On this episode, we zoom in on a single date—February 1st—and uncover how it became a crossroads of freedom, protest, and musical reinvention in blues history. We trace the arc from the 1865 signing of the 13th Amendment and National Freedom Day to the start of Black History Month, framing the blues as a living “sonic record” of the journey from emancipation to the ongoing fight for equality.

We then move to Greensboro, 1960, where four students at a lunch counter helped turn the old Delta moan into a sharper, louder weapon for justice, reshaping the blues into music of direct protest. From there, we drop the needle on February 1st, 1965, as James Brown records “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag,” bending the 12‑bar form into a new rhythmic heartbeat and pushing the blues into funk for a new generation.

Along the way, we honor the births of poet Langston Hughes—whose pages “bled blues”—and slide guitar visionary Sonny Landreth, as well as the passing of Chicago Westside masters John Little John and Jimmy Johnson. February 1st emerges not just as a date, but as a living marker of how the blues remembers, resists, and reinvents itself.

Hosted by: Kelvin Huggins

Presented by: The Blues Hotel Collective

Keep the blues alive.

© 2026 The Blues Hotel Collective.