbert Grossman wasn't happy. Read more.

Steve Winwood

Winwood was just a teenager when he rocketed into the international spotlight as the prodigious singer of the Spencer Davis Group (which also featured his brother Muff on bass). The blues and R&B-influenced rock ofGimme Some Lovin' and I'm a Man stood among the leading hits at the peak of the British Invasion, Winwood's singing drawing comparisons to that of his idol Ray Charles - despite his tender age. Read more.

Vince Gill

"Vince Gill is quite simply a living prism refracting all that is good in country music. He uses the crystal planes of his songwriting, his playing and his singing to give us a musical rainbow that embraces all and spans all seasons."- Kyle Young/Country Music Foundation on Vince's induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Read more.

ZZ Top

ZZ TOP a/k/a "That Little Ol' Band From Texas," lay undisputed claim to being the longest running major rock band with original personnel intact and in 2004 the Texas trio was be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Read more.