Steve Cushing's third volume of interviews from Blues Before Sunrise puts fans face-to-face with music legends and industry figures. The volume kicks off with a roundtable featuring drumming all-stars Earl Phillips, S.P. Leary, Odie Payne, Clifton James, and Fred Below discussing their lives and craft. Cushing segues to one-on-one interviews with Howlin' Wolf sideman Phillips; Leary, a fellow Wolf alum and player with Sonny Boy Williamson II; Payne, known for his kick drum technique; longtime Muddy Waters drummer Willie "Big Eyes" Smith; next-generation standard bearer and session mainstay Casey Jones; and King Records house drummer Phillip Paul.

Interviews with guitarists include talks with Honeyboy Edwards, whose friendships with innumerable Chicago blues legends (and Robert Johnson) predated the Great Migration; jazz player turned bluesman Guitar Shorty; and figures like Texas native Roy Gaines, Johnny Heartsman of Oakland, and Memphis-born Floyd Murphy. A final section offers interviews with vocalists, record label founders, and other figures. Music scholar Wayne Everett Goins provides an introduction on blues history, blues style, and the careers of the featured artists.

Interviews: Joel Dorn, Honeyboy Edwards, Slim Gaillard, Roy Gaines, Johnny Heartsman, Franz Jackson, Casey Jones, S.P. Leary, Floyd Murphy, Jimmy "T-99" Nelson, Johnny Parth, Phillip Paul, Odie Payne, Earl Phillips, Art Sheridan, Guitar Shorty, Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, and Norvel Taborn

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Introduction

Wayne Everett Goins

PART ONE THE DRUMMERS

Blues Drummers' Round Table

Earl Phillips

S.P. Leary

Odie Payne

Willie "Big Eyes" Smith

Casey Jones

Phillip Paul

PART TWO THE GUITARISTS

Roy Gaines

Guitar Shorty

Floyd Murphy

Johnny Heartsman

Honeyboy Edwards

PART THREE BLUES ESOTERICA

Jimmy "T-99" Nelson

Slim Gaillard

Norvel Taborn

Art Sheridan

Johnny Parth

Franz Jackson

Joel Dorn

Index

|"Steve Cushing's seen it, been there, and done it all—a blues musician interviewing other musicians both well-known and lesser-known, along with the outliers of the blues and jazz scene—in an informative book."—Mike Rowe, coeditor of Blues Unlimited: Essential Interviews from the Original Blues Magazine
|Steve Cushing has hosted Blues Before Sunrise for over forty years. He is the author of Blues Before Sunrise: The Radio Interviews, Blues Before Sunrise 2: Interviews from the Chicago Scene, and Pioneers of the Blue Revival.