The Blues of Howlin' Wolf
Moanin' at Midnight: The Life and Times of Howlin' Wolf hide caption
ยป Read an ExcerptHowlin' Wolf electrified the blues of the Mississippi Delta and laid the foundation of rock and roll in the early 1950s. His lyrics -- delivered in a gruff, haunting voice -- evoked his hard-life experiences.

Detail: The cover 'His Best (Chess 50th Anniversary Collection) .' hide caption
"Wolf's No. 1 weapon was his voice: he used it to brag about his sexual prowess to the ladies, or deliver a threat to the men," Ashley Kahn says in a Morning Edition profile of the late blues giant. "When he sang 'evil is going on,' there was little doubt about it."