R.J. Mischo (born March 18, 1960) is an American

electric blues Electric blues is blues music distinguished by the use of electric amplification for musical instruments. The guitar was the first instrument to be popularly amplified and used by early pioneers T-Bone Walker in the late 1930s and John Lee Ho ...

harmonicist, singer, songwriter, and record producer. To date he has released twelve albums on a number of labels, and his music has been aired on independent film scores, television commercials, and documentaries on the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience. It init ...

. Mischo has contributed to a couple of

Mel Bay Melbourne Earl Bay (February 25, 1913 – May 14, 1997), known professionally as Mel Bay, was an American musician and publisher best known for his series of music education books. His '' Encyclopedia of Guitar Chords'', first published in 197 ...

harmonica instruction books. In addition, he was listed in that author's ''The Encyclopedia of Harmonica''. Mischo's own compositions, "King of a Mighty Good Time" and "Two Hours From Tulsa", were both number one on the playlist at Sirius XM Radio. His album releases, ''Knowledge You Can't Get in College'' and ''Make It Good'', made the Top 50 in ''

Living Blues ''Living Blues: The Magazine of the African American Blues Tradition'' is a bi-monthly magazine focused on blues music, and America's oldest blues periodical. The magazine was founded as a quarterly in Chicago in 1970 by Jim O'Neal and Amy van ...

'' albums of the year listings.

Life and career

Robert Joseph Mischo was born in

Chilton, Wisconsin Chilton is a city in and county seat of Calumet County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 3,720 as of 2024. The city is partially within the Town of Chilton. History The first residents of Chilton were African-American form ...

, United States. He was the youngest of four brothers, all of whom were proficient in a musical instrument. Mischo himself began playing the harmonica aged nine and ten years later was working as a professional musician. His passion for the blues was further ignited after attending a

Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913April 30, 1983), better known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer-songwriter and musician who was an important figure in the post-World War II blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of moder ...

concert. He began playing in and around

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

, Minnesota in the late 1970s, and was soon in contact with a number of other blues musicians from that area. These included

Percy Strother Percy Lee Strother (July 23, 1946 – May 29, 2005) was an American electric blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. After a tragic start in life, from the mid 1970s, Strother went on to become a mainstay of the Minneapolis blues scene. His mu ...

, Milwaukee Slim, Sonny Rogers, George "Mojo" Buford, and

Lazy Bill Lucas Lazy Bill Lucas (May 29, 1918 – December 11, 1982) was an American blues musician who was part of the birth of the Chicago blues scene in the 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s. He then took his talents to Minneapolis, Minnesota, becoming an import ...

. Around the same time, he befriended

Lynwood Slim Lynwood Slim (born Richard Dennis Duran, August 19, 1953, Los Angeles, California; died August 4, 2014) was an American blues harmonica player and singing, singer. Slim was best known as a singer in the style of smooth easy jazz/blues, as well as ...

, who gave the younger Mischo tips and guidance on playing the harmonica. His other friendship with Mojo Buford lasted the latter's lifetime. After playing solo for a while, Mischo formed Blues Deluxe, which the ''

Star Tribune ''The Minnesota Star Tribune'', formerly the ''Minneapolis Star Tribune'', is an American daily newspaper based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As of 2023, it is Minnesota's largest newspaper and the List of newspapers in the United States, seventh- ...

'' commented was "Minnesota's hardest working blues band". He later formed R.J. Mischo & the Teddy Morgan Blues Band, which released ''Ready to Go'' in 1992 on Blue Loon Records. The album got a good response and Mischo was nominated for several local awards. In 1994, he and his band toured across Europe and appeared at the

Notodden Blues Festival Notodden Blues Festival (NBF) is one of the largest blues music festivals in Europe and the largest in Scandinavia. The festival is held in Notodden, Norway, usually the first weekend August. It has been running annually since 1988. The festival ...

. In December 1995, Mischo's album, ''Gonna Rock Tonight'', was released on Blue Loon Records. The album's cover stated it featured Teddy "Kid" Morgan, Bruce McCabe, Billy Black and Rob Stupka, ostensibly his renamed 'Red Hot Blues Band'. The album contained his

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

s of

Snooky Pryor James Edward "Snooky" Pryor (September 15, 1919 or 1921 – October 18, 2006) was an American Chicago blues harmonica player. He claimed to have pioneered the now-common method of playing amplified harmonica by cupping a small microphone in hi ...

's, "Judgment Day" and

Sonny Boy Williamson II Alex or Aleck Miller (originally Ford, possibly December 5, 1912 – May 24, 1965), known later in his career as Sonny Boy Williamson, was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter. He was an early and influential blues harp s ...

's "Bye Bye Bird".

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

noted "R.J. Mischo resurrects the glory days of '50s Chicago harp-playing..." The following year, ''Rough N Tough'' was released by CrossCut Records, the first of five albums of his that were issued by that German

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small and medium-sized enterprise, small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels ...

. In 1996, Mitscho relocated to San Francisco, California, where he established his reputation by appearing at venues and festivals across the United States, and in Europe. In San Francisco he recorded ''West Wind Blowin (1999), which included guest appearances by

Steve Freund Steve Freund (born July 20, 1952, Brooklyn, Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, United States), is an American blues guitarist, singer, bandleader and record producer. Freund has toured throughout the United States (including sto ...

and

Rusty Zinn Rusty Zinn (born April 3, 1970 in Long Beach, California, United States) is an American electric blues and reggae guitarist and singer-songwriter. Zinn released six albums between 1996 and 2009, on Black Top, Alligator, Bad Daddy, and 9 Above ...

on guitar and vocals. In 1997, ''Cool Disposition'', was issued by CrossCut Records, and in June 2000, Mischo played at the second annual Apple River Blues Festival in River's Edge Park,

Somerset, Wisconsin Somerset is a village in St. Croix County, Wisconsin, along the Apple River. The population was 3,019 at the 2020 census. The village is located within the Town of Somerset. History Somerset was named by General Samuel Harriman after his fa ...

. His move to California also led to him meeting fellow harmonica players such as

Rod Piazza Rod Piazza (born December 18, 1947, Riverside, California) is an American blues harmonica player and singer. He has been playing with his band The Mighty Flyers, which he formed with his pianist wife Honey Piazza, since 1980. Their boogie sound ...

Kim Wilson Kim Wilson (born January 6, 1951) is an American blues singer and harmonica player. He is best known as the lead vocalist and frontman for The Fabulous Thunderbirds on two hit songs of the 1980s, " Tuff Enuff" (which was the group's only Top ...

Mark Hummel Mark Hummel (born December 15, 1955) is an American blues harmonica player, vocalist, songwriter, and long-time bandleader of the Blues Survivors. Since 1991, Hummel has produced the Blues Harmonica Blowout tour, of which he is also a featured pe ...

and Andy Just. Albums including ''Meet Me on the Coast'' (2002), ''He Came to Play'' (2006), ''King of a Mighty Good Time'' (2008) and ''Knowledge You Can't Get in College'' (2010) all followed. Mischo continued to develop his own style, normally using the resources of pick-up bands while on tour and session musicians in the recording studio. His 2014 album, ''Everything I Need'', had Jeremy Johnson and Frank Krakowski on guitar, Bruce McCabe (piano) and a rhythm section of Billy Black and Victor Span. ''Make It Good'', was issued on

Delta Groove Productions Delta Groove Productions is an American blues record label in Van Nuys, California, United States. The label was founded by Randy Chortkoff ( Rand Jay Chortkoff; 1949–2015), a producer, concert promoter, and harmonica player. Chortkoff's biog ...

two years before, although Mischo enjoyed the extra freedom of self-releasing most of his more recent output. ''Make It Good'' featured

Johnny Moeller Johnny Moeller (born Jon Kelly Moeller, October 31, 1970) is an American guitarist, currently with The Fabulous Thunderbirds. Born in Fort Worth, Texas, Johnny started playing guitar in his early teens. Over the years Moeller's main influences ...

and

Nick Curran Nick Curran (September 30, 1977 – October 6, 2012) was an American blues/rock and roll singer and guitarist. He has been likened to T-Bone Walker, Little Richard, The Sonics, Doug Sahm, Misfits (band), Misfits Eddie Cochran Early life Ni ...

among the guest performers. Mischo has also assisted as an instructor at several of

Jon Gindick Jon Gindick (born September 10, 1948, Hollywood, California, United States) is an American best-selling musical instruction author. His books, CDs, and videos on playing the blues harmonica have sold over 2,000,000 copies. He puts on 'Blues Harm ...

's Harmonica Jam Camps in

Clarksdale, Mississippi Clarksdale is a city in and the county seat of Coahoma County, Mississippi, Coahoma County, Mississippi, United States. It is located along the Sunflower River. Clarksdale is named after John Clark, a settler who founded the city in the mid-19t ...

. Mischo is endorsed by

Hohner Hohner Musikinstrumente GmbH & Co. KG is a German manufacturer of musical instruments, founded in 1857 by Matthias Hohner (1833–1902). It is a subsidiary of Matth. Hohner AG. The roots of the Hohner firm are in Trossingen, Baden-Württemberg ...

harmonicas. He currently resides in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

Discography

Albums

References

External links

Official websitePartial discography @ Discogs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mischo, RJ 1960 births Living people 20th-century American singers 21st-century American singers American blues singers American blues harmonica players Record producers from Wisconsin Contemporary blues musicians Electric blues musicians Musicians from Minneapolis People from Chilton, Wisconsin Singers from Wisconsin Songwriters from Wisconsin Songwriters from Minnesota Singers from Minnesota

Life and career

Discography

Albums

See also

References

External links