Blues and Bourbon: Tribute to Little Walter

Four of the heroes in blues playing today bring a very special show to the Momo in this Tribute to Little Walter with players from the 2013 Grammy-nominated record on Blind Pig Records, Remembering Little Walter. Mark Hummel’s Blues Harmonica Blowout™ started in 1991 and have featured every major legend (Mayall, Musselwhite, Cotton, etc.) on blues harp as well as almost every player of note on the instrument – a who’s who of players. Grammy Award Nominee and Winner of two Blues Music Awards, Mark Hummel started playing harmonica in 1970 and is considered one of the premier blues harmonica players of his generation.

Marion Walter Jacobs, known as Little Walter, was an American blues musician, singer, and songwriter, whose revolutionary approach to the harmonica and impact on succeeding generations has earned him comparisons to such seminal artists as Django Reinhardt, Charlie Parker and Jimi Hendrix.His virtuosity and musical innovations fundamentally altered many listeners’ expectations of what was possible on blues harmonica.He was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008, the first artist to be inducted specifically as a harmonica player.

Little Walter defined the sound known as Chicago Blues harp. He was the first musician of any kind to purposely use electronic distortion as a musical technique, fundamentally altering the listener’s expectations of the harmonica. His virtuosity with the harp established the standard vocabulary for modern blues and blues rock harmonica players. Little Walter scored 14 Top 10 hits between 1952-1958, and was the best blues artist produced by the post war Chicago blues movement.

Featuring performances by:
-Mark Hummel
-Nathan James
-Wes Starr
-R. W. Grigsby