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Join Kelvin Huggins as he dives deep into the tangled roots and resonant echoes of December 16th in blues history.

December 16th traces a striking duality in the blues story — a day where boundary‑breaking innovation meets the quiet, steadfast grind of regional tradition. This episode celebrates the births of two giants who pushed the genre into new territory: Sugar Blue, the harmonica firebrand often hailed as “the Jimi Hendrix of harmonica,” and Billy Gibbons, the Texas guitar architect whose work with ZZ Top carried blues grit onto the global rock stage.

But the date also carries a deeper, humbler resonance. We honor the lives and legacies of Tommy Bankhead, a St. Louis mainstay who spent fifty years keeping Delta blues alive in working‑class bars and neighborhood joints, and Pete Mayes, the Texas “T‑Bone Man” whose devotion to the music preserved a lineage stretching back to the greats.

Together, these four artists — two born, two departed — reveal the full arc of the blues: from explosive reinvention to the quiet, lifelong labor of keeping tradition alive. This is the blues as it truly lives: expansive, rooted, restless, and enduring.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Listen Tomorrow for: Another Blues Moment in Time

Keep the blues alive.

© 2025 The Blues Hotel Collective.

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