Lately, neo-blues acts like The Black Keys and The Black Angels (and other bands whose names do not begin with “The Black”) have been playing constantly on my ipod. Love the sound, love the feel, and now I’d like to learn about their roots and influences.
What’s a few must-listen-tos for a beginner like me?
I’d start with Robert Johnson to get a taste of where it all came from, then on to Muddy Waters to hear how the Delta moved to Chicago, then on to John Mayall to hear what the English white boys did with it. Those are my suggested first steps.
I second Robert Johnson,add Koko Taylor and BB King.
Eric Clapton has a Robert Johnson cover album, Me and Mister Johnson.
The Best of John Lee Hooker, 1965 to 1974 is a must-have.
All the above recos seconded- I’d also add Tab Benoit and Jonny Lang so you can see what’s being done with it by people our own age.
Stevie.
Ray.
Vaughan.
Another favorite of mine is Keb’ Mo’. He is Delta-influenced with more contemporary chops and production values.
If you’re talking electric blues, I’d start with Muddy Waters and my personal favorite, Howlin’ Wolf. You can get Wolf’s first two albums on one disc these days, and the “Chess: His Best” CD is also excellent. There’s significant overlap between the two discs, so you could safely pick one to start.
Howlin’ Wolf is pretty hard to beat - I don’t know anybody who doesn’t like him.
Elmore James. Blues slide guitar that inspired the rest.
Follow up with Duane Allman (of the Allman Bros.), and his well-known Coricidin bottle slide.
For female blues artists, I’d start with Etta James and work my way up to Janis Joplin (whose blues style is so haunting it gives me goosebumps).
Although he called himself a gospel singer, Blind Willie Johnson is of historical interest.
Dark was the Night, Cold was the Ground is on the voyager probe recording.
Heartily, heartily seconded. The slide tracks on At Fillmore East are an absolute clinic, and Dreams remains perhaps my favorite piece of music, although there are many live versions that far surpass the album version.
Everything here is a great recomendation. (Particularly the Elmore James)
I would also like to throw Albert King into the mix. Early electric blues that created much of the modern Blues idiom. All the Brit Blues players are more or less copying what King did.
BB King too, to a lesser extent (not that he isn’t crazy influential, just that I don’t care for him personally.)
If you want early Delta blues Robert Johnson is a must, so are Son House and Ma Rainey.
Get yourself a Delta blues compolation to find out if you can handle the recording values of those times. The go from there.
Personally, in your situation I would recommend working your way back through blues to eventually get to the roots music. I am concerned that jumping directly to Robert Johnson or Leadbelly may be too much of a contrast to where you’ve been.
I recommend making the following stops along the way before moving on to the blues roots music.
BB King
Keb Mo
Muddy Waters
Pinetop Perkins
Johnny Winter
Stevie Ray Vaughn
Ry Cooder
John Lee Hooker
James Cotton
Guitar Shorty
T-Bone Walker
Luther Allison
Albert King
Willie Dixon
Paul Butterfield
Then move on to
Mississippi Fred McDowell
Memphis Slim
Mississippi John Hurt
Sunnyland Slim
Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee
Big Bill Broonzy
Professor Longhair
Followed by:
Son House
R L Burnside
Robert Johnson
Leadbelly
Blind Lemon Jefferson
Of course along the way there’s many tangents you could take, such as:
British Blues
John Mayall
Long John Baldry
Humble Pie
Savoy Brown
Ten Years After
Eric Clapton
Southern Rock (all heavily Blues influenced)
Allman Brothers
Marshall Tucker Band
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Little Feat (although not technically from the South)
Elvin Bishop
Atlanta Rhythm Section
I took a quick listen to The Black Keys and Black Angels on iTunes (thanks for that cuz I hadn’t heard them before) and they sound very much to me firmly in the blues/rock vein.
With that in mind I would offer up what I think are the 3 good choices in that they were very influential on the 60’s and 70’s artists who incorprated the blues into their rock sound.
Muddy Waters - The Stones (and most of the Brits) were influenced by him. Well known (for good reason) tracks are Mannish Boy, Got My Mojo Working, (I’m Your) Hoochie Coochie Man, and Rock Me.
John Lee Hooker - He’s a got a sparser, more haunted sound to him (in my opinion). It’s got a boogie woogie kind of rhythm but the man can play it raw. Good intro tracks would be Boogie Chillen, Boom Boom, and I’m Bad Like Jessie James. George Thorougood was definitely influenced, and from what I’ve heard the White Stripes too somewhat.
Buddy Guy - Buddy was (relatively) young in the 60’s so he was 1/2 influence 1/2 peer to the blues-rock guys. Hendrix and Clapton especially. John Mayer is like a little puppy following him around now (in a good way). The great thing with Buddy is he’s still very active, putting out quality albums and playing live shows. a lot of his early tracks were covers, but look for his stuff with Junior Wells, like Hoodoo Man. Of his more recent stuff give Let Me Love You Baby, Rememberin’ Stevie, or Now You’re Gone.
Just my opinion, but for someone who wants to explore the music, it might bebetter to start with more recent or immediate influences and work backwards in time rather than jump straight to Robert Johnson or Blind Lemon Jefferson. Anyway you decide to go though, enjoy the ride.
No one has mentioned the best blues guitarist of all time, Lightnin’ Hopkins. Everyone needs Lightnin’ in their lives.
flickster’s list was pretty good. In the first group I would add Albert Collins and Son Seals. Luther Allison’s boy Bernard is no slouch either.
In the British Blues list, along with John Mayall I would be sure to add the Bluesbreakers, if that’s not a given. The early Fleetwood Mac (with Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer) should be in that list as well.
The wonderful Arhoolie Records has a lot of Mr Hopkins’ stuff. Plus other blues artists, in a variety of styles–country to city.
Lots of RealAudio samples, to give you a little taste…
Wow, that is a fantastic list.
Do that!