If you’re a fan of Muddy Waters and Bo Diddley, or even Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, and Rolling Stones, then you’ve heard the songs of Willie Dixon. This season, Big Head Todd and the Monsters will join forces with two second-generation blues stars, Mud Morganfield and Billy Branch, to pay tribute to one of the pillars of modern blues, and one of the most influential songwriters of early rock and roll. A Rock and Roll Hall of Fame legend, Dixon has been called the “poet laureate of the blues,” having written over 500 songs, including such immortal hits as “You Shook Me”, “You Can’t Judge a Book by the Cover”, “Wang Dang Doodle”, “Spoonful”, “Little Red Rooster,” “I Just Wanna Make Love to You,” “Hoochie Coochie Man,” and “Bring It On Home.” Big Head Todd and the Monsters are best known for their platinum-selling record Sister Sweetly, and from that record the hit song “Bittersweet,” but have also been fans of blues music since their first days together playing music in high school.

 In 1997 they recorded a song with John Lee Hooker for their album Beautiful World, but it was in 2011 that the band really delved into the blues with their first Big Head Blues Club project, 100 years of Robert Johnson, which featured guest appearances by BB King, Hubert Sumlin, Charlie Musselwhite, Honeyboy Edwards, and more.  Joining the band for this tour will be two great blues singers with royal blood. Mud Morganfield is the eldest son of Muddy Waters and has been taking the world’s blues festivals by storm of late and recently released a Blues Music Award-winning album with Fabulous Thunderbirds frontman Kim Wilson. Billy Branch is a three-time Grammy Award nominee and played harmonica in Willie Dixon’s Chicago Blues All-Stars band.