A History of the Blues

“Poor Howard” Stith has been performing 12-string barrelhouse blues for over forty years and showed that Delta blues could be found at both ends of the Mississippi. A fellow Minneapolis performer nicknamed him “Poor Howard” after the Leadbelly song and it stuck. Poor Howard’s blues style is drawn from the tradition of Leadbelly and Blind Willy McTell, His guitar style and poignant vocals can carry the listener into the world of rowdy barrelhouses or into the field at the end of a long day of weeding crops.Poor Howard Stith will be our guide for an excursion into the history of the blues.