A man synonymous with both Chicago blues and the blues harmonica, Billy Branch has been a fixture of both circles since the early 1970s. Born William Earl Branch near Chicago on October 3, 1951, Branch returned to the Windy City for college after spending his childhood in California. While still in school, he was recruited to play harmonica in Willie Dixon’s Chicago Blues All-Stars, so he set aside academia and pursued a life in music.

After a stretch performing and touring with the Chicago Blues All-Stars, Branch formed his own outfit, Billy Branch & the Sons of Blues, which also featured Dixon’s son Freddie on bass, and harmonica legend Carey Bell’s son Lurrie on guitar. Their first album, Where’s My Money?, came out in 1984, and highlighted Branch’s prowess on the blues harp.

In 1990, the album Harp Attack! brought together the leading figures in the blues harmonica world, and Branch was featured alongside Carey Bell, Junior Wells, and James Cotton. In addition to continuing to tour and record, Branch was involved in an educational program that used the history of the blues to teach aspects of American history and music. He has been nominated for three Best Traditional Blues Album Grammys (1979, 2000, 2009), has won three Blues Music Awards (formerly the W.C. Handy Awards), and was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2020.

Billy Branch

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