Living Blues Magazine

Living Blues #300 (January/February 2026) features bluesman Larry McCray on the cover. McCray is a guitar powerhouse. After some life struggles, including a battle with cancer, and more than a decade without a release, McCray has landed back on his feet and is focused on staying true to the blues. Sax maestro Amadee Castenell played with the cream of New Orleans jazz and blues artists during the 1970s and ’80s. Castenell died in late 2024 and this story is the last article written on him, serving as a fitting tribute. Dre Walker of Sardis, Mississippi, is a young man doing old-school soul blues. Mixing the music of Tyrone Davis, Johnnie Taylor, and others with his own, self-penned numbers, Walker sounds like he just walked off of a 1980s soul blues concert stage. Guitarist Lee Holloway has spent his career as a sideman working with the likes of Johnny Drummer, Sheryl Youngblood, and Joe Barr. He currently works as a member of the Joe Pratt’s Source One Band. This issue’s Let It Roll! features Alberta Hunter. Hunter recorded her first sides in 1921 but 59 years later, at age 85, she waxed one of the best recordings of her long career. Amtrack Blues is a late career masterpiece by one of the great voices in blues history.

All of this plus Breaking Out with Dawn Tyler Watson, the latest in Blues News, and over 50 reviews including the latest from Mavis Staples, Jimmy Burns, and 75th anniversary reissues from Chess Records.