The blues

So tonight on iTunes I stumble across "John the Revelator," recorded in like 1929 by Blind Willie Johnson.

Is there a greater American contribution to culture than the blues? I mean, seriously, is there? Goddamn this is awesome. I've listened to it about 10 times in a row ...

Anyone else enjoy a shot of seven-decades old blues every so often?

 

Arrr... sea chanties!!!!!

 

Yes. I partake in some B.B. King and Robert Johnson from time to time.

 

Son House also does a nice version of "John the Revelator"

and yes...absolutely love the blues.

 

The original Lead Belly (cq) and Woody Guthrie recordings are still amazing, and led the way for all that was to come.

"I still can't figure out what the hell he was doing." -- Eric Clapton, on Lead Belly.

When country/folk met blues/gospel, what came out was rock & roll.

 

I studied the blues a bit in college. I don't listen to it as much as I used to, but it's still amazes me from time to time.

John Lee Hooker was always my favorite. That probably started because he was in Blues Brothers.

 

When it comes to the blues the thrill is never gone. XM radio 74 - is all blues - great stuff.

My favs - John Lee Hooker ( Boom Boom) and Robert Cray.

As sidebar Dusty Baker is a big blues fan.

 

Blind Willie Johnson once got a mention on The West Wing.

Yes, I an full of useless information and mirth.

 

Vincent Riendeau was my favorite Blue.

 

I like the Govt Mule version of John The Revelator.

Beginning in the mid-1990s for about five years I listened to very little rock, almost exclusively blues. Read a lot about it, too. The late Luther Allison was my favorite. He was sort of a blues outcast in the 1960s and 1970s; purists didn't like his use of rock techniques like wah-wah pedals. He moved to Paris for nearly 20 years, returning to the U.S. in the 1990s to finally achieve commercial success and critical acclaim in his homeland with three excellent efforts on Alligator Records before he died. His final CD before he died, Reckless, was his best, in my opinion. He was not the best guitarist around, but he played and sang with a great deal of passion. His son, Bernard, is a bluesman, too.

If you like Clapton, listen to Freddy King and Otis Rush and you'll hear not only where he learned to play guitar but how to sing.

Hound Dog Taylor and J.B. Hutto are two examples of the "house rockin' " school of Chicago Blues. I enjoy both. Hutto's nephew, Lil' Ed Williams, is a lot of fun, energetic.

Of 1950s stuff, I'd recommend the Howlin' Wolf compilation "Moanin' After Midnight" as a good place to start. Also, Elmore James.

For really old stuff, try Tampa Red. He was big in the 1920s and '30s. His bottleneck guitar playing is pretty incredible.

 

R.L. Burnside wasn't your typical blues man -- more juke joint than Beale Street -- but he put on a helluva show.

And you gotta love a guy who has an album called A Ass Pocket of Whiskey.

 

'it's bad you know.' i dont know how to describe that song, but man ... hooker, waters, all that midwest electirc stuff ...nothing better.