Sometimes an opportunity presents itself and you’ve just got to take it while you can! While recently at local gig at God’s Kitchen in Mornington by acclaimed American-born musician Jerome Smith (formerly of Keith Richards X-Pensive Winos and The Divinyls), blues harmonica legend Billy Branch (Willie Dixon, Sons of the Blues) just happened to be in my part of the world on vacation. Billy introduced himself to Jerome that night, who called him up on stage to perform Willie Dixon’s Spoonful. It was a moment to savour. A few days later I tracked down Billy via his partner/manager Rosa and was able to organise an exclusive interview during a very slim window of time before he flew home to prepare for the famous blues cruise.
In conversation with Australian Musician editor Greg Phillips, legendary Chicago blues harmonica player Billy Branch reflects on a life immersed in the blues, a journey shaped as much by community, history and discipline as by raw musical feeling. Watch interview below.
MORE ABOUT THE INTERVIEW
Branch recalls that music wasn’t a constant presence in his childhood home. Growing up between Chicago and Los Angeles, his early exposure came largely from the radio. Everything changed on August 30, 1969, when he attended a landmark blues festival in Chicago produced by Willie Dixon. Featuring giants such as Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, James Cotton and Big Walter Horton, the event marked the first time Branch truly heard and felt the blues. Though he had taught himself harmonica as a child, that day revealed the instrument’s expressive power and set him on an entirely new path.
Returning to Chicago for college, Branch found himself at the epicentre of a thriving blues scene where multiple world-class players could be heard any night of the week. What began as curiosity quickly became immersion. Seven years after that first festival, Branch found himself playing harmonica for Willie Dixon, a ful-circle moment that would define his musical and professional life. Under Dixon’s guidance, Branch absorbed not only musical knowledge but also a deep sense of discipline, professionalism and cultural pride, learning that the blues was both an art form and a living history.
Branch’s rise continued through his work with Dixon’s Chicago Blues All-Stars and later as a founding member of The Sons of Blues, alongside the sons of Willie Dixon, Carey Bell and Clifton James. Although he never set out to be a bandleader or even a musician, initially planning a career in law, the blues gradually claimed him. Chicago’s communal club culture became his university, where sitting in with masters like James Cotton, Junior Wells and Big Walter Horton provided an education no classroom could replicate.
Known for blending traditional Chicago blues with broader musical influences, Branch says this openness was never calculated. Growing up in the 1960s, he absorbed everything from Motown to The Beatles, and later embraced global collaborations that reinforced his belief that there are no boundaries in music. For Branch, the blues exists everywhere. as Willie Dixon once said, it is simply “the facts of life.”
That philosophy carries into his recent work, including his latest album The Blues Is My Biography, recorded between Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area. The record reflects both personal storytelling and social commentary, continuing a thread seen in earlier works like The Ballad of George Floyd. Branch believes artists have a responsibility to speak to their times, especially given the gravity of today’s social and political climate.
Now an outspoken advocate for blues education, Branch sees hope in a new generation of young players leading what he describes as a modern blues renaissance. Looking back on his career, from Harp Attack to global tours, Branch hopes to be remembered simply as someone who helped spread the power and universality of the blues. “Everyone gets the blues,” he says and in that shared human experience lies its enduring strength.
Billy Branch’s New Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Billy-Branch/94616233708
Buy ‘The Blues Is My Biography’ on ROSA’S LOUNGE RECORDS. AMAZON. APPLE MUSIC. JUNO