When I was a teenager in 60s England I was a huge fan of the blues singers, just as the Stones were. Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, John Lee Hooker (whom I actually met when he came to England), Slim Harpo, Jimmy Reed et al, so many great blues artists.
But where are their successors? OK, I realize there must be many blues singers currently but none of the stature of those giants I named. I know times change and rap is now king, which, although it has its moments rarely approaches the heights of the classic blues songs. Rap lacks the power, artistry and soul of the best of the blues.
Do the younger generation listen to blues any longer? Are there any modern blues singers out there that are worthy of their great predecessors? Is blues in fact a dying art form? I’d hate to think so and it’s encouraging to hear that the Stones have just released an album of covers of songs by the great blues singers that they loved when they started out as a band. Much as I love the Stones though I think there’s a kernel of truth in the old adage, White men can’t sing the blues. I’ve certainly never heard a white singer do any justice to Reed’s Big Boss Man, Wolf’s Smokestack Lightning, James’ Dust My Broom, etc.
There’s a thriving blues scene here in the Bay Area, with a local society, annual festivals in San Francisco, Hayward, San Jose, and Redwood City, jams all over the place, and lots of homegrown talent. Yes, the audience skews old and white, but the performers are highly multicultural–one of the top local names is Indian-born harmonica whiz Aki Kumar.
My friends The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band play Country Blues, original songs directly influenced by the first generation of Blues - Charlie Patton, Bukka White, and the like. They’ve been playing it all over the world, 250 or so dates a year, to a young enthusiastic audience.
For the same reason that there are no John Coltranes or Miles Davises or Thelonious Monks around. In blues, as in jazz, there are still worthy practitioners around (as noted in this thread), but the time of innovation has passed.
That’s ok, musical genres, like everything else in life, are born, flourish, then eventually go downhill. Just as long as you still have those Howlin’ Wolf records on hand.
Gregg Allman is an example of a later Blues singer. I’m trying to imagine what the post Alllman blues singer would be. Bonnie Raitt is in there too.
There are plenty of contemporary black artists who consider themselves in the tradition of muddy, lightnin etc. It’s just do you have an ear for it. And I don’t.
Amy Winehouse was a great modern singer who could do more than blues.
I’ve been going to jazz clubs in NYC since the late '70s and early '80s, and the audience is all anglo and asian.
My son’s jazz ensemble in high school five years ago was all anglo and asian. The afro kids were all playing violin and cello and bassoon in the school orchestra.
My afro friends at work ask what I listen to, and I say “classical and jazz.” They say “Oh yeah…dead white men and dead black men!”
Most of the classic singers either came out of the fields and/or out of the church. You just don’t have a huge population of share croppers that grew up singing in the fields, doing call and response during farm work, and lacked even a radio for entertainment. Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and John Lee Hooker all spring to mind.
The other big talent pool came from gospel singers from that same rural background. BB King being the obvious example.
Not that he was really a blues singer, but Elvis had that same sort of back ground.
Take someone like Eric Clapton or Gregg Allmon - there just is no comparison in the vocal ranges or sound.
Now it’s a lot more urban blues singers that never had that original background. Listen to Muddy Waters. That man had range, and would hit notes that fell between piano keys (I forget the term for that?). Hard Again was my blues gateway, and I will never forget seeing Muddy at the Sacramento Blues Festival in 1980. I’ve seen a lot of great acts, but Muddy at ~65 years young was definitely in the top three.
There probably are people on the same level of blues singing talent as before - they just don’t get as much press as they used to because a) blues is not as popular anymore b) music has exploded in the amount of genres and groups out there.
Imagine that your favorite past blues singer was just starting out today, and was for the sake of argument still into blues and producing his/her style at the same high quality today. They would not become the giant name that they were in the past, and probably just end up as a moderately successful regional act with a small following elsewhere.
Robert Randolph and the Family Band - a badass gospel/blues-rock steel guitar monster.
And yeah, there are plenty of young folks playing from across countries and ethnicities. It’s just hard to crossover these days - Jack White, The Black Keys, some of John Mayer’s stuff, Gary Clark, Jr. all have crossover success, but not many more.
I suspect we are just surpassing Peak Guitar, though - baby boomers who can afford fancy versions of the guitars in their memories, and really great manufacturing quality. As computers take our attention, the investment required to learn to play actual physical instruments will become less and less attractive.
