Adam Leaver

Cornerstones of American music: ballads relating to Omie Wise, the Rock Island Line and Stagger Lee and Billy Lyons. Added to this list must surely be the story of Frankie and Albert (variously titled “Frankie,” “Frankie and Johnny” and so…

For many blues fans, the name Sonny Boy Williamson II (not to be confused with John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson, or Sonny Boy Williamson I, of Good Morning Little Schoolgirl fame) conjures up an image of a hawk-like man, standing…

References to black cat bones, High St John the Conqueror Root (or 'little John the Conqueroo' as Muddy Waters famously sings in his classic track Mannish Boy), mojo hands and more generally 'hoodoo men' and 'hoodoo women' abound in…