{"id":97344,"date":"2026-09-10T10:01:41","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T09:01:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/?p=97344"},"modified":"2026-09-10T10:01:42","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T09:01:42","slug":"christopher-wyze-the-tellers-draw-more-from-the-story-of-blues-musicians-carr-and-blackwell-with-naptown-blues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/2026\/09\/christopher-wyze-the-tellers-draw-more-from-the-story-of-blues-musicians-carr-and-blackwell-with-naptown-blues\/","title":{"rendered":"Christopher Wyze &amp; The Tellers Draw More From The Story Of Blues Musicians Carr And Blackwell With &#8216;Naptown Blues&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The title track of their upcoming album, &#8216;Naptown Blues&#8217; sees Christopher Wyze and the Tellers looking backwards in order to move their next record forward.<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Drawing directly once more from the deep well that is the musical legacy of Indianapolis blues musicians, Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell, Big Radio Records artists Christopher Wyze and the Tellers put their spin on the track which Carr and Blackwell originally recorded back in 1929. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A nickname for Indianapolis, the name &#8220;Naptown&#8221; has its origins in the 1920s, when African American performers and musicians started referring to the city by its fourth syllable, with the added suggestion that it&#8217;s a sleepy place, but with a hidden fun side (such as a dream had while having a nap). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the hands of Christopher Wyze and the Tellers, &#8216;Naptown Blues&#8217; retains much of the simplicity of the original, while giving it a modern twist in the form of contemporary instruments and recording processes. At just under 3 minutes long, it&#8217;s a song that will have you bopping along, Wyze&#8217;s gravelly vocals a perfect match for the blues sound, while his harmonica solo will make you feel as though you&#8217;ve been transported back to the 1920s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8216;Naptown Blues&#8217; is accompanied by a music video from HIP Video productions, which uses public domain footage from the 1920s &#8211; newspaper clippings, photos of entertainment venues from the time, and other images from that period. Christopher Wyze and the Tellers feature too, but as sepia-toned illustrations that could have been just as easily found images as the rest. It&#8217;s a great homage to a classic song, and connects the modern music city of Indianapolis with that of Naptown a century ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Watch the music video for &#8216;Naptown Blues&#8217; below, and find out more about Christopher Wyze and the Tellers online on their official <a href=\"https:\/\/christopherwyzeandthetellers.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">website<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@ChristopherWyzeTheTellers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">YouTube<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/christopherwyzeandthetellers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/christopherwyze\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"epyt-video-wrapper\"><div  style=\"display: block; margin: 0px auto;\"  id=\"_ytid_19972\"  width=\"640\" height=\"360\"  data-origwidth=\"640\" data-origheight=\"360\"  data-relstop=\"1\" data-facadesrc=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tfq1turmkiU?enablejsapi=1&#038;origin=https:\/\/essentiallypop.com&#038;autoplay=0&#038;cc_load_policy=0&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;loop=0&#038;fs=1&#038;playsinline=1&#038;controls=1&#038;disablekb=0&#038;color=red&#038;cc_lang_pref=&#038;rel=0&#038;autohide=2&#038;theme=dark&#038;\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__ epyt-facade no-lazyload\" data-epautoplay=\"1\" ><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" data-spai-excluded=\"true\" class=\"epyt-facade-poster skip-lazy\" loading=\"lazy\"  alt=\"Christopher Wyze and the Tellers | Naptown Blues\"  src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/tfq1turmkiU\/maxresdefault.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\"  \/><button class=\"epyt-facade-play\" aria-label=\"Play\"><svg data-no-lazy=\"1\" height=\"100%\" version=\"1.1\" viewBox=\"0 0 68 48\" width=\"100%\"><path class=\"ytp-large-play-button-bg\" d=\"M66.52,7.74c-0.78-2.93-2.49-5.41-5.42-6.19C55.79,.13,34,0,34,0S12.21,.13,6.9,1.55 C3.97,2.33,2.27,4.81,1.48,7.74C0.06,13.05,0,24,0,24s0.06,10.95,1.48,16.26c0.78,2.93,2.49,5.41,5.42,6.19 C12.21,47.87,34,48,34,48s21.79-0.13,27.1-1.55c2.93-0.78,4.64-3.26,5.42-6.19C67.94,34.95,68,24,68,24S67.94,13.05,66.52,7.74z\" fill=\"#f00\"><\/path><path d=\"M 45,24 27,14 27,34\" fill=\"#fff\"><\/path><\/svg><\/button><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The title track of their upcoming album, &#8216;Naptown Blues&#8217; sees Christopher Wyze and the Tellers looking backwards in order to move their next record forward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":97347,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"The title track of their upcoming album, 'Naptown Blues' sees Christopher Wyze and the Tellers looking backwards in order to move their next record forward.","jetpack_seo_html_title":"Christopher Wyze & The Tellers Draw More From The Story Of Blues Musicians Carr And Blackwell With 'Naptown Blues'","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"The title track of their upcoming album, 'Naptown Blues' sees Christopher Wyze and the Tellers looking backwards in order to move their next record forward.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7,9,21453,21445,21446,21449,640],"tags":[1343,33062,11720,33886,77,370,1945,2189,116,79,10677,81,22992],"class_list":["post-97344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","category-new-releases","category-new-singles","category-reviews","category-single-reviews","category-video-reviews","category-videos","tag-blues","tag-christopher-wyze-and-the-tellers","tag-lisa-hafey","tag-naptown-blues","tag-new-release","tag-new-single","tag-new-video","tag-release","tag-review","tag-single","tag-single-review","tag-video","tag-video-review"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5yMhl-pk4","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":97355,"url":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/2026\/09\/we-speak-with-christopher-wyze-about-the-importance-of-telling-long-forgotten-stories\/","url_meta":{"origin":97344,"position":0},"title":"We Speak With Christopher Wyze About The Importance Of Telling Long Forgotten Stories","author":"Essentially Pop","date":"10\/09\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Following on from our review of 'Naptown Blues', the latest single from Christopher Wyze and the Tellers, we caught up with Christopher Wyze and asked him about his music, and his self-imposed mission.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Interviews&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Interviews","link":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/category\/music\/interviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Christopher-Wyze-Naptown-Blues.jpg?fit=1170%2C1182&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Christopher-Wyze-Naptown-Blues.jpg?fit=1170%2C1182&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Christopher-Wyze-Naptown-Blues.jpg?fit=1170%2C1182&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Christopher-Wyze-Naptown-Blues.jpg?fit=1170%2C1182&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Christopher-Wyze-Naptown-Blues.jpg?fit=1170%2C1182&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":97172,"url":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/2026\/09\/christopher-wyze-and-the-tellers-pays-homage-to-important-blues-artists-with-their-cover-of-im-going-back-to-tennessee\/","url_meta":{"origin":97344,"position":1},"title":"Christopher Wyze And The Tellers Pays Homage To Important Blues Artists With Their Cover Of &#8216;I&#8217;m Going Back To Tennessee&#8217;","author":"Lisa Hafey","date":"02\/09\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Christopher Wyze And The Tellers shine a light on two Indianapolis blues musicians, the \"city blues\" pioneers Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell, with their cover of the duo's 1928 song, 'I'm Going Back To Tennessee'. The tribute is part of Wyze's greater effort to keep their music circulating, and give\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Music&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Music","link":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/category\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Christopher-Wyze.png?fit=840%2C876&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Christopher-Wyze.png?fit=840%2C876&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Christopher-Wyze.png?fit=840%2C876&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Christopher-Wyze.png?fit=840%2C876&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":91801,"url":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/2025\/07\/christopher-wyze-the-tellers-give-us-the-mississippi-blues-with-their-live-rendition-of-stuck-in-the-mud\/","url_meta":{"origin":97344,"position":2},"title":"Christopher Wyze &amp; the Tellers Give Us The Mississippi Blues With Their Live Rendition Of &#8216;Stuck In The Mud&#8217;","author":"Lisa Hafey","date":"17\/07\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"What started as a passion project to create a great blues album, has now become a successful collaborative venture for Christopher Wyze & The Tellers. Now they present a live video performance of their single, 'Stuck In The Mud', recorded at the historical Juke Joint Chapel in Clarksdale, Mississippi.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Music&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Music","link":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/category\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Christopher-Wyze1.png?fit=1070%2C942&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Christopher-Wyze1.png?fit=1070%2C942&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Christopher-Wyze1.png?fit=1070%2C942&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Christopher-Wyze1.png?fit=1070%2C942&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Christopher-Wyze1.png?fit=1070%2C942&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":87775,"url":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/2024\/08\/christopher-wyze-the-tellers-has-the-recipe-to-help-us-get-free-when-were-feeling-stuck-in-the-mud\/","url_meta":{"origin":97344,"position":3},"title":"Christopher Wyze &amp; The Tellers Has The Recipe To Help Us Get Free When We&#8217;re Feeling &#8216;Stuck In The Mud&#8217;","author":"Lisa Hafey","date":"16\/08\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"'Stuck In The Mud', the new single from Christopher Wyze & The Tellers, had its genesis back in March 2022, when Wyze was set to attend a singer-songwriter workshop, led by Ralph Carter, at the iconic Shack Up Inn, in Clarksdale, Mississippi. The unexpected cancellation of the workshop gave Wyze\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Music&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Music","link":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/category\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Christopher-Wyze-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Christopher-Wyze-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Christopher-Wyze-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Christopher-Wyze-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Christopher-Wyze-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":92727,"url":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/2025\/09\/telling-tales-christopher-wyze-the-tellers-gives-us-the-low-down-on-stuck-in-the-mud\/","url_meta":{"origin":97344,"position":4},"title":"Telling Tales: Christopher Wyze &amp; The Tellers Gives Us The Low Down On &#8216;Stuck In The Mud&#8217;","author":"Essentially Pop","date":"24\/09\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Starting out as a passion project, 'Stuck In The Mud' by Christopher Wyze & The Tellers soon turned into something bigger. We got to talk to Wyze about it all.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Album Reviews&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Album Reviews","link":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/category\/music\/reviews\/album-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Christopher-Wyze-in-Mississippi.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Christopher-Wyze-in-Mississippi.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Christopher-Wyze-in-Mississippi.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Christopher-Wyze-in-Mississippi.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Christopher-Wyze-in-Mississippi.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":88251,"url":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/2024\/09\/christopher-wyze-talks-to-us-about-being-stuck-in-the-mud-and-how-he-got-out-of-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":97344,"position":5},"title":"Christopher Wyze Talks To Us About Being Stuck In The Mud And How He Got Out Of It","author":"Essentially Pop","date":"20\/09\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"We've all been there: caught between moving forwards and going back; figuratively stuck in the mud. Christopher Wyze & The Tellers know this all too well - so much so that they wrote a song and an album of the same name. Christopher spoke to Essentially Pop about it.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Interviews&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Interviews","link":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/category\/music\/interviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ChristopherWyze2-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C951&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ChristopherWyze2-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C951&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ChristopherWyze2-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C951&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ChristopherWyze2-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C951&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/ChristopherWyze2-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C951&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Christopher-Wyze2.png?fit=854%2C968&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}