The Boot

Blues guitarist-singer Christone "Kingfish" Ingram hails from Clarksdale, Miss., a small town where blues culture runs deep.

"Clarksdale is pretty much the mecca of the blues, pretty much the birthplace and the heart of the Mississippi Delta Blues," Ingram says in an interview with NPR's A Martinez. "662 is the area code. It represents the whole north Mississippi Delta."

Famed musician Eric Clapton said on Wednesday that he will not perform in any venue that requires audience members to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

"Following the PM's announcement on Monday the 19th of July 2021, I feel honor bound to make an announcement of my own: I wish to say that I will not perform on any stage where there is a discriminated audience present," Clapton wrote.

They may be two of the most influential notes in funk-rock history: the soaring, plaintive start to guitarist Eddie Hazel's legendary solo in Funkadelic's "Maggot Brain."

Like so many musicians during the pandemic, bluesman Black Joe Lewis asked himself, "What now?"

Growing weary of the industry, and having faced the challenges of touring during the beginning of the pandemic, Lewis and his band, The Honeybears, returned to his hometown of Austin amidst a slew of cancellation calls.

Eighty years ago, in Duluth, Minn., a baby named Robert Allen Zimmerman was born. He'd grow up to become one of the greatest songwriters of all time. You know him now as Bob Dylan. To celebrate his 80th birthday, we've compiled an entire show's worth of Dylan songs, as performed by artists who love him.

As a keepsake of World Cafe's Bob Dylan Octogintennial Extravaganza, we're sharing a Spotify playlist with songs from the show and more.

While Robert Finley doesn't live far from where he grew up – less than 200 miles – he's come a long way. "I don't really like sharing nothing too much now, because I never got my share as a sharecropper."

"All of my parents on grandparents on both sides were into music, even if they were just singing in the cottonfield." He bought his first instrument at the age of 10, with money he'd been given for a new pair of shoes.

On paper, a collaboration between the multi-generational Haitian band Lakou Mizik and Grammy-winning electronic musician Joseph Ray might be an unlikely coupling. Their forthcoming album, Leave The Bones, is far from that. Through Vodou chants, Rara dance tunes and contemporary protest songs, the album is a mesmerizing, haunting and uplifting journey into the heart of Haitian culture.

Tina Turner doesn't need anybody's validation to hold her place in rock and roll history, but she's now been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. She joins 12 others in what the organization calls the most diverse list of inductees in the its 36-year history.

Joining Turner among the performers in the main class of 2021 inductees are Todd Rundgren, Carole King, Jay-Z, The Go-Go's and Foo Fighters. The full list of inductees, which includes those named in categories like "Early Influence" and "Musical Excellence," is below.