# Learn me some Blues...
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-me-some-blues/268301
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [October 9, 2004, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-me-some-blues/268301 "2004-10-09T00:35:28Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2004, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-me-some-blues/268301/1 "2004-10-09T00:35:28Z")
I’m fairly well schooled for a newjack, but I’d like to hear some suggestions on stuff to dig up from the crypts.
The stuff that I like best tends to be relatively primitive, minimalist, and nasty, eg:
[ul]
[li]R.L. Burnside[/li][li]Fred McDowell[/li][li]Son House[/li][li]Blind Willie Johnson[/li][/ul]
I’m especially interested in slide-n’-harp stuff, either acoustic or electric.
Currently, I’m attempting to find some Tommy Johnson stuff. A guy who drank Sterno sounds like _my_ kind of bluesman.
Thanks.
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### Author:  [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2004, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-me-some-blues/268301/2 "2004-10-09T00:52:43Z")
Oh, and I how did I forget T-Model Ford?
So yeah, T-Model Ford. Muddy. Etc.
I like the Black Keys and all, but they’re a little too, uh, refined for what I’m talking about.
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### Author:  [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2004, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-me-some-blues/268301/3 "2004-10-09T01:19:40Z")
Early Muddy Waters, Alfred King, Robert Johnson, Blind Willie McTell.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2004, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-me-some-blues/268301/4 "2004-10-09T03:10:45Z")
Blind Willie Johnson’s _Dark was the Night Cold was the Ground_ (or vice versa) is on the Voyager spacecraft recording that left our solar system.
Historically, Robert Johnson. Sold his soul to the Devil at the crossroads for the ability to play the Blues. Died on his knees barking like a dog, his whiskey poisoned by a jealous husband. Cross Road Blues.
While I have you all here…While aligning a satellite antenna, I heard some blues lyrics:
You know I got a few bad habits, baby
and the one I’m gonna lose is you.
Can you name the song?
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2004, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-me-some-blues/268301/5 "2004-10-09T03:12:33Z")
I got the spell checker bules.
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### Author:  [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2004, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/learn-me-some-blues/268301/6 "2004-10-09T15:06:09Z")
Sonny Terry- he was blind and played the harp, how can you go wrong?