Adam Gussow Harmonica Player Of The Month

Message from JP Allen –

“As far as harmonica goes, Adam Gussow is a global phenomenon. He first caught my attention in his mind blowing duo, Satan and Adam. Then he offered the harmonica world a massive contribution through his instructional harmonica videos on YouTube.

Thank you Adam! Thank you for being my friend, my teacher… and thank you for bringing a whole lot of fun into my world and to the lives of so many harmonica players!” Your buddy, JP

If you don’t already know him, well Adam is one of the finest blues harmonica players of this era. He is also a teacher who is generously sharing his art and knowledge with all of us. I’m writing this post to honor him for inspiring and teaching us for so many years!

Some background about Adam:
Adam was born and raised in suburban New York. He completed his undergraduate studies at Princeton University in 1979. After graduating, he met harmonica player Nat Riddles and started taking lessons from him. Nat Riddles honed his playing by teaching him the ins and outs of blues harmonica and transformed him into a true blues man.

In the mid-’80s, Adam met blues singer and guitarist Sterling “Mr. Satan” Magee on the streets of New York City, and the two started playing on the street of New York. Their duo quickly became famous, and took a prominent place in the New York blues scene. For the next twelve years, they toured and performed all over the world and released three albums as “Satan and Adam” – Harlem Blues (1992), Mother Mojo (1993) and Living on the River (1996)

In 2007, Adam started the “Dirty-South Blues Harp” channel on YouTube with the decision to “give it all away”. His channel quickly became very popular amongst harmonica players and created a following of thousands of subscribers worldwide.

The videos that Adam puts on his channel are pure gems for a disciple of the blues harmonica. If you want to learn the secrets of blues harmonica, you have to check out what he is doing. Through his YouTube channel and his website (ModernBluesHarmonica.com), Adam is providing top-notch harmonica instructions in the form of downloadable videos and tab sheets for everyone.

Adam’s first solo album, “Kick and Stomp.” Sitting behind a foot drum with a harmonica in hand, Adam goes solo and does a one man band act doing everything – singing, blowing amplified harp, and stomping some thumpy rhythms on this CD. Here’s a video of Adam playing “Crossroad Blues” that’s on the album:

Adam also released an album under the duo, The Blues Doctors. It’s called “Roosters Happy Hour”. Check Here to check it out.

Adam has also released an unabridged audiobook version of his blues memoir, Mister Satan’s Apprentice. Check Here to check it out.

He’s just amazing. His energy and passion seem to overflow! I really respect and admire Adam Gussow for the work that he’s doing. He’s a constant source of inspiration for me, and for countless harmonica players all over the world. I hope he continues his work for many more years to come. Thank you Adam!

Exciting News Added to This Blog!

After years of chipping away, Adam published an awesome and entertaining “harmonica story” you’ve got to check out. Here’s what Amazon has to say:

Busker’s Holiday by Adam Gussow, “a taut, sexy first novel about the summer busking scene in Europe and a pair of wild-hearted young men who make a pitch for fame and glory, finding a girl or two along the way. Busker’s Holiday is the story of McKay Chernoff, a Columbia University grad student with a harmonica in his pocket and a blues band in his background. Desolate and despairing after a disastrous romantic breakup, McKay decides to fly off to Paris and reinvent himself as a street performer.”

Click here to go the Amazon page.

Here’s a short video in which Adam describes the book:

More Exciting News….

On October 2, 2017 the University of North Carolina Press will be publishing Adam’s new book, Beyond the Crossroads: The Devil and the Blues Tradition. Check it out here on Amazon.

(Article by Contributing Writers: Ashish Derhgawen & JP Allen)

P.S. Please let me know if you enjoyed this blog and what you thought of Adam in the comments section below.