Billy Branch

Billy Branch (born William Earl Branch, October 3 1951, Great Lakes, Illinois) is a blues harp player and singer of Chicago blues and harmonica blues.

Career

Born in Great Lakes, Branch was raised in Los Angeles, California, but in 1969 he moved to Chicago where he attended the University of Illinois. He soon took the place of the harmonica player Carey Bell in a band led by Willie Dixon called the Chicago Blues All-Stars.

In the 1970s he founded his own group, The Sons of the Blues, along with Lurrie Bell on guitar and Freddie Dixon on bass guitar. They are the sons of Carey Bell and Willie Dixon respectively, and they recorded for Alligator Records and under new personnel for Red Beans Records. The new band consisted of Carlos Johnson on guitar and J.W. Williams on vocals and bass guitar. He has also recorded for Verve Records and Evidence Records. [cite web
last = Dahl
first = Bill
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Billy Branch Biography
work =
publisher = Allmusic
date =
url =http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:0ifixq95ldje~T1
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doi =
accessdate =2007-08-04 ] [cite book
last = Herzhaft
first = Gérard
authorlink =Gérard Herzhaft
coauthors =
title =Encyclopedia of the Blues
publisher =University of ArkansasPress
date =1997
location =
pages =p. 38
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doi =
id =
isbn = 1557284520]

Other than co-headlining Alligator's 1990 summit meeting "Harp Attack!" with fellow harp masters Junior Wells, Carey Bell, and James Cotton, Branch largely busied himself with extensive sideman work (he's first-call session harpist around the Windy City) and teaching an innovative "Blues in the Schools" program until 1995. [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:0ifixq95ldje~T1 Allmusic biography - accessed February 2008] ]

Branch has appeared at numerous major festivals including the Long Beach Blues Festival [ [http://www.csulb.edu/~d49er/archives/2000/fall/diversions/v8n4-festival.html http://www.csulb.edu/~d49er/archives/2000/fall/diversions/v8n4-festival.html] ] , Chicago Blues Festival [ [http://www.chicagoreader.com/features/stories/sidebars/music/BLUESFEST/ http://www.chicagoreader.com/features/stories/sidebars/music/BLUESFEST/] ] , and the San Francisco Blues Festival [ [http://www.sfblues.com/highlights/2000/ http://www.sfblues.com/highlights/2000/] ] .

ee also

*List of Chicago blues musicians
*List of Electric blues musicians
*List of Harmonica blues musicians

Gallery

References