Checker Records is an inactive record label that was started in 1952 as a subsidiary to Chess Records in Chicago, Illinois. The label was founded by the Chess brothers, Leonard and Phil, who ran the label until they sold it to General Recorded Tape (GRT) in 1969, shortly before Leonard's death.
The label released recordings by mostly African American artists and groups. Checker's releases cover a wide-range of genres including blues (Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson II), rhythm and blues (Sax Mallard, Jimmy McCracklin), doo-wop (The Flamingos, The Moonglows), gospel (Aretha Franklin, Five Blind Boys of Mississippi), rock and roll (Bo Diddley, Dale Hawkins), and soul (Gene Chandler).
The label was discontinued in 1971 following GRT's consolidation of the Chess catalogs.[1] As with Cadet and Chess, the label's catalog is now owned by Universal Music Group[2] and releases from the Checker catalog are released by Geffen Records and Chess.

Interesting production on 'Slow Caboose'.

Country/blues/hillybilly mouth organ player.

There's tons of footage from Reading and Leeds here, but Seasick Steve is the only one I fancy watching.

FAO: Mom and Dad.

Great B&W clip of Screamin' Jay on Granada TV, sometime in the '50s or '60s.

Blues piano for dimwits (like me).

Fucking amazing site - white country gospel from the '20s to the '50s, '20s blues, '30s calypso...

Absolutely brilliant country/blues streaming radio.

"The diddley bow may have been the first instrument that produced  the sound of sliding rhythm and the whines and cries of a single string that later became the distinctive sound known today as the "Blues"."

Fucking killer post on MetaFilter about the greatest moan ever recorded, among other things.

Want it. Anyone want to club together the £5,000 it'll probably go for?

You could write a really good blues songs using phrases from this thread.