In the weeks before her death she won her twenty-ninth Blues Music Award, the most for any artist ever.

VOA: special.2009.06.12

The owner of Sun Records, Sam Phillips,had been looking for a white performer who could sing black rhythm and blues.

VOA: special.2010.04.04

Motown is known for its special sound that was influenced by jazz, gospel and rhythm and blues.

VOA: special.2009.05.11

The three Mexican brothers from Texas have earned high praise for their mixture of rock,blues,soul and a kind of Mexican-Texan music called Tejano.

VOA: special.2010.08.02

Years later her love for the blues would earn her the title "Queen of the Blues."

VOA: special.2009.06.12

Later,he won a National Book Critics Circle award for "The Land Where the Blues Began,"

VOA: special.2010.01.25

Country music was for white people, while black people performed rhythm and blues music.

VOA: special.2010.04.02

Irma,who was recently inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame, says retirement is not an option for her right now.

VOA: standard.2009.12.25

They played alongside Muddy Waters for 10 years, before launching The Legendary Blues Band with three other members of Muddy's backup group.

VOA: standard.2010.07.20

After all,they've known each other for over 40 years, meeting for the first time in a band led by blues great Muddy Waters.

VOA: standard.2010.07.20

Her passion for the blues began at home, where she listened to records by Muddy Waters, Bessie Smith and Memphis Minnie on the radio.

VOA: standard.2009.06.18

In 2008,he won his first two awards with his band,The Workers, for Best Blues Album of the Year and Best Blues Band of the Year.

VOA: standard.2010.08.04

Three years later, he was one of four recipients of the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album, "Last Of The Great Mississippi Delta Bluesman: Live In Dallas."

VOA: standard.2010.07.20

Leaving Texas for the bright lights of Chicago, Miller made a name for himself on the city's electrifying blues circuit, playing in groups led by Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters and Buddy Guy.

VOA: standard.2010.06.27

Among them, a Grammy for Best Traditional Blues Album, the Blues Foundation's Lifetime Achievement Award, induction into the Blues Hall of Fame, and a National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship Award.

VOA: standard.2009.06.18

"Back before there were any awards of any kind for this kind of music, the reward for a blues man was a pocket full of change , some bills at the end of the night, and the knowledge that you've got a place to sleep out of the rain and the wind.

VOA: standard.2010.08.04