Buddy Guy and Junior Wells - Alone and Acoustic
This is going to be an excellent thread!
This is going to be an excellent thread!
Blues for Aficionados
I have found that postings music is a good way to listen to all the music in your collection. I have neglected the ultimate source of much of the music I post. This tread corrects that oversight. All Blues post are welcome. I will concentrate on the Delta.
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Charles Brown ALL MY LIFE Rounder / Bullseye Blues 1990 Notes: "Malcolm Rebennack (A.K.A. Dr. John), who does a duet with Charles on this record and lays down some ’tipico’ New Orleans organ and piano, is a longtime admirer. Back in 1972 he told me, "Charles is like Ben Webster on the tenor -- they both got air to spare." born: September 13, 1922, Texas city, TX died: January 21, 1999, Oakland, CA A Virus Called The Blues (as if covid is not enough) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfdHRSuQvuU&t=326s Early in the Morning https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cy9UeCuSzk Bad Bad Whiskey https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6VYjlxK_30 Trouble Blues https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYt0V9JdwJ8 Cheers |
Eddie Boyd FIVE LONG YEARS Boyd(piano, organ, vocals), Buddy Guy(guitar), Jimmy Robinson(bass), Fred Below(drums), Big Mama Thornton(vocal, Hound Dog) Evidence 1994 Notes: "Eddie Boyd was born November 25, 1914 in Coahoma County, Mississippi and spent his childhood on the fabled Stovall's plantation in the heart of the Delta.... Boyd discovered his musical salvation when he journeyed overseas to co-headline the 1965 American Folk Blues Festival. During the historic European tour(produced by German promoters Horst Lippmann and fritz Raul), Boyd recorded the impressive contents of this disc in Hamburg and London, backed by three of the finest Chicago sidemen available. Fleet-fingered guitarist Buddy Guy, versatile bassist Jimmie lee Robinson, and crackling drummer Fred Below offer superb support as Boyd convincingly rolls through a virtual greatest hits program." Five Long Years https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hd3PwHujl4&list=OLAK5uy_kIDIqFdu4zUbCsYA_cSo8r7N93i3OnCEc Eddie's Blues https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfKe1vIwdxg I'm coming home https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMqvSNPfWds Blue Monday Blues https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWb7I5jcYrY Hound Dog https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ku3yE2RBxp8 Cheers |
James Booker RESURRECTION OF THE BAYOU MAHARAJAH Rounder Records 1993 Notes: "For Booker fans, then, this album and its companion (Spiders on the Keys, Rounder 2119) are cause for celebration. Here is James Booker as his New Orleans fans knew him--passionate and dazzling; alternately extroverted or painfully lost in his own world. For if James Carroll Booker lll was one of the greatest pianists of the century, he was also plagued by what many of his friends considered to be mental illness, and by a lifelong battle with drugs and alcohol (a problem Booker traced to his prescription after being hit by an ambulance when he was a boy)." Real New Orleans music. You can hear the wooden floors. Medley: Slow Down / Bony Maronie / Knock On Wood / I Heard It Through The Grapevine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zya7-ekMXw Medley: Tico Tico / Papa Was A Rascal (Live At The Maple Leaf Bar, New Orleans, LA / 1977-1982) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PA5Aoq32N4g St. James Infirmary (Live At The Maple Leaf Bar, New Orleans, LA / 1977-1982) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFRKcW_s6YQ Medley: Life / Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee / It Should Have Been Me (Live At The Maple Leaf Bar, New... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wa7w0yYjXNs Cheers |
Zuzu Bollin ZUZU BOLLIN TEXAS BLUESMAN A cast of thousands, including Duke Robillard and David "Fathead" Newman. Antones Records & Tapes 1991 Notes: "An important chapter of Zuzu Bollin's history must be written in Austin. After hearing Zuzu in Dallas one night in 1988 Clifford Antone, owner of Antones's nightclub, befriended him and invited him to begin performing at his club....Antone made plans to record him, and you can hear the results on this record. Zuzu's story has a bittersweet ending. He died in 1990. That Zuzu did not live to complete the Antone's sessions is a great loss to us all, but thankfully we still have these wonderful recordings. Fans of Texas Blues owe a debt of gratitude to Chuck Nevitt and Clifford Antone for caring enough to capture Zuzu just the way he would have liked: Texas Style." ANTONES is / was a well known blues club in Austin, Texas. He also owns / owned a record store that sold / sells blues CDs, LPs, Tapes and associated stuff. I spent many a dollar there. My routine was, Waterloo records, then walk a block to Tower Records, then walk a block to Antone's Blues record store. Those were the days. Why Don't You Eat Where You Slept Last Night https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFv0FOCsI9M Zuzu Bollin – Zu's Blues https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SB7gvpI2KxE Rebecca https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYyizQvlGG0 Kidney Stew https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBchUpap0lo Blues in the Dark https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dqiLUQIkoU Cheers |
If you aren't adverse to CD's, try to find a copy of Up The Line by The Gary Smith Blues Band. Gary is very well known in the San Francisco Bay Area Blues scene, and has the best harp tone I've ever heard, bar none. His mentor was Charlie Mussellwhite, and Gary's role model is The Master---Little Walter. Gary is the first harp player I played with, way back in 1969! He had just switched from drums, so we had that in common. Gary's Facebook posts are usually about the latest tubes he has tried in his tube amps. He is VERY serious about the tone he creates, the mark of a superior musician (along with phrasing, and musicality). The album also features great musical accompaniment from the best Blues players in the Bay Area (known locally as the Blues Mafia ;-). I've seen and heard him and they live, and if you live in the area, so should you. |
Nice. Speaking of Harmonica, you can't have too much harmonica in the Blues. Heritage Blues Orchestra: Catfish Blues https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ov0-XmddxA Cheers |
Bobby Bland TURN ON YOUR LOVE LIGHT: THE DUKE RECORDINGS VOL 2 Duke / MCA 1994 Notes: Welcome to the golden age of the ageless Bobby "Blue" Bland. Long an icon in blues and proto-soul circles, the man really hit his stride in the early 1960's when, as a thirty-something veteran of the Memphis scene, he forged a new frontier for the full-throated, mostly mid-tempo stylings. To this day, it's a sound that sets the standard for emotive vocal music. In a field dominated by pimply teens and rubber-legged showoffs, the mature confidence exuded by Bobby is refreshing in itself." LOL. Let the culture war begin. Turn On Your Love Light https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gszjF-OxJho Stormy Monday Blues https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAWzczucDVs Saint James Infirmary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJoNAAWIprE Yield Not To Temptation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-RoP05BdC4 Ain't That lovin' you https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSVC9oajnFs cheers |
Black Ace I AM THE BOSS CARD IN YOUR HAND Arhoolie 1961 / 1992 Notes: "Black Ace (B.K. Turner) was a great Texas Blues Singer and one of the few exponents of the flat Hawaiian guitar blues style to have been recorded. This CD contains almost his entire recorded legacy." Whiskey and Women https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eb7qJncWabk I am The Black Ace https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRzvW10J0Y8 Evil Woman Blues https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cTduZ-zKQM No Good Woman https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE3h-FyhlsE Cheers |
Ernestine Anderson WHEN THE SUN GOES DOWN Anderson(vocals), Brown(bass), Harris(piano), Holloway(Tenor sax), King(drums) Concord Jazz 1985 Notes: "What we have here is proof--for proof was never needed--but a soulful reminder that among her many gifts, Ernestine Anderson has more that a mere penchant for the blues. She has a deep-down, abiding love for it--which is precisely the feeling I have about this album." Leonard Feather Goin' to Chicago Blues https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fs3_koFgK6k In the Evening when the Sun goes Down https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OTrtKMJSSA Down Home Blues Blues https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_n5RLhPBOU Mercy, Mercy, Mercy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL3S2_SE7so Cheers |
Vera Hall - Trouble So Hard https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9SENzRLk_M (A thanks to Moby for the intro) Sonhouse - John The Revelator https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGBoP70A7Q0 |
Luther Allison BLUE STREAK Alligator Records 1995 "Luther Allison was an American blues guitarist. He was born in Widener, Arkansas, although some accounts suggest his actual place of birth was Mayflower, Arkansas."-- Wiki Hey, it's the world of The Blues. At least he died in one place. What Have I Done Wrong? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thPuo1FbbGQ All The King's Horses https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yzd-s7HmycU Should I wait https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eE32OX-XzA Cherry Red Wine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tC3qrrR5ZVQ Cheers |
This being an Audiophile site, I have to mention the legendary Muddy Waters' album Folk Singer. Originally on Chess Records, later reissued by Mobile Fidelity, then Classic Records, and currently Analogue Productions. Great acoustic Folk Blues music (with Buddy Guy on electric guitar) in great "you are there" sound quality. Another is Charlie Musselwhite's Times Gettin' Tougher Than Tough, a direct-to-disc LP on Crystal Clear Records. If you have never heard a d-2-d LP, prepare to be stunned! Another is the many albums Doug MacLeod has done for Audioquest Music, the first of which (I believe ) is entitled Come To Find, with Charlie Musselwhite blowin' harp. A few by Albert King: Born Under A Bad Sign. Original LP on Stax Records, reissued by Sundazed. Then there is Blues For Elvis, which is Albert doing songs associated with Presley. Produced by the great Booker T & The MG's rhythm section of drummer Al Jackson, Jr. and bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn. Original LP on Stax Records, reissue (under the title King, Does The King's Things) by Vinyl Me Please. Mastered by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound, pressed on 180 gram vinyl (oh, the horror ;-) at QRP. Perhaps more old school R & B than strictly Blues is Rhythm, Blues, Soul & Grooves by Bobby KIng and Terry Evans, the great duo whose singing talents are often used by Ry Cooder. Ry appears on this Rounder Records album, as does the great Spooner Oldham, member of Muscle Shoals' legendary studio band The Swampers. Spooner is also heard on Neil Young's Harvest album. Fantastic! |
Two essentials for me. One is Elmore James "Sunnyland" (not to be confused with a song by the same name earlier recorded by James). This one is dirty, distorted and has an edge that hard rock guitars wished to emulate. The other is the Buddy Guy rendition of "First Time I Met the Blues" in the documentary entitled Chicago Blues directed by Harley Cokliss and variously shown as 1972 or in some cases, 1970. The performance by Mr. Guy is stinging and bitter, and you get the cigarette smoke and sweat of the club in the visual if you see the film. (The later recordings by Guy just don’t seem to have the same mojo). T-Bone Walker drew a template that is followed today. His earlier recordings did not necessarily reflect the entire stage show, with big band, and guitarist gymnastics, that was once part of his act. Blues is hard for a reason. To communicate the darkness of a soul on fire, the performer must emote on a level that grabs and holds the audience. This is even more difficult when listening to a recording, at a big remove from the actual performance. Blues played by rote is no fun; I’d rather Lawrence Welk. But when it gets you, there’s nothing more satisfying. |
Johnny Adams ROOM WITH A VIEW OF THE BLUES Rounder 1988 Johnny Adams(vocals), Walter "Wolfman" Washington(guitar), Duke Robillard(guitar), Mac Rubennack(Dr. John) (keyboards) et al. Adams is out of New Orleans, but, he was first on the shelf. Room With A View https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBYP0SajEAs Not Trustworthy (A Lyin' Woman) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tk3E2YlSWZE How Wrong Can A Good Man Be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uxw9X6abmYY Neither One Of Us (Wants To Be The One To Say Goodbye) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6umdYMdTJ7o Cheers |