Blind Lemon Jefferson Blind Willie Johnson Charlie Patton Billie Holiday Bessie Smith Elmore James Skip James love the BLUES
This is traditional blues, Robert Johnson Son House Muddy Waters How's in Wolf Hubert Sumlin B.B. King Albert King Bukka White Elmore James Big Bill Bronze Little Walter This is modern blues. Joe Bonomassa Stevie Ray Vaughan Eric Clapton Johnnie Winters Ry Cooper Early Rolling Stones John Mayall Sent from my SM-T800 using Tapatalk
My favourite black bluesman was and is still ALBERT KING he was also a favourite of Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton & Stevie Ray Vaughan amongst many other blues/rock musician's during the mid/late 1960s & 1970s. Albert who was an imposing 6ft-4in tall and was left-handed but never reversed the strings (he played upside down guitar) usually played with a Gibson Flying V and a Marshall stack behind him on stage. My favourite white bluesmen was and still are JOHNNY WINTER especially his 'rock period' between 1970-1974 and RORY GALLAGHER everything of Rory's. E-Z
Charlie Patton if you want some of the most absolute bare bones blues stuff. He is often called the father of delta blues.The sound quality of his recordings is atrocious but that in a way is the gritty appeal. I like to imagine myself back in the 30s checking into some cheap hotel in the South, grabbing a bottle of cheap whisky and putting some Charlie Patton records on the gramophone. You won't be able to understand 90% of of what he's saying but it's likely to be about him waking up one morning and finding his woman ran off. Later on Muddy Waters is good gritty mean sounding blues too. I have large blues collection but haven't really explored it fully yet. If you're working on the assumption that blues should be rough, raw and gritty, then those two guys are really good. I know a lot of people think very highly of Robert Johnson, but I just thought he was okay. And that legend of him going to the crossroads and making a deal with the devil is a cool story, but it's a crock. He himself never mentioned that anywhere.
From acoustic blues, including some of the best Leadbelly covers I've heard, to blues-rock, Alvin Youngblood Hart is definitely one to check out: Full band version of the same track for those who like it a bit more rocked up:
If you want to know what the blues is, you got to listen Robert Johnson. There is a legend, that he sold his soul to the devil to play blues. If you like piano themes, I advise you to listen to Otis Spann. My favourite blues vocalist is Nina Simone. Her voice is outstanding, she is a real Master of blues.
I'd have to say that the first Taj Mahal album is a must. It's been sighted by Gregg Allman as the reason why he and Dwayne started the Allman Brothers band. Other artists have likewise mentioned it's influence.
