The Boot

Dr. Lonnie Smith, an NEA Jazz Master known for his dynamism and wizardry on the Hammond B3 organ, died Tuesday. He was 79 years old.

His death was confirmed on Twitter by Blue Note Records. A spokesperson for the label said the cause of death was pulmonary fibrosis, a form of lung disease.

The average musical biopic — and most of them are pretty average — follows a predictable arc: the troubled childhood marked by flashes of genius; the record deals and hit album montages; the marriages torn apart by affairs, addiction and the ravages of fame. Even when these clichés are drawn from real life, it's disappointing to see great artists reduced to formulas.

On his newest album, Never Too Late To Call, we find Southern rocker Paul Thorn reflective. Raised in Tupelo, Miss., Thorn worked as a professional boxer and factory worker before becoming a full-time musician in the late 1990s, releasing multiple studio albums since. But his latest record has been seven years in the making.

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.