Blues Moments in Time – October 24: Whoops, Hollers & World Stages

Join Kelvin Huggins as he dives deep into the tangled roots and resonant echoes of October 23rd in blues history.

October 24 stands tall in blues history—a date that connects the raw genius of the rural South to stages around the world. We celebrate the birth of harmonica legend Sonny Terry in 1911, whose whooping, hollering harmonica could make you hear trains screaming through the Georgia night and hound dogs on the chase. Born Saunders Terrell in Greensboro, blinded by tragedy, he turned his instrument into a voice that could laugh, cry, and howl with pure joy and pure pain.

But this date gives us more than one story. In 1962, James Brown recorded Live at the Apollo, building an electric bridge between soul and blues that changed music forever. We lost Fats Domino on this day in 2017, remembering how he brought blues-rooted rock and roll into every living room in America. And we'll trace the thread from the Delta all the way to Australia, where October blues festivals keep this living tradition alive in the Southern Hemisphere spring.

From Sonny Terry's forty-year partnership with Brownie McGhee to Carnegie Hall and Broadway, from juke joints to the global stage—this is the story of October 24, when blues became the world's music.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Listen Tomorrow for: Another Blues Moment in Time

Keep the blues alive.

© 2025 The Blues Hotel Collective.