So many of the artists I interview cite various Blues artists as influences. B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and Robert Johnson are just a few of the names who shaped the electric and Delta blues sounds. Artists like T. Graham Brown, Heidi Newfield, and Slash have mentioned them to me.
So, when I was introduced to Christopher Wyze and learned that he and his Tellers composed and performed original blues music, I was intrigued. Not only that, but he also performs in Clarksdale, Mississippi, often considered the heart of the Delta Blues.
Christopher Wyze & the Tellers formed as a studio project in 2022, the brainchild of singer-songwriter Christopher Wyze and producer Ralph Carter. These musicians had met 10 years earlier in Clarksdale at a blues gathering.
Growing up, Wyze had music around him constantly. His mother would play the Mills Brothers, Louis Prima, and Broadway show tunes. He had his first solo in 6th grade and was part of his high school’s highly developed music program.
Wyze recalled, “We would sing The Messiah with an orchestra. I picked up all these harmonies and learned how they all fit together.”
Then he went off to college, became a journalist, and got into advertising. While he listened to all sorts of music, Wyze never performed. Then, after about 20 years, at a church dinner, a guy was playing guitar but not singing. The guitarist asked, “Are you a musician?” And Wyze replied, “Yeah, I’m a musician,” even though he hadn’t performed in years. Wyze started singing mostly blues songs, and they shut down the dinner and kept playing.
Even though he had never sung in a band before, Wyze became the frontman in a blues cover band and did that for 10-15 years. He went to a harmonica camp in Clarksdale, Mississippi, and that’s where he met Ralph Carter, who urged Wyze to write songs. Carter would later become his producer and co-writer on the original music they composed.
Wyze began conjuring and collecting blues song ideas – song titles, mostly, and story concepts – on cash register receipts, paper scraps, fast-food wrappers, and in auto-type, misspelled iPhone notes, but, alas, no full song.
And even though Wyze was a seasoned journalist, he quickly learned that writing song lyrics was a new thing altogether.
Nevertheless, the pair would not be deterred. Wyze picked up Carter at the Memphis Airport, where they drove to Clarksdale to finish writing the songs. They needed to get it done, since they had already booked three days to record in Muscle Shoals, Alabama.
Sitting at a picnic table on the grounds of the Shack Up Inn – Wyze, lyric sheets in hand, and Carter, guitar-armed – the two did exactly what they set out to do. With lots of laughter and food, they eventually cranked out 12 songs for the album. With the help of three additional, expert songwriters and some talented studio musicians, they got it done.
In 2024, at 66, Wyze released the Stuck in the Mud blues album, featuring 13 original tunes. Besides the title track, “Stuck in Mud” featuring Cary Hudson, fan favorites off the record include “Money Spent Blues,” “Three Hours From Memphis,” and “Looking For My Baby.”
The album won the 2025 Blues Blast Music Award for Best New Artist Debut. It appeared on multiple blues charts worldwide and received critical acclaim for its raw storytelling and a powerful, fresh take on contemporary blues.
The album and its songs have charted on the Roots Music Report Blues Chart, the Big Blues Chart, and the iTunes Blues Singles Chart. Nine of the 13 songs charted, including a #1 on the Roots Music Report in July of 2024 for the song “Back to Clarksdale.”
The album is so good that I would have sworn some of the songs were covers of old blues songs rather than originals. And to think that this is Wyze’s 2nd career after retiring from the ad industry is even more impressive.
Hailing from Indiana, Christopher Wyze & the Tellers regularly play in Clarksdale, where they recorded their Live From Clarksdale album, which came out in 2025. With Live From Clarksdale, Christopher Wyze & the Tellers give fans around the world who devoured their studio work a first look and listen to the band in a live setting.
The album features eight of the band’s original radio-charting Stuck in the Mud album studio singles, including their RMR #1 hit “Back to Clarksdale.” Plus, it features two all-time blues standards from the 1920s: “How Long, How Long Blues” and “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out” – the first made famous by early blues recording stars Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell with their 1928 recording.
Since the release of these two magnificent albums, he has also released two original Christmas songs, “Hearts Christmas Blue” and “Christmas in Jail,” and a sad one for Valentine’s Day, “Her Name in My Song.”
But his newest release, “This Ain’t That,” may be my favorite alongside “Looking For My Baby.” With a boogie-woogie piano, brush snare, and upright bass, the upbeat tune transports you to another time and place. It proves that Christopher Wyze & The Tellers are in it for the long haul.
For now, Christopher Wyze & The Tellers are not a touring band. But if you’re lucky, you might occasionally catch them at the Juke Joint Chapel in Clarkdale. In the meantime, Wyze will continue to write and record music, even some for the sync world. Follow him on his website, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram to learn more.
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Bethany Bowman is a freelance entertainment writer. You can follow her blog, Instagram, and TikTok.
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