Blues harmonica player Carey Bell, who performed with both Muddy Waters’ and Willie Dixon’s bands, died Sunday in a Chicago hospital of heart failure. He was 70. Mr. Bell’s trademark sound worked well ...

Host John Ydstie talks with harmonica player and Chicago native Jerry Portnoy. Portnoy's dad worked on Maxwell Street, where there was lots of action, including a place where blues musicians jammed.

No one know when the harmonica first got the blues, but WC Handy reported hearing train imitations being played on the instrument in the 1870s, and by the 1920s, after Mamie Smith hit with Crazy Blues ...