In the mid-1800s, a German harmonica manufacturer named Hohner started exporting his product to North America. Being relatively inexpensive, relatively easy to play and extremely portable, the ...

“Classic Harmonica Blues,” out on May 21, features 20 tracks by the blues’ greatest harmonica players. Photo courtesy of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings In the early 20th-century, southern black ...

Ever wondered how musicians can whip out a harmonica from nowhere and make sweet music? Join this workshop to learn basic playing techniques on a diatonic harmonica, the beginner’s harmonica of choice ...

Mississippi blues harp player James Cotton was certainly considered lucky for the break he got joining Muddy Waters’ band in the late 1950s, taking over a spot previously held by such venerated ...

I’m not an especially fervent advocate of blues harmonica, but I do love the greats—both the Sonny Boy Williamsons, Big Walter Horton, much of Charlie Musselwhite‘s innovative output. But for me no ...

A recent Friday, 10:21 a.m.: Sitting on a 5-gallon bucket in front of tourists waiting to get on the Powell Street cable car, Vincente "Blue" Blupriest belted out his version of the blues with a ...