Actually, what got me really into the blues was Freddie King & Albert Collins after a customer at a supermarket I was working in back in '82/'83 overheard me talking about an Eric Clapton concert I had just seen. He joined in the conversation but was more curious how the opening act, the fabulous Thunderbirds, were. A few days later he came back to the store with a blues mix tape of mostly Freddy King & Albert Collins & I've been hooked since. I loved the Electric Blues by those 2 legends but hearing Freddy King's cover of "Walking By Myself" got me into the old Jimmie Rodgers stuff which led into Jimmy Reed which led into Little Walter...etc
If you want to get into the "Texas" blues (which is usually rich with harmonica) the best place to start would be with The Fabulous Thunderbirds.......
The Debut is as good as anyplace to start:
Just an FYI....Stevie Ray Vaugh is also a Texas blues artist
Roy is bloody ridiculous. The guy is just a King, no matter what record sales say. He's as innovative as they come, too. There's this one part in that Bluz video where Roy's going off on this insane tangent and they show this girl in the audience freaking out like "no way..."
Roy was great, his music still is. His guitar playing was pure, no gimmicks. He played a 1953 Fender Telecaster he named "Nancy", and also a 1956 Telecaster Guild. Such a great talent. Sure wish he was still alive. His guitar playing will live forever!
I have some friends who are hardcore blues purists who are a little reluctant to recommend Eric Clapton to beginners, for reasons I don't know anything about. I'm assuming some of you here have a theory or two?
A few more for ya: Muddy Waters, Albert King, Buddy Guy, John Lee Hooker, Howlin' Wolf. All electric and/or Chicago blues. If you plan to go onto blues rock/British blues revival I'd recommend John Mayall Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton, Fleetwood Mac's s/t debut or Then Play On, East-West from the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, 12X5 from the Stones, The Animals s/t debut, Five Live Yardbirds, Tons Of Sobs from Free, Thank Christ For The Bomb by the Groundhogs and Raw Sienna from Savoy Brown, Sailin' Shoes or Dixie Chicken from Little Feat.
Hey there! It was just a few months ago when I started listening and become addicted to blues and blues rock. Let me share my experience.
I got addicted to blues rock because of JOHN MAYER and THE JOHN MAYER TRIO. I suppose if someone is initially a pop-oriented or rock-oriented musician, I think John Mayer songs are good starting points because of the good mix of pop music elements and blues elements in the songs. Then, John Mayer Trio songs would be like the next step, because the blues elements become heavier and more evident, but the songs still sound somehow pop-like.
I recommend the following John Mayer songs:
Gravity, Daughters, Waiting for the World to Change, Neon, I Don't Need No Doctor, 83, No Such Thing, Slow Dancing in A Burning Room.
John Mayer Trio:
Try!, Vultures, Another Kind of Green, Out of my Mind and their cover of Jimi Hendrix's Bold as Love.
Oh, other than John Mayer and his Trio, I would also suggest ZZ Top, Lynyrd Skynyrd and of course, the one and only Jimi Hendrix
KWS (Kenny Wayne Shepherd) is very, very good. I would also look into Clapton and Page for some nice blues guitar riffs. If you can, also try to grab a copy of the CD that came with Mojo Music Magazine earlier this year...I don't exactly remember what issue it was, but the title of the CD was "Good Times Bad Times", and it had OLD old classic blues artists and songs that inspired Classic Rock musicians to pick up their guitars.
Kenny Wayne Shepherd is my all time favorite blues rocker!
Those are some good rec's Gtm. But If you really want to know about the blues and its origins, you have to go old school..........BB King, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Junior Wells, Otis Rush, T-Bone Walker.
The experience with this station has led me to the world of sattelite radio. They have channels dedicated to genres such as blues, jazz, etc. The sattelite radio also provides info like the name of the artist, song, and sometimes album/year. That is a great way to learn about blues if you can swing it.
I recommend pandora.com It is free and very similar to satellite radio EXCEPT you create your own station based on the artists you like and it's free unlike satellite radio. logon, create an account and start creating your own stations. For example you can enter then name of an artist like "BB King" and it will create a station based on that and automatically play other artists similar to that.. It's called the music genome project. check it out.
A few more for ya: Muddy Waters, Albert King, Buddy Guy, John Lee Hooker, Howlin' Wolf. All electric and/or Chicago blues. If you plan to go onto blues rock/British blues revival I'd recommend John Mayall Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton, Fleetwood Mac's s/t debut or Then Play On, East-West from the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, 12X5 from the Stones, The Animals s/t debut, Five Live Yardbirds, Tons Of Sobs from Free, Thank Christ For The Bomb by the Groundhogs and Raw Sienna from Savoy Brown, Sailin' Shoes or Dixie Chicken from Little Feat.
Yes Joe that's an awesome list ..if I wanted to select one album it would be Junior Wells and the Delmark album Hoodoo Man Blues from 1965 ..blues /rock you name it it still sounds fresh ...enjoy...
Re: Best artists to start into the blues? 
Re: Best artists to start into the blues? 
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