Blues on the side: A gospel singer as a child, Jontavious Willis made a life-changing discovery around age 14 when he came across a YouTube video of Muddy Waters’ “Hoochie Coochie Man.” The Georgia native became an instant fan, and began his mastery of the Delta, Piedmont, and Texas blues, honing his chops as a fingerpicker, flatpicker, and slide player. Now a college student, Willis picks up gigs with major blues dudes such as Keb’ Mo’ and Taj Mahal between sociology classes at Columbia University. Mahal called him, “a great new voice of the 21st century in the acoustic blues.”
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