Bman's Blues Report

Luke "Lone Gone" Miles (May 8, 1925 – November 23, 1987) was an American Texas blues and electric blues singer and songwriter. He was a protégé of Lightnin' Hopkins, and variously recorded or performed with Hopkins, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee and Willie Chambers. Miles is best known for his 1964 album, Country Born, issued on World Pacific Records. Luke Miles was born in Lachute, Louisiana, United States. Interspersed by a period serving in the United States Navy in 1943 and 1944, Miles worked on a cotton plantation until the early 1950s, and listened to blues music on the radio. Suitably inspired, Miles moved to Houston, Texas, in 1952, with the single aim of meeting Lightnin' Hopkins. Miles stated, "I went to Houston for one reason. I went to see Lightnin’ Hopkins. That's what I went for and that's what I did. Lightnin' Hopkins taught me just about everything about blues singing. The first time I ever sang in front of an audience was in 1952 wit...

The blues is life itself to Bernie Pearl. A guitarist with an upbeat, finger-poppin' picking style he learned at the elbows of bluesmasters Sam 'Lightnin' Hopkins, Mance Lipscomb, Mississippi Fred MacDowell, and others. Yet, Bernie Pearl is no hidebound traditionalist. As music critics and aficionados have said for years, he is a craftsman who packs his songs with melodic interpretations that are new and personal each time he picks up his vintage Martin or National. To hear him tell it, "I'm not a retro player. I'm playing real blues for right now." Bernie, who grew up in the Los Angeles community of Boyle Heights, took up the guitar in the 1950's. Later, at his brother's legendary blues showcase, the Ash Grove, he met, studied with, and often performed with greats like Hopkins, Lipscomb, and MacDowell as well as with Freddie King, Albert Collins, and Big Mama Thornton. Bernie played duets with John Lee Hooker at Gerde's Folk City in Greenwich ...