I have recently rediscovered my love for blues of almost any kind. That includes delta blues, chicago blues and more modern stuff like Taj Mahal, for example. Can anyone recommend any lesser known blues groups or artists to me? I don’t mean the standards like Muddy Waters or John Lee Hooker, but lesser known or local acts, like say Missiipi Heat. I really want to expand my CD collection a bit. Thanks.
Billie Holiday is awesome. One of her songs “Strange and Bitter fruit” is haunting. I seem to remember she was voted best singer of the 20th century or something like that
Sorry, now I see you saying you want lesser known artists. Sippi Wallace is really awesome too.
Still Got the Blues - Gary Moore
Most anything by Stevie Ray Vaughn
Davey Graham usually has a few old American blues standards on any of his albums.
Well, Robert Johnson was one of the first recorded and best. He’s not unkown, but you will hear some honest to its roots blues.
Robert Randolph will not disappoint. “I don’t know what you come to do” is a good sample of his style.
Country Blues
Delta Blues
Charley Patton
Son House
Skip James
Robert Johnson
Fred McDowell
Mississippi Sheiks
Big Bill Broonzy (early stuff)
Songster Blues
Missisippi John Hurt
Pink Anderson
Leadbelly
Mance Lipscomb
Texas Country Blues
Blind Lemon Jefferson
Blind Willie Johnson
Ragtime/Piedmont Blues
Blind Blake
Gary Davis
Blind Boy Fuller
Willie McTell
Electric Blues
Early Chicago Blues
Muddy Waters
Howlin’ Wolf
Little Walter
Big Bill Broonzy (later stuff)
Sonny Boy Williamson I and II
Elmore James
Later Chicago Blues
Otish Rush
Buddy Guy
Fenton Robinson
Junior Wells
Texas Electric Blues
T-Bone Walker
Clarence Gatemouth Brown
Albert Collins
Lowell Fulson
Modern Postwar Blues
B. B. King
Albert King
Freddie King
Female Blues Singers
Pre-War
Bessie Smith
Ma Rainey
Mamie Smith
Post-War
Big Maybelle
Big Mama Thornton
Little Esther Phillips
That should get you started.
Thanks to all of you. I’m off to bed now since it’s almost 2AM here in Europe now. Thanks again and until tomorrow.
Not sure what they’ve put out recently but Aligator records had some pretty awesome stuff.
You certainly should add Hound Dog Taylor and the Houserockers to rmbnxs pretty dang impressive list. Beware the Dog is a highly recommended album by the only 6 fingered blues guitarist I’m aware of.
Malacco records also had some good stuff and Little Milton was probably their best known act.
Clarence Gatemouth Brown is another pretty unique sounding guy.
Again, my blues knowledge kinda stops in 1985 when I left the US.
I have some meagre blues knowledge, but some albums that I love. These would include:
“Showdown” by Albert Collins, Johnny Copeland, and Robert Cray, great stuff, very jangly.
Anything by Robert Cray for a modern take on the blues.
Bobby “Blue” Bland - very soulful blues.
Sunnyland Slim - excellent old-school. Don’t know if it counts as “delta blues” but I like it.
Clarence Carter - also good old-school, with a decidedly sexual edge.
Lonnie Mack - Memphis-style blues, very well done.
Kenny Wayne Shepard - modern blues-rock and excellent guitar playing.
And I agree with China Guy; most anything on Aligator is bound to be worth a listen. Hope that helps!..Timmy
Howyadoin,
A second on the Otis Rush… “My Love Will Never Die” is essential.
And every Robert Johnson song you hear, you’ll hear again a thousand times in thousands of songs from hundreds of bands.
Delta blues is the bleeding umbilical cord of rock n’ roll…
-Rav
Keb Mo is one of my favorites.
** rmbnxs**, excellent list and a big doff of the hat for you mentioning Bessie Smith. That gal was a groundbreaker in her time. The only way her salacious lyrics got past the censors was that those white boys didn’t have a clue as to what she was singing about.
Tim R. Mortiss, Kenny Wayne Shepard is one amazing individual. I saw him open with Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and Eric Johnson for the first G3 tour. The kid oozes with guitar talent. Shall we say that the big jam session at the end of the concert was pretty spectacular? (I think we shall.)
I second rmbnxs’ recommendation of Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey—I actually prefer them by far to Billie Holliday. As far as white gals, give Libby Holman a try, too.
Otis Taylor. No one plays like him – dark acoustic blues, almost hypnotic. Definitely not “feel good” music, but astonishingly good. There was a good article on him in Slate a few weeks ago. In concert, he is astonishing.
There’s also Deborah Coleman, a fine blues singer and guitarist.
Well, my favourite song ever ever EVER is Robert Nighthawk’s Black Angel Blues. There’s something about it I never tire of…sigh.
Also, try John Campbell; he was a hell-raiser who turned to blues guitar. Saw him supporting Buddy Guy in the early 90s, and went straight out and bought his album. He died (young) shortly afterwards of a heart attack, so I can’t listen to his stuff now without a twinge of melancholy. That’s the blues, I guess.
There’s lots of good blues collections out there. Chess, Alligator, Blind Pig, and many other labels put out collections from various artists on their label. That should give you a good sampling of a great many artists both old and new.
I don’t recall seeing Son Seals mentioned but he has always been a personal favorite of mine.
Word.
I also wanted to add Mississippi Hill Country Blues, or I Wish I was in Heaven Sittin’ Down by R.L. Burnside.
Do start with the Robert Johnson recordings, as they’re in so many other blues songs.
Tom Waits “Frank’s Wild Years”
Curtis Salgado, pretty much anything.
Robert Cray “Strong Pursuader”
The great Shanachie record label has released a number of compilations of fairly obscure blues artists from the 20s-40s. More info can be had here