Blues With a Twist

50 years of behind the scenes blues adventures as told by internationally known blues drummer Twist Turner.

Get a behind-the-scenes look at what it was like for a still wet-behind-the-ears young blues drummer from Seattle to move to Chicago, where he headed straight for the ghetto and become immersed and accepted in the blues local blues scene. Having worked with a literal who’s who of the blues over the last four decades there are plenty of great stories to tell.

During the course of his 53-year musical career songwriter, producer and drummer Twist Turner has worked with over 40 Grammy Award winners and or nominees and countless W.C.Handy/BMA winners. Twist was raised in Seattle and began his musical career playing and recording with the late West coast bluesman and guitar god Isaac Scott. In 1975 Twist packed his bags and moved to Chicago. Within a matter of months he was working with all his musical idols. In 1977 he got the most prestigious house gig in Chicago at Theresa's Lounge with the Jr. Wells Blues Band, and except for a very short stint with Buddy Guy's band he kept that gig for the better part of 2 years. Twist has literally worked with the who's who of the blues music world. He used to joke that it was much easier to name the 1/2 dozen blues artists that he hadn't worked with than to name the ones he had, and he was probably right. In 1984 he left Chicago and moved to New Orleans a city known for it’s rich musical traditions. In 1985 he headed back to Seattle for a year then moved to the San Francisco Bay Area for a period of over 5 years. Missing the big city life in 1991 he decided to head back to Chicago. Twist got his gig back with Little Arthur Duncan pretty much right away. He played with him off and on for 31 years till his death in 2008. Following Arthur's death, Twist began working regularly with Mary Lane's band and taking the occasional gig with Elmore James Jr. In 2012 Twist moved back to the Bay Area where he currently resides. He can be found playing and recording with some of the Bay Area's finest blues and R&B musicians. Twist has played on over 60 records and DVD's. He continues to record and produce to this day, he always has a project or two in the works.