Best Blues Music Movies & TV Shows

The story of a mother driven to reach the heights of superstardom at the cost of abandoning her only child.

"Stony Island gives you a priceless look back at Chicago’s South Side neighborhood, at a time when very few films were made in within the city at all — and features a legion of legendary Chicago players (Gene Barge, Phil Upchurch, Larry Ball, Richie Davis, Tennyson Stephens, Ronnie Barron, and a young Susanna Hoffs) alongside Dennis Franz (“NYPD Blue”) and Rae Dawn Chong. Telling the story of a group of multiracial R&B performers, and how they’re affected by the death of a veteran musician from their circle, Stony Island is an incredible time capsule, and provides a sweetly funky soundtrack to boot!" -- The Cinefamily

Featuring all-new, original interviews with Jackson Browne, Don Henley, Michelle Phillips, Graham Nash, Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, Roger McGuinn and more, this uniquely immersive and experiential two-part docuseries takes us back in time to a place where a rustic canyon in the heart of Los Angeles became a musical petri dish.

You Are All Diseased is the 16th album and 11th HBO live broadcast stand-up special by comedian George Carlin, recorded on February 6, 1999, at the Beacon Theater in New York City. "How's Everybody Doin'?" - 0:54 "Airport Security" - 8:02 "Fear of Germs" - 5:58 "Cigars" - 1:39 "Angels" - 1:10 "Harley-Davidson" - 1:23 "House of Blues" - 2:00 "Minority Language" - 2:12 "Man Stuff" - 5:23 "Kids and Parents" - 6:51 "TV Tonight" - 3:53 "Names" - 4:23 "Advertising Lullabye" - 2:37 "American Bullshit" - 2:39 "Businessmen" - 1:26 "Religion" - 2:06 "There is No God" - 8:37

A film about the first benefit rock concert when major musicians performed to raise relief funds for the poor of Bangladesh. The Concert for Bangladesh was a pair of benefit concerts organised by former Beatles guitarist George Harrison and Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar. The shows were held at 2:30 and 8:00 pm on Sunday, 1 August 1971, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, to raise international awareness of, and fund relief for refugees from East Pakistan, following the Bangladesh Liberation War-related genocide.

Boogie Man is a comprehensive look at political strategist, racist, and former Republican National Convention Committee chairman, Lee Atwater, who reinvigorated the Republican Party’s Southern Strategy to increase political support among white voters in the South by appealing to racism against African Americans. He mentored Karl Rove and George W. Bush and played a key role in the elections of Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

During the same summer as Woodstock, over 300,000 people attended the Harlem Cultural Festival, celebrating African American music and culture, and promoting Black pride and unity. The footage from the festival sat in a basement, unseen for over 50 years, keeping this incredible event in America's history lost — until now.

A tale of forbidden love and family drama unravels 40 years of secrets and lies against a soundtrack of juke joint blues in the Deep South.

The film chronicles Nina Simone's journey from child piano prodigy to iconic musician and passionate activist, told in her own words.

Born on a sharecropping plantation in Northern Florida, Ray Charles went blind at seven. Inspired by a fiercely independent mom who insisted he make his own way, He found his calling and his gift behind a piano keyboard. Touring across the Southern musical circuit, the soulful singer gained a reputation and then exploded with worldwide fame when he pioneered coupling gospel and country together.

The story of Mac Conway, a Marine who returns home to Memphis from Vietnam in 1972 and finds himself shunned by those he loves and demonized by the public. As he struggles to cope with his experiences at war, Conway is drawn into a network of killing and corruption that spans the length of the Mississippi River.

This is the story of Mr. Brochu, whose friends like to call "the Boss". He runs his gas station the best he can and tries to stay happy no matter what happens. This movie relates all the small tragedies surrounding the gaz bar, such as hold-ups, competition from the big companies invading the neighbourhood, and the fact that is sons don't seem to be interested in the gas station.

A wanna-be blues guitar virtuoso seeks a long-lost song by legendary musician, Robert Johnson.

In the early 1960s, a quintet of hopeful, young African-American men form an amateur vocal group called The Five Heartbeats. After an initially rocky start, the group improves, turns pro, and rises to become a top flight music sensation. Along the way, however, the guys learn many hard lessons about the reality of the music industry.

The search of several young, white men for blues singers who have been missing for decades coincides with the Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi in the 1960s.

A documentary film about the Afro-American Woodstock concert held in Los Angeles seven years after the Watts riots. Director Mel Stuart mixes footage from the concert with footage of the living conditions in the current day Watts neighborhood. The film won the Golden Globe for Best Documentary Film.

Two quirky, cynical teenaged girls try to figure out what to do with their lives after high school graduation. After they play a prank on an eccentric, middle aged record collector, one of them befriends him, which causes a rift in the girls' friendship.

The filmed account of a large Canadian rock festival train tour boasting major acts. In the summer of 1970, a chartered train crossed Canada carrying some of the world's greatest rock bands. The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, The Band, Buddy Guy, and others lived (and partied) together for five days, stopping in major cities along the way to play live concerts. Their journey was filmed.

The top brass at a radio station believe their popular new star singer is paying more attention to his love life than to his career.

Utilizing the 1920s jazz vocals of Annette Hanshaw, the epic Indian tale of exiled prince Ramayana and his bride Sita is mirrored by a spurned woman's contemporary personal life, and light-hearted but knowledgeable discussion of historical background by a trio of Indian shadow puppets.

In 1959, Berry Gordy Jr. gathered the best musicians from Detroit's thriving jazz and blues scene to begin cutting songs for his new record company. Over a fourteen year period they were the heartbeat on every hit from Motown's Detroit era. By the end of their phenomenal run, this unheralded group of musicians had played on more number ones hits than the Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones, Elvis and the Beatles combined - which makes them the greatest hit machine in the history of popular music. They called themselves the Funk Brothers. Forty-one years after they played their first note on a Motown record and three decades since they were all together, the Funk Brothers reunited back in Detroit to play their music and tell their unforgettable story, with the help of archival footage, still photos, narration, interviews, re-creation scenes, 20 Motown master tracks, and twelve new live performances of Motown classics with the Brothers backing up contemporary performers.

Memphis Beat is an American drama series that debuted on TNT on June 22, 2010 and ended on August 16, 2011. Memphis Beat was officially canceled on October 14, 2011.

Chronicles the rise and fall of legendary blues singer Billie Holiday. Her late childhood, stint as a prostitute, early tours, marriages and drug addiction are featured.

A God-fearing bluesman takes to a wild young woman who, as a victim of childhood sexual abuse, is looking everywhere for love, but never quite finding it.

When plans with her boyfriend fall through, high school senior Chris Parker ends up babysitting the Anderson kids, Brad and Sara. What should be a quiet night in, however, turns into a series of ridiculous exploits, starting when they leave the house to pick up Chris' friend Brenda. Soon, Brad's buddy Daryl is involved, and the group must contend with car thieves, blues musicians and much more.

'Pleasantly plump' teenager Tracy Turnblad achieves her dream of becoming a regular on the Corny Collins Dance Show. Now a teen hero, she starts using her fame to speak out for the causes she believes in, most of all integration. In doing so, she earns the wrath of the show's former star, Amber Von Tussle, as well as Amber's manipulative, pro-segregation parents. The rivalry comes to a head as Amber and Tracy vie for the title of Miss Auto Show 1963.

Martin Scorsese and the Rolling Stones unite in "Shine A Light," a look at The Rolling Stones." Scorsese filmed the Stones over a two-day period at the intimate Beacon Theater in New York City in fall 2006. Cinematographers capture the raw energy of the legendary band.

A father and daughter live a perfect but mysterious existence in Forest Park, a beautiful nature reserve near Portland, Oregon, rarely making contact with the world. But when a small mistake tips them off to authorities, they are sent on an increasingly erratic journey in search of a place to call their own.

Trouble starts when the queen's magic mirror says Betty Boop is fairest.

STILL BILL is an intimate portrait of soul legend Bill Withers, best known for his classics “Ain’t No Sunshine,” “Lean On Me,” “Lovely Day,” “Grandma’s Hands,” and “Just the Two of Us.” With his soulful delivery and warm, heartfelt sincerity, Withers has written the songs that have – and always will – resonate deeply within the fabric of our times. Filmmakers Damani Baker and Alex Vlack follow Withers and offer a unique and rare look inside the world of this fascinating man. Through concert footage, journeys to his birthplace, interviews with music legends, his family and closest friends, STILL BILL presents the story of an artist who has written some of the most beloved songs in our time and who truly understands the heart and soul of a man.

A gambling hall owner relocates from New Orleans to Chicago and entertains his patrons with hot jazz by Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Woody Herman, and others.

Story of a schoolteacher's struggle to teach violin to inner-city Harlem kids.

Tensions rise when the trailblazing Mother of the Blues and her band gather at a Chicago recording studio in 1927. Adapted from August Wilson's play.

Betty Boop goes to see the fearsome Old Man of the Mountain for herself; he sings the title song and a duet with Betty.

Julian Berniers returns from Illinois with his young bride Lily Prine to the family in New Orleans. His spinster sisters Carrie and Anna welcome the couple, who arrive with expensive gifts. The sisters hope Julian will help with their expenses, and he tells them that while his profitable factory went out of business, he did manage to save money. It turns out that Julian pulled off a real estate scam and took off with the money. Carrie is obsessed with her brother. Her jealousy of Lily pushes her to discover the shady land deal for herself and she does everything she can to wreck their marriage.

The life of Blues and folk singer Huddie Leadbetter, nicknamed Leadbelly is recounted. Covering the good times and bad from his 20s to 40s. Much of that time was spent on chain gangs in the south. Even in prison he became well known for the songs he had composed and sung during and before the time he spent there.

An incognito Hollywood star (Carole Lombard) in Paris meets a penniless nobleman (Fernand Gravet) who follows her to London.

Sharecropper's son Marvin tries to help his community overcome poverty and ignorance.

An ornithologist battles a family of bird poachers in the Florida Everglades.

Chanticleer is a foolhardy farm rooster who believes his crows can actually make the sun come up and shine. When the sun rises one morning without Chanticleer's crow, he leaves the farm in disgrace and runs off to become a rock 'n' roll singer. But in his absence, a sinister, sunshine-hating owl prepares to take over.

Documentary on modern black gospel music, focusing on the pioneering Rev. Thomas Dorsey and Mother Willie Mae Ford Smith

Robert Johnson was one of the most legendary and mysterious Delta Bluesmiths of all time. Little is known about his life, but his music has influenced many different artists, like Eric Clapton and Keith Richards. Now, John Hammond Jr., son of legendary record producer John H. Hammond, who also organized a concert for Robert Johnson right before he died, goes to the Deep South to learn more about this amazing man, trying to find information about Johnson's birth date, place and parents, his early musical development, performances and travels, romances, his mythic "pact with the devil," his untimely murder in his late twenties, the discovery of possible offspring, and the uncertainty over where Johnson is buried. Throughout, Johnson's music is both foreground and background, from recordings of Johnson and as performed on camera by Hammond, David Honeyboy Edwards, and Johnny Shines.

A story about a seemingly unlikely couple who cross paths under life-threatening circumstances as though they are destined not only to meet but to save each other's lives. Not once, but twice.

Cops go under cover to track down a Mafia drug kingpin who has re-entered the country to sell "junk" to the prostitutes and "hopheads" on Bourbon Street. Edited from TV series N.O.P.D.

A sailor helps two sisters start up a service canteen. The sailor soon becomes taken with gorgeous sister Jean, unaware that her sibling Patsy is also in love with him.

Drummer Stanley Maxton moves to Los Angeles with dreams of opening his own club, but falls in with a gangster and a nightclub dancer and ends up accused of murder.

Black and white footage of performances, interviews, and conversations at the Newport Folk Festival, from 1963 to 1966. The headliners are Peter, Paul and Mary, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, and Bob Dylan, who's acoustic and electric. Son House and Mike Bloomfield talk about the blues; John Hurt, Howlin' Wolf, and Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee show its range. The Osborne Brothers perform bluegrass. Donovan, Johnny Cash, Judy Collins, Mimi and Dick Farina, and others less well known also perform. Several talk musical philosophy, and there's a running commentary about the nature and appeal of folk music. The crowd looks clean cut.

Set in suburban New Jersey in the 1960s, a group of friends form a rock band and try to make it big.

Samuel Allen's life collapses, but he wants to pursue his childhood goals and become a preacher. To do this, the rock n roll star has to fight against his past demons.

A lounge singer sees his career skyrocket after he signs a contract for a mobster nightclub owner.