B.B. King (birth name Riley B. King), was born in Itta Bena, Mississippi in 1925.  HIs career began in 1949 when he signed with Los Angeles-based RPM Records.  B.B. King's influence over modern day blues and rock-n-roll cannot be understated, with nearly every Bluesman and rock-n-roller paying their respects to the 'King of the Blues.'  B.B. King died on May 14th at his home in Las Vegas, Nevada.

NXNE (North by Northeast) announces the first wave of programming as part of NXNE Film. Presented in partnership with Hot Docs, NXNE Film will screen more than 30 movies from June 13-16 at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema and at alternative spaces throughout the city of Toronto.

The legend of the Delta Blues is a somber story. Its grandfather died at the age of twenty-seven under debated circumstances. The legacy that Robert Leroy Johnson left Mississippi was a new style of guitar playing and singing that would eventually become the predominant defining form of American roots music. Nearly every style of American-born music can be structurally traced back to blues. Jazz and Rock ‘n’ Roll is blues music, and wouldn’t have been birthed without that foundational backbone.