Untethered from the rawboned tradition of American blues and cowboy songs, the harmonica now stands at the center of a world-music explosion: "You know, it's a time of great ferment.

Although Levy composes music at his grand piano, he says he feels closer to the notes when he's playing his harmonica. "When I picked up the harmonica, that really changed my personality, because ...

In 1998, Carey Bell won the Blues Foundation’s Blues Music Award for traditional male artist of the year. In recent weeks, Delmark Records released “Gettin’ Up Live,” a compact disc and ...