{ "ok" : true, "artist" : { "name" : "Bluesboy Jag", "page" : "jag", "description" : "authentic 1920's solo blues guitar", "location" : "AR, USA", "bio" : "I started playing rock guitar in 1978. OK, I banged on it a few times in 1976 but that doesn't count. I started playing in a cover band in Little Rock while still in high school. You know the story; Zep, Who, Stones, Skynyrd, etc.\n\nI did that for a few years then started to teach guitar while in college. I opened up my own recording studio in 1984 (still in business) and recorded about 40 90 minute cassettes of my own music over the next 20+ years. This was more experimental/rock/imporovisation music in the vein of old Pink Floyd or Captain Beeheart.\n\nI got into blues after discovering Robert Johnson and RL Burnside in 1998. I had heard lots of blues over the years but the only artist I really liked was Stevie Ray Vaughan. My music sounds nothing like him however. I had put down my guitar for a few years after getting hooked on computers. I only played sporadically but I noticed that I was abscent mindedly playing old blues riffs.\n\nI remembered that I had the Robert Johnson box set from the 30's and I started listening to it, not really intending to learn that style. A co-worker at the time was listening to internet radio and one fo the stations played lots of old blues artists like Son House, Mississippi Fred McDowell and of coure Robert Johnson. I was immediately hooked on the raw, funky style and investigated further.\n\nLearning these songs by ear was difficult as many are tuned differently from traditional guitar tunings and many artists of that era used capos to change keys which made it almost impossible to figure out what the tunings were. Eventually I stumbled across a video of Bukka White playing what looked like open E tuning. I tried it and voila! I was playing Robert Johnson licks in no time.\n\nI recorded my first 4 cd's in a little less than 12 months, 3 more followed in quick succsession.\n\nAfter years of playing complicated and almost orchestrated music that took days or weeks to record one song, it was refreshing to be able to knock out several songs in a day with just a guitar and a microphone. The fingerstyle picking allows the guitarist to use the thumb for the bass notes the the first and second fingers for the melody and chords. A full band can be imitated with just one guitar in this manner. This is one of the defining techniques of country blues (also know as delta blues). I've also taken up the blues harp which is featured in many of my songs as a solo or melodic intrument.\n\nI'm also recording what I call 'full band' blues at home on my trusty Apple Mac which includes electric guitar, bass, drums, and even some electronica influences. Many of these songs reference the minimal sounds of the Chess Records recordings of Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and Little Walter. So far I have recorded two CD's of 'electric blues'. I hope you enjoy my music - many people believe the blues is a dyiing art from ut nothing coudl be further from the truth, if anything it's growing and web sites like Magnatune can do nothing but help further 'the cause'.", "photo" : "https://magnatune.com/artists/img/bluesboy_jag.jpg", "web_url" : "https://magnatune.com/artists/jag/", "albums" : [{ "sku" : "jag-bumpbeer", "name" : "A Bump and a Beer", "artist" : { "name" : "Bluesboy Jag", "page" : "jag" }, "release_date" : "2011-09-29", "genres" : ["Jazz","Blues","Vocal"], "vocals" : "vocals", "moods" : ["nostalgic","gritty","reflective","hypnotic","melancholic"], "uses" : ["documentary","period drama or history","podcast background","emotional storytelling","slideshow or memories"], "energy" : 2, "instrumentation" : ["slide guitar","cigar box guitar","foot drums","harmonica","male vocals"], "sounds_like" : [], "summary" : "Authentic 1920s-style solo hill country blues with slide and cigar box guitars, foot drums, and harmonica; ideal for historical, reflective, or atmospheric audio projects.", "cover" : "https://magnatune.com/music/Bluesboy%20Jag/A%20Bump%20and%20a%20Beer/cover_400.jpg", "web_url" : "https://magnatune.com/artists/albums/jag-bumpbeer/", "api_url" : "https://magnatune.com/api/albums/jag-bumpbeer", "buy_url" : "https://magnatune.com/buy/album?sku=jag-bumpbeer" },{ "sku" : "jag-four", "name" : "Four Strings", "artist" : { "name" : "Bluesboy Jag", "page" : "jag" }, "release_date" : "2007-04-17", "genres" : ["Jazz","Blues","Instrumental Jazz"], "vocals" : "instrumental", "moods" : ["nostalgic","warm","reflective","calm","tender","gritty"], "uses" : ["documentary","period drama or history","podcast background","cafe or restaurant","emotional storytelling","slideshow or memories"], "energy" : 2, "instrumentation" : ["acoustic guitar","cigar box guitar","male vocals"], "sounds_like" : [], "summary" : "Authentic 1920s solo acoustic blues guitar with warm, intimate vocals—ideal for nostalgic, reflective, or historically grounded projects.", "cover" : "https://magnatune.com/music/Bluesboy%20Jag/Four%20Strings/cover_400.jpg", "web_url" : "https://magnatune.com/artists/albums/jag-four/", "api_url" : "https://magnatune.com/api/albums/jag-four", "buy_url" : "https://magnatune.com/buy/album?sku=jag-four" },{ "sku" : "jag-prettygirl", "name" : "Pretty Girl Blues", "artist" : { "name" : "Bluesboy Jag", "page" : "jag" }, "release_date" : "2004-01-22", "genres" : ["Jazz","Blues","Instrumental Jazz"], "vocals" : "instrumental", "moods" : ["nostalgic","playful","reflective","melancholic","tender"], "uses" : ["period drama or history","documentary","podcast background","cafe or restaurant","slideshow or memories","emotional storytelling"], "energy" : 2, "instrumentation" : ["acoustic guitar","solo blues guitar","vocal blues"], "sounds_like" : [], "summary" : "Authentic 1920s solo acoustic blues guitar with vocals, evoking vintage Americana—ideal for period pieces, reflective documentaries, and nostalgic background use.", "cover" : "https://magnatune.com/music/Bluesboy%20Jag/Pretty%20Girl%20Blues/cover_400.jpg", "web_url" : "https://magnatune.com/artists/albums/jag-prettygirl/", "api_url" : "https://magnatune.com/api/albums/jag-prettygirl", "buy_url" : "https://magnatune.com/buy/album?sku=jag-prettygirl" },{ "sku" : "jag-juke", "name" : "Juke Joint Boogie", "artist" : { "name" : "Bluesboy Jag", "page" : "jag" }, "release_date" : "2004-01-07", "genres" : ["Jazz","Blues","Instrumental Jazz"], "vocals" : "instrumental", "moods" : ["nostalgic","groovy","gritty","reflective","energetic","melancholic"], "uses" : ["period drama or history","documentary","podcast background","cafe or restaurant","road trip","emotional storytelling"], "energy" : 4, "instrumentation" : ["acoustic guitar","solo blues guitar","vocals"], "sounds_like" : [], "summary" : "Authentic 1920s solo blues guitar with vocals, groovy and nostalgic—ideal for period dramas, documentaries, and atmospheric background in cafes or road trip videos.", "cover" : "https://magnatune.com/music/Bluesboy%20Jag/Juke%20Joint%20Boogie/cover_400.jpg", "web_url" : "https://magnatune.com/artists/albums/jag-juke/", "api_url" : "https://magnatune.com/api/albums/jag-juke", "buy_url" : "https://magnatune.com/buy/album?sku=jag-juke" },{ "sku" : "jag-cypress", "name" : "Cypress Grove Blues", "artist" : { "name" : "Bluesboy Jag", "page" : "jag" }, "release_date" : "2004-01-04", "genres" : ["Jazz","Blues","Instrumental Jazz"], "vocals" : "instrumental", "moods" : ["nostalgic","melancholic","reflective","gritty","warm"], "uses" : ["period drama or history","documentary","podcast background","emotional storytelling","slideshow or memories","interview bed"], "energy" : 2, "instrumentation" : ["acoustic guitar","male vocals"], "sounds_like" : [], "summary" : "Authentic 1920s solo blues guitar with vocals, evoking rural American roots; ideal for historical, reflective, or emotionally grounded audiovisual projects.", "cover" : "https://magnatune.com/music/Bluesboy%20Jag/Cypress%20Grove%20Blues/cover_400.jpg", "web_url" : "https://magnatune.com/artists/albums/jag-cypress/", "api_url" : "https://magnatune.com/api/albums/jag-cypress", "buy_url" : "https://magnatune.com/buy/album?sku=jag-cypress" }] }, "license" : { "music_license" : "Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 1.0 (CC BY-NC-SA 1.0)", "music_license_url" : "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/1.0/", "listening" : "Stream the free previews, or buy an album for $8 to download it in MP3, AAC, ALAC, FLAC, OGG or WAV. 100% of the price goes to the musician.", "non_commercial" : "Non-commercial projects may use the music under CC BY-NC-SA 1.0: credit the artist and Magnatune, and share alike.", "projects" : "Magnatune members may use any Magnatune music in their projects, commercial or not (videos, films, podcasts, games, apps, websites, adverts), including work for clients, under the Magnatune Project Licence. Projects released while a member stay licensed for good; new projects need an active membership. Credit is required. TV or radio broadcast, cinema, and background music in shops, restaurants or on-hold lines are not included: license those from the musician. Membership: $10/month, $99/year or $299 lifetime; agents can buy one themselves with MPP at /api/member-pass ($10 month, $99 year, $299 lifetime, one-off).", "projects_status" : "available", "projects_signup" : "https://magnatune.com/member/signup", "royalty_free" : "Membership is royalty-free licensing: no per-video, per-download or per-view fees, for every project created and released while a member.", "youtube" : "YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, podcasts: members may use the clean songs in monetized videos. Members register their YouTube channel (the set_youtube_channel MCP tool, or their account page) so YouTube's Content ID doesn't claim their videos. The free versions carry a spoken Magnatune voice and are non-commercial (CC BY-NC-SA), so they're not for monetized channels or client work.", "details" : "https://magnatune.com/info/licensing", "how_to_credit" : "Name the artist and \"Magnatune\", with a link to the album's web_url." } }