The rough guide to the blues

"The Rough Guide to Blues" gives you the complete lowdown on all the grittiest singers, bottleneck guitarists, belt-it-out divas and wailing harmonica players that made the most influential music of the last century.

From music legend B.B. King to folk hero Robert Johnson, the guide includes detailed profiles of hundreds of artists and critical reviews of their best albums.

The fascinating story is told in full - how the blues crawled from the Mississippi Delta, went electric in the big cities, and spread across the world - with feature boxes on topics like boogie woogie, gospel and the best blues record labels.

Check out the ten greatest slide-guitar tracks - or the ten most miserable "woke up this mornin"s with the handy playlists that help you to pick'n'choose quick "best of's" to download to your iPod or MP3 player.