The Blues

Any great music collection should have a section dedicated to the blues. There’s electric blues, acoustic blues, Chicago, Delta and Southern blues, but regardless of the label all blues begins in the southern USA, and so will we.

Blind Lemon Jefferson was known as the “Father of the Texas Blues” back in the 1920s, had a high-pitched voice and picked a flat top acoustic. Pick up Black Snake Moan for a taste of this pioneer.

Robert Johnson’s legend has him at a dusty rural crossroads in Mississippi where he met the devil and traded his 27-year-old soul for blues fame. Try Sweet Home Chicago for a sample of his Delta blues percussive acoustic style.

Bessie Smith was one of the first women to record the blues and Need a Little Sugar in My Bowl makes me blush, even 80 years later.

By the 1950s the blues was moving from the rural south to the urban north and artists like Sonny Boy Williamson I (a.k.a: John Lee Curtis Williamson Good Morning Little Schoolgirl) who brought the harmonica to the rural Southern blues in the 1930s was eclipsed by Sonny Boy Williamson II (a.k.a: Aleck Ford Bring it on Home) who began to electrify his harmonicas, bringing grit, dirt and sustain to his powerful playing to audiences in Chicago.

The Three Kings
Albert King and Freddie King influenced all the rock gods of the ‘60s through the ‘80s from Clapton and Hendrix to Stevie Ray Vaughan and Joe Walsh. Check out Born Under a Bad Sign from Albert’s stinging Gibson Flying V guitar and Have You Ever Loved a Woman recorded by Freddie playing with a plastic thumb pick and metal finger pick.

B.B. King is famous for his single note lead lines on his red Gibson 335 nicknamed Lucille. Check out Don’t Answer the Door.

“White Boy” Blues
Paul Butterfield came along in the 1960s as one of the first “white boys” to play the electrified Chicago blues. Spin Born in Chicago to catch the fever.

The blues swept across the Atlantic to invade Britain and local bands like John Mayall and his Bluesbreakers became the training ground for guitarists Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Mick Taylor and Harvey Mandel. Recently Mayall released a killer track off In the Palace of the King called Canonball Shuffle featuring Robben Ford on guitar.

Blues Heros
Muddy Waters may be the world’s best known blues player but joining him are icons of the genre including Willie Dixon, Lightning Hopkins, Howlin’ Wolf, John Lee Hooker and Lonnie Johnson to name only a few. iTunes can hook you up with some of their best musical moments. In the 1980s and into the 1990s Dr. John, Stevie Ray Vaughan, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Colin James, Bonnie Raitt, Robert Cray, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Buddy Guy, Arc Angels, Big Sugar and The Derek Trucks Band kept the blues alive and took it to a younger audience.

Today’s Blues
Paul Reddick–Canadian and perfect. If you want to catch a rising blues star this is the guy. Sample John Lennon in New Orleans from Sugar bird or Waitin’ from Revue.

Kelly Joe Phelps is known for playing the guitar flat on his lap with a heavy steel. Phelps brings a level of technical playing equal to most jazz players. Try Hard Time Killin’ Floor Blues.

Kaki King is a stunning acoustic guitar player. Everybody Loves You will make you rethink the blues-based guitar.

Amos Lee is sweet with a pop and folk bent. Try Night Train.

Mason Casey–irreverent and witty, he is where blues is at. You Make it Hard leaves little to the imagination.

North Mississippi Allstars–Bringing rap, hip hop and a jammy, swampy attitude to the blues. Try No Mo.

The Dirty Dozen Brass Band Badass horns from New Orleans. Try their funky bluesy take on the Marvin Gaye tune What’s Going On.

The Perpetrators–Yup, you can’t deny that this Winnipeg trio has a bad case of the blues.

The Next Steps
Once you’ve explored some of these blues legends you can take a dive and go deep into Billy Boy Arnold, Etta James, Darrell Scott, Doug Sahm, Doyle Bramhall II, Drive-By Truckers, Gov’t Mule, John Hammond, King Biscuit Boy, Moreland and Arbuckle, The Sidemen, Big Joe Turner, Roosevelt Sykes, Charlie Musselwhite, T-Bone Walker, Jimmy Witherspoon, Big Walter Horton, Clarence Gatemouth Brown, and Sue Foley.

So much blues it makes you wanna weep doesn’t it?