A Sample of Blues Music That is Among The Best Ever Produced!
Curious about what makes good blues music? Here is a sample of blues music from various artists that I think you will like. It’s a good cross section of early blues from the 20’s through to the 90’s.
The blues started before electric guitars were invented, so the first music was played on acoustic instruments. Electric guitars changed the sound and gave it a raunchier, heavier feel.
As you can imagine, it changed the style of blues music and spawned a new style in the 50’s called rock and roll. Then the two blended and non, afro-americans brought the blues to a massive, worldwide audience.
Because there are so many styles (and to determine which ones stand out) we can look at two factors:
1.The Popularity of The Artist ie Did they reach a wide audience?
2.The reverence that other artists had for them ie were they obscure artists held in high regard by other artists that did/do reach a wide audience.
Robert Johnson is a great example. Johnson didn’t sell many records in his day and wasn’t known outside of Mississippi. But folks in later generations discovered his music and they realised what an absolute monster player he was.
Digging Deeper
Let’s look at a few examples. Starting with the legend himself, Mr Robert Johnson with this rhythmic masterpiece, Terraplane Blues. Keith Richards described Robert Johnson as having two brains, such was his skill on guitar in creating complex (and simultaneous) melody and rhythm.
====> Robert Johnson, Terraplane Blues
Then there is the incredible Poor Black Mattie. A song that most likely was passed down from player to player before recordings existed. This has a Rhythm that just gets ya moving and although it has been covered by many artists in recent years (including myself) none of them ever capture the groove that RL Burnside brought to this tune ===> R.L. Burnside – Poor Black Mattie (Official Audio)
Another good song to put into this Sample of Blues Music mix is one by Slim Harpo called Scratch My Back. When I first heard The Fabulous Thunderbirds version of this song. I was blown away with how cool their sound was. It was slinky yet tough at the same time. Then I discovered just how much they borrowed from The King Bee himself, Slim Harpo. Oh boy did they borrow. And not just from this song. Not that it’s a bad thing. The more music out in the world like this…the better ===> Baby, Scratch My Back
Elmore James Takes The Torch
Robert Johnson heavily influenced Elmore James who then became a massive influence on other blues artists himself. He had a signature riff on slide guitar that he used on a few songs that really stamped his name on the songs he played. Bands like Fleetwood Mac (the original lineup with Peter Green) used that same slide riff on quite a few of their songs and so did Hound Dog Taylor who was another protege of Elmore James. Here’s The Sky Is Crying ===> Elmore James, The Sky is Crying
Some 70s Blues
Well, as a natural progression, check out this version of an Elmore James song done by The Faces with Keith Richards on guitar. Keith’s early guitar work was more Chuck Berry influenced than anything. But this is a fine rendition of that same riff I was talking about in the previous example. And the Faces? Man what a band to play this song with. Here’s Dust My Broom ===>The Faces, Dust My Broom
I can’t leave out this Albert King song. His influence was huge on players like Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix. In fact when SRV played on David Bowie’s Let’s Dance album he wasn’t entirely sure what to do on it. He admitted later that he was just gonna play like his hero Albert King. This is Albert King’s Lovejoy and it grooves very nicely ====> Lovejoy, ILL.
The 80s and 90s
As another progression into more modern sounding blues. Stevie had a lot of flashy tricks up his sleeve. But when he slowed things down the intensity did not drop a bit. This song called Tin Pan Alley One of the finest examples of slow blues you will hear. ===>Stevie Ray Vaughan, Tin Pan Alley
Buddy Guy influenced a bunch of modern players. He started playing session work for Muddy Waters and Chess records and became a bonafide star in his own right. Although he had been going since the 50’s as a prolific recording artist, his 90’s release, Damn Right I’ve Got The Blues, was one of the signature albums of that decade. Gary Moore released his hugely popular Still Got The Blues but I think Buddy’s album was equally as iconic in that renaissance era of The Blues. Here’s the title track ===> Damn Right, I’ve Got the Blues
Through every decade he was alive, there was one bluesman that recorded with a veritable Van Morrison and many other megastars. It brought attention to the genre as much as the aforementioned Gary Moore and was integral in that golden era of blues music. Finally, here is a song by John Lee Hooker to round out this list of songs that act as a sample of blues music which (I think) says…This is The Blues Right Here. ===> Crawlin’ King Snake (feat. Keith Richards)
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