Chicago and the surrounding region have produced and attracted some of the most influential guitar players in American music, particularly in blues, rock, jazz, and soul. Perhaps the best-known is Buddy Guy, who moved to Chicago in the 1950s and became one of the defining figures of Chicago blues. His fiery playing inspired generations of guitarists, including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and John Mayer, while his long-running performances helped make Chicago a global center for electric blues.
Another legendary Chicago guitarist was Terry Kath, a founding member of the rock band Chicago. Widely admired for his innovative blend of rock, jazz, and blues, Kath was praised by fellow musicians for his technical skill, expressive playing, and soulful vocals. Even Jimi Hendrix reportedly considered him one of the greatest guitarists he had ever heard.
Chicago also played a crucial role in the careers of blues pioneers such as Otis Rush, Magic Sam, Jimmy Dawkins, Luther Allison, and Mighty Joe Young. Their distinctive styles helped define the West Side and South Side Chicago blues sound, influencing countless musicians around the world and cementing the city’s reputation as the home of electric blues.
Among rock musicians, Billy Corgan of the The Smashing Pumpkins grew up in the Chicago area and became one of alternative rock’s most recognizable guitarists and songwriters during the 1990s. Soul legend Curtis Mayfield, a Chicago native, was equally influential for his melodic guitar work and innovative songwriting, helping shape soul, funk, and R&B music.
The Chicago metropolitan area continues to produce outstanding guitar talent. Jazz guitarist Fareed Haque has built an international reputation through his work in jazz, fusion, and world music while teaching at regional universities. Contemporary blues guitarist Toronzo Cannon has carried forward the city’s blues tradition with acclaimed recordings and performances, while players such as Joel Paterson have earned national recognition for their versatility in blues, jazz, rockabilly, and country music.
Together, these musicians illustrate Chicago’s remarkable guitar legacy. From pioneering electric blues to classic rock, jazz, soul, and modern Americana, the city and its surrounding suburbs have produced guitarists whose innovations continue to influence musicians around the world.
Guitar Players Tour Information -> PDF files
78 entries so far…
Willie James Abner
Luther Allison
John “Uncle Johnny Williams” Antwine, Jr.
James Kokomo Arnold
Vernon X. “Chico” Bank
John Henry Barbee
Roosevelt Melvin “Booba” Barnes
William “Lefty” Bates
Ollie (Arley) “Buster” Benton
Avery Brady
James Frank Braswell
James “Blind Jim” Brewer
Lonnie “Lee Baker, Jr.” Brooks
William “Big Bill” Broonzy
Andrew Earl Brown
Joseph Judson “Joe” Carter
Echford L. “Lee” Cooper, Jr.
John Curvleski
Eric “Guitar” Davis
Jimmy “Maxwell Street” Davis
James Henry “Jimmy Fast Fingers” Dawkins
John K. Duich
John Embry
Jim Ellison
Leroy “Babyface” Foster
Arvella “Blind Arvella” Gray
Phil Guy
Edward Harrington “Eddie the Chief” Clearwater
Vernon Ray Harrington
Sam Andy “From Louisville” Hill
Earl Zebedee Hooker
Benjamin Joe “Bennie” Houston “Boston Blackie”
Joseph Benjamin “J.B.” Hutto
William Henry “Papa Charlie” Jackson
L.V. Johnson
Willie Lee “Guitar” Johnson
Floyd Jones
Moody Jones
Robert L. “Bobby” King
Kanika Kress
William James Lacey
Samuel David “Sammy” Lanhorn
Warren George Harding Lee “Lee Jackson”
Johnie Lewis
Vardamon “VMO” Lofton
Willie James Lyons
Samuel Gene Maghett “Magic Sam”
Tommy McClennan
Charles “Papa Charlie” McCoy
Wilbur Joe “Kansas Joe” McCoy
Floyd McDaniel
L.C. McKinley
McKinley Morganfield “Muddy Waters”
Louis Myers
Rev. Ben Wiley Payton
Eugene Pearson, Jr.
Arthur Pettis
Brewer Phillips
Hudson Whittaker “Tampa Red”
Mathis James “JImmy” Reed
Willie “Hip Linkchain” Richard
Daniel “Dan” Roberts
Jimmy Rogers
Kenneth “Buddy” Scott
Frank “Son” Seals
Rev. Hudson Shower “Little Hudson”
Claude “Guitar Smitty” Smith, Jr.
Albert Abraham Smothers “Little Smokey”
Hubert Sumlin
Edward “Eddie” Taylor
Theodore Roosevelt “Hound Dog” Taylor
Frank Thomas, Jr.
James Earl Thompson
Luther Tucker
Walter Vinson
Johnny Watson “Daddy Stovepipe”
Walter “Lefty Dizz” Williams
Robert “Poor Bob” “Po’ Bob” Woodfork
JAMES KOKOMO ARNOLD (1901-1968)
Burr Oak Cemetery
4400 W. 127th Street
Alsip, IL 60803
41°39’45.2″N 87°43’54.7″W
Blues Guitar Player
James “Kokomo” Arnold was an influential American blues singer and slide guitarist whose career became closely associated with the development of early Chicago blues. Born James Arnold in Lovejoy’s Station, Georgia, he learned guitar from his cousin John Wiggs and began performing during the 1920s while working various jobs in Buffalo, New York, and Pittsburgh. After moving to Chicago in 1929, Arnold initially made his living outside of music, but following the end of Prohibition he increasingly turned to performing as his primary occupation.
Arnold made his first recordings in Memphis in 1930 for Victor Records under the name “Gitfiddle Jim,” recording songs including “Rainy Night Blues” and “Paddlin’ Madeline Blues.” He returned to Chicago and was introduced to Decca producer Mayo Williams by Kansas Joe McCoy. Beginning with his first Decca session in September 1934, Arnold developed a successful recording career, cutting approximately 88 sides for the label through May 1938. His distinctive sound combined rapid, powerful singing with highly energetic bottleneck slide guitar. He was left-handed and became particularly renowned for his intense, fast-moving slide technique.
The recording of “Old Original Kokomo Blues” in 1934 gave Arnold the nickname by which he became famous. Other important recordings included “Milk Cow Blues,” “Sagefield Woman Blues,” “Sissy Man Blues,” “The Twelves,” and “Back Door Blues.” His work placed him among the prominent blues performers in Chicago during the 1930s, alongside musicians such as Peetie Wheatstraw and Bumble Bee Slim. Arnold also performed with and recorded alongside Wheatstraw, and his music became an important influence on the emerging generation of blues musicians.
Arnold’s greatest historical importance may be his influence on Robert Johnson. Johnson adapted ideas from Arnold’s recordings, most famously transforming “Old Original Kokomo Blues” into “Sweet Home Chicago” and drawing on “Milk Cow Blues” for “Milkcow’s Calf Blues.” Arnold’s “Sagefield Woman Blues” also helped popularize the phrase “dust my broom,” which became associated with Johnson and later generations of blues musicians. His recordings consequently became an important link between pre-war country blues, Delta blues and the later Chicago blues tradition.
Despite his success as a recording artist, Arnold became dissatisfied with the economics of performing and left the music business in 1938, taking a factory job in Chicago. Blues researchers located him again decades later, but he had little interest in returning to performing despite the growing blues revival. Arnold died of a heart attack in Chicago on November 8, 1968. Although his active recording career lasted only about eight years, his aggressive slide guitar, distinctive vocals and influence on Robert Johnson established James “Kokomo” Arnold as an important figure in the history of American blues and an early contributor to the Chicago blues tradition.
Kokomo Arnold -> Wikipedia
WILLIAM “BIG BILL” BROONZY (1893-1958)
Lincoln Cemetery
12000 S. Kedzie Avenue
Blue Island, IL 60406
Section TLA, Lot 289, Grave S3-E 1/2 – 41°40’13.8″N 87°42’04.0″W
Blues Guitar Player
William Lee Conley “Big Bill” Broonzy (1893–1958) was one of the most important figures in the development of Chicago blues and American blues music. Born in Mississippi and raised in Arkansas, Broonzy learned music as a young man and initially played violin before becoming known primarily as a guitarist and singer. After serving in World War I, he moved to Chicago in the early 1920s, where he became part of the rapidly developing African American music scene on the South Side.
Broonzy established himself as a highly versatile performer, combining country blues, ragtime, folk influences, and the emerging urban blues sound. His guitar playing was distinctive for its rhythmic drive and sophisticated fingerpicking, while his powerful but conversational singing allowed him to tell stories about working-class life, relationships, travel, racism, and everyday experiences. During the 1930s and 1940s, he became one of the leading blues musicians in Chicago and recorded extensively for labels including Bluebird and RCA Victor.
His career also connected him with many other major blues musicians. Broonzy performed and recorded with artists such as Tampa Red, Memphis Slim, Washboard Sam, and Sonny Boy Williamson, and he became an important mentor and influence on younger musicians. Although he was frequently associated with Chicago blues, his music retained strong connections to the rural blues traditions from which he came.
During the postwar period, Broonzy’s reputation expanded internationally. He performed at the 1951 Festival of the People’s Theatre in France and subsequently toured Europe, becoming one of the first American blues musicians to gain substantial recognition among European audiences. His performances helped spark the growing European interest in American folk and blues music that would later influence the folk revival and the British blues movement.
Broonzy continued performing despite declining health until shortly before his death from throat cancer in 1958. His enormous recorded legacy includes hundreds of songs, and his influence can be heard in generations of blues, folk, and rock musicians. Big Bill Broonzy is particularly important to Chicago’s musical history because he helped bridge the rural Southern blues tradition with the urban Chicago sound, making him one of the foundational figures in the city’s blues heritage.