Gene Campbell

Gene Campbell was a blues singer-songwriter born in 1934. He came up playing in Mississippi juke joints and cotton fields, and his music had that raw, direct quality you'd expect from someone who lived that life. His song 'Robbing And Stealing Blues' from 1968 captures that feeling pretty well, it's the kind of track that sounds like it was recorded straight from the floorboards.

He put out a few albums in the late 60s and early 70s, including 'Down in Mississippi' and 'The Blues Came Down.' The music pulls from traditional Delta blues, but you can hear some of the psychedelic and soul influences creeping in from that era too. He worked with people like Sonny Boy Williamson II and Muddy Waters along the way.

Campbell died in 1975. His personal life was difficult, and that sometimes overshadowed the music. But when you listen to 'Wandering Blues' or the rest of his recordings, what comes through is that unvarnished, grounded blues sound he picked up in Mississippi.