Bman's Blues Report

Doc Span Blues Master Born in Hoboken, New Jersey, the young Doc entertained Dutch sailors at his Grandmothers saloon on the New York waterfront, playing the accordion. In the late sixties and into the seventies he made Chicago his home and learned the harmonica at Blues Clubs like the Checkerboard Lounge and Ma Beas on the Westside, while working as a paramedic at the notorious Cook County Jail. After a stint in the Navy, in 1972 Doc hitchhiked through 12 Latin American countries jamming with the locals. His move back to Chicago found him playing with Willie Kent and the Beehives. The band featured blues figureheads Fenton Robinson, Johnnie Littlejohn and many others. Forming his own band, Two Fisted Blues, he made Santa Fe (New Mexico) his base for touring the Rockies to Alaska, playing hundreds of gigs at Rocky Mountain ski resorts and opening shows for Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Legendary Blues Band and others. He also led a National Park trail crew, in the summers on th...