It seems that many of us still have the blues due to some recruiting misses yesterday. In fact, for some of you, this seemed to be your theme song.
Well, I don't feel like I'm tied to the whipping post. I think our class is great despite the setbacks and will get better. However, I do love the Allman Brothers, and I do love the blues. My car is usually on Sirius XM's BB King Bluesville station and my Pandora is filled with blues artists. I do like traditional, old stuff, but I prefer a more rocking blues sound most of the time
Tonight I'd like to share a few of my favorites. I'll share a few artists from different eras. Maybe if you like the blues too, you can introduce me to some of your favorites.
You can't really talk the blues without discussing BB King. In fact, many say BB King originated the method of using a lead guitar in music, which of course influenced many musical genres. This is BB King off of the Live in Cook County Jail album.
Another of my favorite old legend was John Lee Hooker. You might recognize this number that I often post when we get a BOOM!
There are tons of others that I could spend a lot of time on (and will in subsequent posts): Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Elmore James, Ella Fitzgerald, etc.
Many later artists that we consider rock and rollers were heavily influenced by the blues. A few that come to mind are Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana, Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac (started as a blues band), etc. However, the artist who really introduced me to the blues, and is a real favorite of mine, was Stevie Ray Vaughan. Stevie really brought the blues into the mainstream. I loved how he brought the old masters into the limelight as well. Here is Stevie playing "In Session" with Albert King.
Another of my favorites gave the title to this topic. Gary Moore was the guitarist for Thin Lizzy and went on to a long career.
There are a lot of new artists still rocking the blues. In future posts I'll cover some of them. One blues prodigy, who opened for BB King at age 12, is Joe Bonamassa.
One more rising blues player is another favorite of mine, Samantha Fish.
Some other blues artists on my Pandora play list (besides those I cited above):
Beth Hart
Buddy Guy (saw him a few months ago in San Antonio--he still rocks it at 81!)
Charles Brown
Danielle Nicole
Delbert McClinton
Etta James
Gary Clark Jr.
Gov't Mule
Janiva Magness
Jonny Lang
Joss Stone
Keb' Mo'
Kenny Wayne Shepherd
Robin Trower
Sue Foley
Susan Tedeschi
Tab Benoit
Derek trucks Band
Tedeschi-Trucks Band
Tommy Castro
Got any favorites I missed?
