Variations of that predate “Mannish Boy,” too. That song itself was a response to Bo Diddley’s “I Am A Man”, and before that, Muddy Waters also recorded “Hoochie Coochie Man” (words and music by Willie Dixon), which also had that same stop-time blues, but with the little harmonica riff ascending rather than descending. There doesn’t appear to be a Willie Dixon recording that predates this (sounds like he may have written it for or with Muddy Waters.)
I wonder if that’s 1954 Muddy Waters “Hoochie Coochie Man” recording is the first example of this type of stop-time blues.
ETA: So far as I can tell, that does seem to be the start of that type of lick and stop-time in blues. “I Am a Man” and “Mannish Boy” are a little bit different in that they don’t go through the blues progression (essentially, they just sit on one chord), but “Hoochie Coochie Man” does (though in 16-bar format.)
Another early example I found (this would be the fourth one chronologically, recorded in late 1955): Chuck Berry’s “No Money Down.” Also following the same one-chord approach. So it looks to me that Bo Diddley’s “I Am a Man” is the first one to do it as a one-chord stop-time blues, but the idea goes back to Willie Dixon, as recorded by Muddy Waters. So basically the roots are in the Chicago school, from what I’ve been able to gather.
ETA: Oh, wait, Here’s an example of the riff from another Muddy Waters song, “Mad Love” recorded and released in 1953. So that’s the earliest example so far of that riff.
The popularization of the blues goes back much farther than Stevie. Early rock & roll in the 50s grew out of the blues. The Brits were getting turned on to American roots blues in the early 60s, including Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Keith Richards, Mick Taylor, John Mayall, and many more. Stevie was great, and influential, but a relative latecomer.
Yes, you are correct about that era…But my comment was about the RE-popularization of the blues in the 80’s.
Stevie and others brought a more traditional blues to the pop charts and reinvigorated many bluesmens careers.
In a just world, this shouldn’t be funny at all, and no one should feel good about it one bit. However, it’s fair to say that I can’t get no satisfaction from it.
