Laettners Legacy Wrote:I got a Stevie Ray cd didnt think of that as "blues"
niuhuskie84...nice choices. I like Howling Wolf thru BB King. the last 3 not so much
I may hafta get me a Howling Wolf cd
That's why I asked what type of blues you were looking for. niuhuskie listed a bunch of old school blues. I thought you would be more into country or pop type blues, but I guess not.
As for the rest of the blues world, I've broken down some of my thoughts here by style (albums are linked to their amazon page for sampling).
Delta: If you want to get way old school, you have to give Robert Johnson a listen. I take that back, whether you want to go old school or not, give Robert Johnson a listen. It's a must. A lot of the stuff you'll come across when you're getting into the blues started with this guy. You'll also find a lot of his songs popping up in other artists catalogs, including most every artist I'm going to list below. For a guy who died young and never got the opportunity to record much, he sure left a huge legacy. Check out his Complete Recordings. As a side note, he apparently thought Chicago was in California. Give "Sweet Home Chicago" a listen and you'll know what I mean. Taking it back one more step, Johnson learned from Son House. House gained some fame in the 60's blues revival, which allowed him the opportunity to record. Most of what you'll hear from him was recorded when he was older. His version of "John the Revelator" is incredible.
Electric/post-war stuff: As 84 suggested, Howlin' Wolfe and John Lee Hooker are fantastic. Buddy Guy and Junior Wells were not only great, but they made some great records together. Buddy Guy is an amazing guitarist. Avoid his 80s/early 90s stuff, unless it's the acoustic thing he did with Wells. Guys best contemporary record is Sweet Tea, where he covers a bunch of North Mississippi style blues (more on that in a minute). Wells had a bit more funk to his style. He was James Brown before James Brown. His Hoodo Man Blues is a classic blues record. Jimmy Reed was good too. I referenced him in another thread with my diner music ramblings. He used to perform with his wife and she'd have to whisper lyrics to him when he'd forget. Don't forget about Elmore James either.
If you want dirty/gritty/sloppy blues that'll shake your hips, you need to listen to Hound Dog Taylor. Check out his live album Beware of the Dog. Jon Spencer references Hound Dog Taylor as a huge influence.
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North Mississippi style (or "Not the Same Old Blues Crap"): There are a lot artists that have gone long overlooked due to the popularity of other styles, but some of the stuff out of Northern Mississippi is as raw and pure as they come. Jon Spencer helped bring R.L. Burnside to a wider audience in the late 90s/early 00s. T. Model Ford followed with some moderate success. Lately, the Black Keys have helped promote Junior Kimbrough. And like I said earlier, Buddy Guy experimented with this style on his Sweet Tea record. He even went down to a small studio and recorded it with some ancient equipment. Most of these guys are on Fat Possum Records. So, if you want a nice sampling of this style, check out the Not the Same Old Blues Crap series (a la the title I used earlier) (Vol 1), (Vol 2), (Vol 3)
Warning One: Watch out for newer stuff. There's a lot of schlock out there that's candy coated garbage, especially if it's being pushed as "Chicago Blues." "Chicago Blues" has become a sugary shell of what it once was. Even a lot of popular artists fell into some lameness. Buddy Guy, who I love, had some crap in the 80s. B.B. King has swung and missed in his later career, but some of those earlier live records are pretty amazing. Even the mighty Muddy Waters verged on candy once and a while. Some of the best new stuff is the stuff coming from Fat Possum Records. So look into them. Actually, next to some of these guys, a lot of other stuff looks schlocky.
Warning Two: Eric Clapton. People love to throw around this guy's name when it comes to blues, but the problem is they always reference later career stuff where he's singing and it's not really that good. If you want great Eric Clapton stuff, look to his early guitar work. He was pretty incredible. Check out the record he cut with John Mayall and the Blues Breakers: link (They even have the prerequisit Robert Johnson cover in there).
Clapton reminds me of one last thing I'd like to throw in. Jimi Hendrix's version of "Red House" is incredible. I have some double vinyl record that was a soundtrack to some documentary about him (I can't find it online) that has a 11 minute version of "Red House" that just kills. I also have a Jimmy Page plays the Blues record that's pretty interesting.
Laettners Legacy Wrote:I got a Stevie Ray cd didnt think of that as "blues"
niuhuskie84...nice choices. I like Howling Wolf thru BB King. the last 3 not so much
I may hafta get me a Howling Wolf cd
That's why I asked what type of blues you were looking for. niuhuskie listed a bunch of old school blues. I thought you would be more into country or pop type blues, but I guess not.
Anywho, glad you found what you were looking for.
like I said, I have no idea what type I like (or even if I DID like blues). but listening to some of those old school songs, they sound pretty good. just tryin to expand my horizons musically and figured blues was a good way to go since alot of types of music came out of blues