Rory Block

Aurora "Rory" Block has built an enduring position among the foremost exponents of blues heritage through her extensive discography and relentless touring schedule. An accomplished slide guitarist, gifted composer, and skilled conveyer of the classic Delta blues vocalists, she secured a contract with RCA in 1975 that yielded her self-titled debut, an excursion into funky rock and pop. Four further releases in that vein preceded her departure from major-label activity. The independent Rounder label hosted 1981's widely praised High Heeled Blues, after which she issued dozens of internationally lauded, prize-winning acoustic blues albums such as 1983's Rhinestones and Steel Strings, 1991's Mama's Blues, 1998's Confessions of a Blues Singer, and 2004's Sisters & Brothers with Eric Bibb and Maria Muldaur. Stony Plain became her home starting with 2008's Blues Walkin' Like a Man: A Tribute to Son House, and she stayed for 2012's I Belong to the Band: A Tribute to Rev. Gary Davis, 2019's A Woman’s Soul: A Tribute to Bessie Smith, and 2022's Ain't Nobody Worried.

Princeton, New Jersey was the site of her birth, after which she grew up in Manhattan within a household marked by bohemian inclinations. Her early years involved close contact with musicians including Peter Rowan, John Sebastian, and Geoff Muldaur who frequented her father's sandal shop, before she took up the guitar at age ten. Two years later her first appearance on record occurred when she supported her father on The Elektra String Band Project, a concept album. Guitarist Stefan Grossman, another blues devotee, entered her circle, and together they visited Rev. Gary Davis, one of the era's preeminent blues figures, in the Bronx.

Block departed home at fifteen, traveling in classic '60s style through the South where she absorbed the blues directly from Skip James and Mississippi John Hurt, her paramount influence, before reaching Berkeley. There she refined her slide approach, employing a socket wrench, though recording waited until 1975 with I'm in Love; a later compilation gathered earlier material as The Early Tapes 1975-1976. After two Chrysalis albums she cut the instructional How to Play Blues Guitar for Grossman's Kicking Mule imprint, then joined the newly formed Rounder roster for 1981's High Heeled Blues, beginning a two-decade association. Constant road work, sometimes reaching 250 shows annually, distanced her from the family she had started in the early '70s, yet earned her recognition as a potent live performer and one of America's leading interpreters of old country-blues. Additional highlights of that period include 1983's Rhinestones & Steel Strings.

The 1987 Rounder compilation Best Blues & Originals gathered key tracks showcasing both blues standards and original material; two singles issued in Belgium and Holland attained gold status. Instructional albums and videos supplemented her catalog, along with the children's recording Color Me Wild. Although her performing career stretched back many years, major recognition arrived in 1992 with a NAIRD Award for Ain't I a Woman, repeated in 1994 and 1997. Beginning in 1996 she collected W.C. Handy Awards, first for Best Traditional Album with When a Woman Gets the Blues, then for Best Traditional Blues Female Artist in 1997 and 1998. Election to the CAMA Hall of Fame followed in 1997, and another Handy Award arrived in 1999 for Best Acoustic Blues Album for Confessions of a Blues Singer.

Through the '90s and into the new century Block sustained heavy touring, capitalizing on increased European and Scandinavian interest. Her son, Jordan Block Valdina, a singer and multi-instrumentalist who contributed to her recordings, often joined her until departing after 2002's I'm Every Woman to focus on eco-friendly building and energy design. A new Telarc agreement in 2003 produced Last Fair Deal that year and From the Dust in 2005. The 2006 Rykodisc one-off The Lady and Mr. Johnson found her reinterpreting Robert Johnson material with the family's approval, foreshadowing the Mentor Series devoted to artists she had known early on. Stony Plain issued the first installment, 2008's Blues Walkin' Like a Man: A Tribute to Son House, followed by 2011's Shake 'Em on Down: A Tribute to Mississippi Fred McDowell, 2012's I Belong to the Band: A Tribute to Rev. Gary Davis, 2013's Avalon: A Tribute to Mississippi John Hurt, and 2014's Hard Luck Child: A Tribute to Skip James. Her autobiography When a Woman Gets the Blues appeared in 2011. In 2014 she announced the 2015 Spirit and the Blues tour performed with the Strait Way Ministries Choir of Utica, MS, under Elder Steven Johnson, Robert Johnson's grandson. Keepin' Outta Trouble: A Tribute to Bukka White continued the series the next year. The Power Women of the Blues project launched in 2018 with A Woman's Soul: A Tribute to Bessie Smith, earning her an Acoustic Blues Artist of the Year award; that year she also appeared in the Netflix film Devil at the Crossroads: A Robert Johnson Story. Prove It on Me, the second volume, arrived in 2020, predating the pandemic and saluting Ma Rainey, Memphis Minnie, Rosetta Howard, and others; it secured her a seventh Blues Music Award.

October 2022 brought the third Power Women of the Blues release, Ain't Nobody Worried, an eleven-track collection presenting songs linked to female blues, pop, and soul vocalists from the '60s through the '90s, including solo acoustic versions associated with Gladys Knight, Etta James, Elizabeth Cotten, Bonnie Raitt, Carole King, and Tracy Chapman, among others.