Essential Texas Blues Masters

Texas has produced some of the most important names in the history of blues. Let’s take a look.

Yellin’ Joe Bluesternot

Yellin’ Joe is the father of the Houston Yellin’ style of blues, marked by kicking the guitar amp to get a wailing sound while simultaneously yelling the song lyric at the top of his lungs in pain.

Jessie Smithstone

Jessie Smithstone set the blues world on its ear in the 1940s with her signature look of a Burmese Python wrapped around her neck. She is best known for hits like “Burmese Me, Burmese You,” “Meet My Burmese,” and “We’re Going to Burmese Til the Sun Comes Up and We Throw Up.”

Rusty “Ripple” Creekcorn

Four-hundred pound Rusty Creekcorn, better known as “Ripple” for the beverage he kept nearby at every blistering performance, was an imposing figure as he pulled blazing notes out of his trusty, sheer-white Binder 7500 guitar. His oft-told tale recounts finding the rare guitar at a garage sale in Waco. He paid $5 for it in 1950. It was recently appraised for $7.5 million.