The following is a list of electric blues musicians. The electric blues is a type of blues music distinguished by the amplification of the guitar, the bass guitar, and/or the harmonica and other instruments. Electric blues is performed in several regional subgenres, such as Chicago blues, Texas blues, Delta blues and Memphis blues. Most interpretations of electric blues have a solemn tone through the common uses of the minor pentatonic scale, slow backing, and extended soloing periods, that extend through all subgenres.
A C. C. Adcock – Born 1971 in Lafayette, Louisiana, Adcock combines zydeco and electric blues music to create his own unique sound. He has performed with artists including Bo Diddley, Buckwheat Zydeco, and Paul "Lil' Buck" Sinegal. Luther Allison – (August 17, 1939 – August 12, 1997) Born in Widener, Arkansas, and then moving to Chicago as a teen, Allison was a major force on the Chicago blues scene. Predominantly an electric guitarist and also a singer, Allison released many albums for Alligator Records. Linsey Alexander – Born July 23, 1942, Holly Springs, Mississippi, and moved to Chicago in 1959. Songwriter/singer/guitarist Alexander has been a fixture of Chicago blues for more than two decades and is known for his own electric blues style influenced by soul, R&B, and funk. His first internationally released CD was named "Blues CD of the Year". James Armstrong – Born April 22, 1957, Los Angeles, California, Armstrong has, to date, released three albums on HighTone Records and another three on Catfood Records.
B Chico Banks – (March 7, 1962 – December 4, 2008) Born in Chicago, Banks released one album in 1997 on Evidence Records, and played with plenty of other blues musicians, before his death at the age of 46. Barrelhouse Chuck – (July 10, 1958 – December 12, 2016) Chicago blues and electric blues pianist, keyboardist, singer, and songwriter. Johnnie Bassett – (October 9, 1935 – August 4, 2012) Born in Marianna, Florida, Bassett, was a guitarist and vocalist who did session work for Fortune Records in the 1950s. He enjoyed a renewed career in the 1990s, and released six albums since 1994. Johnnie Bassett died from complications of liver cancer. Chris Beard – Born August 29, 1957, in Rochester, New York, Beard has released four albums to date, the first one of which was nominated for a Blues Music Award. Adolphus Bell – (June 5, 1944 – October 28, 2013) Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Bell was best known as a one-man band. He performed in a professional capacity for five decades and released two albums on the Music Maker label. Carey Bell – (November 14, 1936 – May 6, 2007) Born in Macon, Mississippi, as Carey Bell Harrington, Carey is an acoustic and electric harmonica blues and Chicago blues multi-instrumentalist, performing on bass guitar, guitar, drums and harmonica and vocals. He has released several albums for labels like Alligator Records and Delmark Records. Lurrie Bell – Born December 13, 1958, in Chicago, Illinois, guitarist and vocalist Bell is the son of blues harp player Carey Bell. Like his father, he is a Chicago blues musician who performs on electric guitar. He has recorded numerous albums, most of which have been for Delmark Records. Tab Benoit – Born November 16, 1967, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Benoit plays swamp blues on electric guitar. He is also a singer and songwriter. He has released at least fourteen albums to date. Duffy Bishop – Born in Redding, California, Bishop is a singer and songwriter. She is in the Cascade Blues Association and Washington Blues Society Halls of Fame, and has been given a Lifetime Achievement Award by both bodies. In a career spanning over forty years, Bishop has also been a costume designer and an actress in musical theatre. To date she and her band have released seven albums. Bobby "Blue" Bland – (January 27, 1930 – June 23, 2013) Born in Rosemark, Tennessee, as Robert Calvin Bland, he was an American singer of blues and soul. He was an original member of the Beale Streeters, and was sometimes referred to as the "Lion of the Blues". Along with such artists as Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, and Junior Parker, Bland developed a sound that mixed gospel with the blues and R&B. Little Joe Blue – (September 23, 1934 – April 22, 1990) Born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, United States, he was an American singer and guitarist. His musical style was often compared to B. B. King. Blues Boy Willie – Born November 28, 1946, in Memphis, Texas, he is an electric and soul blues singer, musician, and songwriter. He has released ten albums and a string of singles in a long career, including work which appeared in the US Billboard R&B albums chart. Juke Boy Bonner – (March 22, 1932 – June 29, 1978) Born in Bellville, Texas, as Weldon Bonner, Bonner was a Texas blues and West Coast blues guitarist and blues harp player as well as a vocalist. Though based primarily in Texas for most of his career, he did work in the 1950s in Oakland, California, and recorded there for Irma Records. Like so many of the early blues musicians, Bonner was forced to work in a meat processing plant in his later career just to make ends meet. He performed in both acoustic and electric blues environments. Boston Blackie – (November 6, 1943 – July 11, 1993). Stage name of Benjamin Joe "Bennie" Houston, born and raised in Alabama who established himself as a guitarist and singer on Chicago's West Side. He was shot dead by fellow musician Tail Dragger Jones. Pat Boyack – Born June 26, 1967, in Price, Utah, Boyack is a contemporary blues guitarist who performs modern electric blues and blues-rock. He has released at least four albums since 1994 for both the Doc Blues and Bullseye Blues record labels. Eddie Boyd – (November 25, 1914 – July 13, 1994) Born in Stovall, Mississippi, Boyd was a piano blues pianist, singer-songwriter and a fixture of the Chicago blues scene, touring Europe with Buddy Guy in 1965. Though he performed electric and acoustic Chicago blues, Boyd left the United States and lived abroad due to racial discrimination. He recorded for labels like Love Records and Decca Records. Diana Braithwaite – Born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Braithwaite is a Black Canadian electric blues singer, songwriter and screenwriter. She is a multiple Maple Blues Award winner. More recently she has teamed up with Chris Whiteley and they have been acclaimed as "blues icons" by the Toronto Star, and collectively have won nine Maple Blues Awards and had six Juno Award nominations. Although they are little known in the United States, Diana Braithwaite and Chris Whiteley are mainstays of the Canadian blues scene. Doyle Bramhall – (February 17, 1949 – November 12, 2011) Bramhall was strictly a Texas blues musician, a talented guitarist, drummer and singer who worked with Stevie Ray Vaughan and his brother Jimmie Vaughan. His son, Doyle Bramhall II is also a blues musician. He has released several solo albums.Dansby, Andrew (Sunday, November 13, 2011) "Texas bluesman Bramhall dies at 62". Houston Chronicle. November 12, 2011 Billy Branch – Born October 3, 1951, in Great Lakes, Illinois, blues harp player and vocalist Branch is a harmonica blues performer who plays electric Chicago blues. He leads his own band, "The Sons of Blues" and has released several albums for labels such as Evidence Records and Alligator Records. Curley Bridges – (February 7, 1934 – November 27, 2014) Born in Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina, United States, Bridges spent most of his adult life living in Canada. He recorded four albums for Electro-Fi Records before his death in 2014, aged 80. John Brim – (April 10, 1922 – October 1, 2003) Born in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, Brim was an acoustic and electric Chicago blues guitarist, harmonica player and singer who performed regularly with his wife Grace on drums. He recorded for Fortune Records and Chess Records among others. Ronnie Baker Brooks – Born Rodney Dion Baker in Chicago, Illinois on January 23, 1967, is a blues singer and guitarist. His father, blues guitarist Lonnie Brooks, was a strong musical influence on Ronnie, as were Buddy Guy, Junior Wells and other Chicago blues luminaries who jammed at the Brookses' home while Ronnie was growing up. Wayne Baker Brooks is Ronnie's brother; the three Brookses often appear as guests in each other's shows. Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown – (April 18, 1924 – September 10, 2005) Born in Vinton, Louisiana, Brown was one of the regulars of the Texas blues scene. A multi-instrumentalist, he performed on guitar, harmonica, mandolin, bass guitar, violin and sang. Brown was the first artist to record for Peacock Records, and his style of play was influential on burgeoning talent in Texas. Later in his career he moved more away from acoustic modes of play in favor of electric blues, often fusing in his sound elements of calypso and zydeco. J. T. Brown – (April 2, 1918 – November 24, 1969) Born in Mississippi, Brown was an electric and acoustic Chicago blues tenor saxophonist and singer. He performed with musicians like Washboard Sam and Eddie Boyd, and backed other artists like Elmore James. Bob Brozman – (March 8, 1954 – April 23, 2013) Brozman was a slide guitarist who performs in various blues music mediums, including electric blues, country blues and some traditional folk music. He recorded at least fifteen albums for labels including Kicking Mule, and has worked with a variety of musicians performing not just in the blues medium. Nora Jean Bruso – Born June 21, 1956, in Greenwood, Mississippi, Bruso has released two solo albums to date and been nominated for several Blues Music Awards. Michael Burks – (July 30, 1957 – May 6, 2012) was a Milwaukee born blues guitarist who recorded for Alligator Records. Jimmy Burns – Born February 27, 1943, in Dublin, Mississippi. American soul blues and electric blues guitarist, singer-songwriter. Although he was born in the Mississippi Delta, Burns has spent nearly all his life in Chicago. His elder brother, Eddie "Guitar" Burns, was a Detroit blues musician. Cedric Burnside – Born August 26, 1978Jefferson interview. Issue 141, March 2004. Swedish original, via Google Translate is an electric blues drummer, guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is the son of blues drummer Calvin Jackson and grandson of blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist R. L. Burnside. Aron Burton – (June 15, 1938 – February 29, 2016) Burton played with Albert Collins, Freddie King and Champion Jack Dupree, and released a number of solo albums, including Good Blues to You (1999, Delmark). George "Wild Child" Butler – (October 1, 1936 – March 1, 2005) Birn in Hernando, Mississippi, George Butler was an electric guitarist, blues harp player and vocalist performing Chicago blues. He recorded in the 1960s and 1970s for various labels like Mercury Records with nominal success. In the 1980s he moved to Canada and continued recording and performing, his last album being for APO Records in 2001. The Butler Twins – American Detroit blues and electric blues duo of the twin brothers Clarence (January 21, 1942 – December 22, 2003) and Curtis Butler (January 21, 1942 – April 9, 2004). Longtime semi-professional performers in the local blues scene in Detroit, they gained international recognition following the recording of three albums in the late 1990s. Paul Butterfield – (December 17, 1942 – May 4, 1987) Born in Chicago, Illinois, Butterfield was an amplified harmonica blues blues harp player, guitarist, vocalist and flautist who performed blues-rock and Chicago blues. He recorded for a variety of labels during his career, including Bearsville Records and Elektra Records, among many others.
C Chris Cain – (born November 19, 1955) is a guitarist.