I’m interested in finding some acoustic blues to listen to, I know Robert Johnson and the rest, I want something with better audio quality that still has that old timey sound and feel. Basically some bad ass pool hall poker playing stuff but acoustic and as authentic as possible.
I would strongly recommend tracking down some Sonny Rhodes. He does both electric and acoustic and he is great but obscure.
There is some Sonny Rhodes on Youtube, but so far, I can only find electric.
I found one with him on Steel Guitar, that might fit your request.
He is incredible live. Anyway, check out a few of the videos on YouTube and see if he is what you are looking for.
Jim
Big Brother and the Holding Company (with Janis Joplin, of course)
Turtle Blues. Live accoustic.
That’s all I got…
Check out Son House and Honeyboy Edwards. Honeyboy is, amazingly, still going all these years later.
John Lee Hooker live at sugar hill. That man is a bad mutha.
Is an acoustic guitar or resonator guitar run through an amp acceptable? If so, I’ll recommend The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band. They are on tour opening for Flogging Molly, and they play Clarksdale style blues - guitar, washboard and drums and worship Charley Patton and sound like a roadhouse band from the mid 1930s.
R.L. Burnside’s original recordings. Look here:
Yeah. R.L. is great. You could also check the label Dust to Digital. The do a great job in tracking down, preserving, and publishing old american folk/blues/gospel stuff. The Goodbye, Babylon-box set is amazing! There is a small player on the site so you can get a feel for the kind of music they work with.
Try some of the following
Jesse Fuller
Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee
Big Bill Broonzy
John Hammond
Mississippi John Hurt
You can’t go wrong with Skip James. Awesome.
Ditto on recommendations of Son House and Mississippi John Hurt. Also check out Reverend Gary Davis, and Pink Anderson (inspiration for Pink Floyd’s name–The Blues of Pink Anderson/Ballad and Folksinger Vol. 3, with “The Titanic,” “Boweevil,” etc., is really great.)
I am swamped at work and my brain isn’t coming up with anything earth-shakingly cool and obscure to recommend, but there are some great recommendations here.
I would add:
- Taj Mahal
- Keb Mo - technically very proficient, but a bit commercial at times
- Big Bill Broonzy
- Leadbelly of course
- There is a guy - David something-Jewish - Bronfman? Brozman? who is a great old-school fingerstyle country blues player. He can cop most of the great players’ styles and presents them using modern recording techniques - really good stuff…
I second Rory Block, though all I’ve heard is her Robert Johnson cover album. Her guitar is fantastic, but her imitation of Johnson’s voice is…unusual. Eric Clapton’s RJ cover is electric, with a band.
My first name that popped into my mind was David Bromberg, who is a good blues artist in his own right, but not really in the style of Robert Johnson, Leadbelly, etc.
There is a Bob Brozman that plays some killer National Steel acoustic slide.
You got 'em both! I conflated the two…Bromberg developed his own style by first learning the original stuff. One of those bizarre “I read about him when I was a teenager in Guitar Player 30 years ago and actually remember it” kinda things…decades later, I stumbled across a CD of his that was part of a package for How to Play County Blues and he plays a bunch of classics and walks through how to do it. At the time, I was completely whooshed by his technique - really great.
He doesn’t get the respect of a John Lee Hooker or Mississippi John Hurt, but I’ve always loved Lightnin’ Hopkins.
You should also check out the Fat Possum Records catalog; they’ve got a bunch of acoustic blues (as well as electric, punk, some other stuff). Check out Asie Payton for starters.
Some of my favorites not already mentioned here: Memphis Minnie McCoy, a phenomenal blueslady, who well matched the best of the guys of the era.
Mississippi Fred McDowell, master of North Mississippi blues, a forerunner of RL Burnside’s good groove. He was a sheer genius, playing while earning a living pumping gas at the local Stuckey’s gas station.
Sam “Lightnin” Hopkins, very melodious Texas bluesman. See now with preview that Jackelope likes Sam as well… Both McDowell and Hopkins are also the coolest dressing guys in the 60’s bluesman fashion parade, muy adept with the shades.
For a modern take, Corey Harris, is an incredible musician. He knows older blues, has travelled to Africa to discover the roots, and incorporates it all, as well as reggae into his music. He recently won a MacArthur grant in recognition of his talent, first blues musucian to gain that recognition. Best of all, you can see him play live, which brings the traditional music to your earbones directly.
And, check out Music Maker Relief Foundation. They not only release top notch recordings of unsung bluespeople, but actively support the last of elder blues musicians by funding tours, as well as providing monetary support for rent, medical expenses, and other expenses for those in need. I’ve seen this group start from a dream of it’s founder, to the now actual high-functioning organization that has had great success for all involved. Taj Mahal is one of it’s most vocal supporters.
You might like Scott Ainslie http://cattailmusic.com/
He was featured on (Elwood’s) House of Blues radio show a while back.
I have “You Better Lie Down” and “Terraplane”, and they’re pretty much just him and his guitar.
You might enjoy the music of Robert Lockwood, Jr. who literally learned at the feet of Robert Johnson. (His mother lived with Robert Johnson on and off for 10 years during which “Robert Junior” studied with him.)
He played with Sonny Boy Williamson, Howlin’ Wolf, Little Walter, and Muddy Waters, among others. He started playing in the 30’s with his first recordings being in 1941. He played in Memphis, St. Louis, Chicago, and played regularly on the King Biscuit Time radio show in Helena, Arkansas in the early 40’s.
He spent most of the 50’s in Chicago before moving to Cleveland in 1961.
I had the privilege of listening to him during his regular gig at the restaurant Fat Fish Blue during the last years of his life.
Even though he died in 2006, his music won a Grammy this past year as part of the collection “Last Of The Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen: Live In Dallas”.
Here’s a sample of his music from 1986. He performed both as a solo artist as shown here, and also as a member of a group called “Blue Lunch”.
Here’s one of his first recordings from 1941.
elelle, it’s sometimes strange how our tastes overlap on rather obscure blues musicians (Hasil Adkins, for example).