Blues Moments in Time - January 10: Birth, Migration, and the Day the Wolf Fell Silent

January 10 runs like a hidden thread through blues history – a single date where beginnings and endings collide. On this day, the business language of Black music was quietly revolutionized by Jerry Wexler, who helped retire the “race records” label and usher in “Rhythm and Blues.” It’s the birthday of Max Roach, whose insistence that music could be a weapon for civil rights reshaped the climate in which blues artists told their truths. And it’s also the day the stage lights dimmed on one of the music’s fiercest architects, when Howlin’ Wolf left this world in 1976.

In this episode of Blues Moments in Time, we trace January 10 across the map – from Mississippi plantations and Southern barracks to Chicago’s Westside clubs and neighborhood bars where the amps still buzz. We meet Eddie “The Chief” Clearwater, who strapped rock and roll fire onto traditional blues, and Byron “Wildchild” Gibson, a working-band lifer who proves the music survives not just in legends, but in local rooms and late nights.

Through these intertwined stories, January 10 becomes more than a date on the calendar. It’s a lens on migration and memory, the fight against segregation, the politics of who gets named and who gets forgotten, and the constant tug-of-war between preserving the roots and chasing the next electric spark.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Keep the blues alive.

© 2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.