Somebody mentioned blues, so I want to make sure you listen to the right thing. First off, there is Chicago Blues, which is what most people are familiar with (your B.B. King's and Buddy Guy's) and the Delta Blues which is a lot older. The delta blues started in Mississippi and spread through the other southern states. Robert Johnson is the the most famous of the Delta Bluesmen, but if you want to go chronologically then follow this list. You'll actually find a lot these guys recorded their songs when they were older in the 1960's when the Folk Revival came around.
Jazz/Ragtime
W.C. Handy (known as the father of the blues, he didn't invent the blues, but is widely considered the first popular artist in the genre)
I love this performance of St. Louis Blues, the song was written in 1914, he's playing it here at 75 years old. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkOcO5HXbk8
Jelly Roll Morton
Delta Blues
Charley Patton
Tommy Johnson
Leadbelly (not Delta Blues, but still very important for music)
Son House
Skip James
Bukka White
Bo Carter (no joke this guy wrote really dirty songs in the 1930's)
Mississippi Fred McDowell
Mississippi John Hurt
R.L. Burnside (one of the coolest motherf******* ever)
Texas Blues is more swing influenced, but made around the same time
Blind Lemon Jefferson
Blind Willie Johnson
Lightnin Hopkins
Somebody mentioned blues, so I want to make sure you listen to the right thing. First off, there is Chicago Blues, which is what most people are familiar with (your B.B. King's and Buddy Guy's) and the Delta Blues which is a lot older. The delta blues started in Mississippi and spread through the other southern states. Robert Johnson is the the most famous of the Delta Bluesmen, but if you want to go chronologically then follow this list. You'll actually find a lot these guys recorded their songs when they were older in the 1960's when the Folk Revival came around.
Jazz/Ragtime
W.C. Handy (known as the father of the blues, he didn't invent the blues, but is widely considered the first popular artist in the genre)
I love this performance of St. Louis Blues, the song was written in 1914, he's playing it here at 75 years old. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkOcO5HXbk8
Jelly Roll Morton
Delta Blues
Charley Patton
Tommy Johnson
Leadbelly (not Delta Blues, but still very important for music)
Son House
Skip James
Bukka White
Bo Carter (no joke this guy wrote really dirty songs in the 1930's)
Mississippi Fred McDowell
Mississippi John Hurt
R.L. Burnside (one of the coolest motherf******* ever)
Texas Blues is more swing influenced, but made around the same time
Blind Lemon Jefferson
Blind Willie Johnson
Lightnin Hopkins
Great list, 1Chief! Mercury made a kickass intro to the entire genre a couple of years ago that's pretty awesome...
Mercury's INTRODUCTION to Country Blues
So This is the Genre Extravaganza thread dedicated to Country Blues. I won't claim to know all about this genre, but it is undoubtedly one of my absolute favorite veins of music. And one of the things I will try to do is just briefly mention some aspects of the style(s), as well as highlight a few of the key artists and albums/compilations for the genre. I will naturally be pretty subjective in some of my choices for "essential listening" based off what I personally feel fits that bill. And I would love it if some of you contribute your favorites to the thread and also contribute whatever insights or opinions you have on it.
I will not be doing this in one large post, but breaking it down in to a few. And yeah they'll probably all be long and rambly. In each post I will try to cover one broad aspect of this musical landscape called by several names and here called "Country Blues".
Okay, lets get started.
COUNTRY BLUES - OVERVIEW
Country Blues is one name for this style, and this style is really a whole set of styles of blues. Mostly this is pre-WWII, southern-based blues music. The primary and most classic presentation is a person with an acoustic guitar. But it"s not like country blues stopped existing after some arbitrary time in music history. Mostly what occurred between the mid 20s to about the mid 40s is Blues of the country variety began being recorded for the first time. This style took many forms, existed in many parts of the US and spread all throughout, primarily, the southern US. Then this music was brought into the big cities. In Memphis and St. Louis and Chicago and New York and Detroit this blues music began to grow and morph and change in to a modern and generally more electric form of the blues. This non-country blues existed on record as early as the early 20s , with some of the first successful blues musicians being female singers with big, jazzy bands backing them such as Mamie Smith, Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey. It also happens that many of the greatest bluesmen from throughout the 30s worked out of places like New York City and Memphis. While guys such as Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell, Tampa Red, Sonny Boy Williams, Memphis Minnie and many others became generally regarded as city-types making their music in metropolitan areas it should be noted that almost all of them came from the south and thus brought their country blues music with them. It was only then that their style perhaps softened, changed and "city-fied" away from the straight stuff.
Finally the simple story of what happened is that there was a HUGE migration of African-Americans away from the south and into the northern cities in the early 40s. And, of course, the music went with the people. And so uncountable amounts of great delta blues and Texas blues and Georgia blues (etc) musicians went in and found their country style blues wasn't quite what the people wanted in the city streets and clubs. So the blues became louder, more amplified, faster and just became what is now regarded as Modern Blues. Out of this massive revolution in blues music came the most notable and classic recordings of greats like B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Albert King, Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf, Buddy Guy, etc.
But this city music isn't the subject of this thing. This is about the country blues, This is about the great music that had its height from about '28 to '44.
The main "scenes" or regional styles that I love or know a good deal about (and thus will try to talk about) are Delta Blues, Piedmont or East Coast style Blues, and Texas Blues. Lets start by discussing the Delta blues. Later entries on here will cover the Piedmont style, the Texas style. Then maybe we can go over some of the good comps that exist for Country blues that can give a good introduction of overview over a 1 disc or several disc set.
DELTA BLUES
Delta Blues brought us undoubtedly the greatest batch of musical legends that are still spoken of with hushed voices today. From Charley Patton to Son House to Skip James and Robert Johnson to Muddy Waters. And much of that initial explosion of Chicago blues and urban blues in general came from the musicians of the Mississippi Delta and surrounding areas moving up into major cities. Hell, the Chicago Blues sound was practically invented by Muddy waters and Howlin' Wolf - 2 Delta Blues men who simply took the same basic blues of the delta and made it LOUD.
Those early Mississippi style blues were most notably very dark, very intense. Of course their were also other aspects to the music, the soulful howl of Skip James is hardly the same sound as the finger picked (very east-coast styled) tenderness of Mississippi John Hurt. And the purring, whirring, ghostly guitar sounds of Mississppi Fred McDowell can hardly be said to be the same as the pounding, uber propulsive techniques of Charley Patton. And none of those cats sounded exactly like Tommy Johnson or Robert Johnson or Tommy McClennan, etc.
There is a definite earthiness and grit that I associate with the music of the delta. There is truly an intangible quality to it. The music features such a rich variety of characters and concerns and stories while holding a unifying air of struggle and reality. I absolutely love the way these old records feel. To me the greatest delta blues really transports me. The greatest records make me feel I am in that time and place with the very emotional person I am listening to. No matter how horrible the recording is by todays standards. A lot of my favorite old blues records feature static and crackles and strange fluctuations, but they still preserve an almost ghostly presence that is endearing, mysterious and mesmerizing.
The slide guitar wails and the heavy country accents are predominant in this style of Delta Blues. The music was rooted in a thoroughly rhythmic and driving base. In the book "Deep Blues" by Robert Palmer (a highly recommended read and one of my all time favorites) Palmer points to the rhythmic roots in African music as the basis of this propulsive sound. Although there was almost never drums in the Delta blues, the guitar styles featured (in the main) a slapping, insistent quality. This quality can especially be heard in legendary performances by Son House and Charley Patton and Robert Johnson too (although RJ was all over the stylistic map by those days' standards - one of the reasons he may be considered "The King").
Founder Of The Delta Blues by Charley Patton
I suppose the name says it all. Mr. Patton is regarded as the first. I mean, Jesus, this dude practically created the genre - think about how much far reaching influence these recordings have had? Yeah. But all that aside, Patton had this great, very deep and booming bark when he sang. He had just an amazing rhythmic guitar sound. He was a musical force of nature.
The Complete Library Of Congress Sessio... Son House
Son House was like a preacher. When he was on (which he is on all these recordings) he was pure fire. He was pure passion. And his slap style guitar managed to be just as, if not more, amazing than his hero, Charley Patton's
These recordings are very rough sounding, sometimes the static is nearly unlistenable. But for most of 'em and even many of the super rough sounding ones, it feels like you are right there in the room with this man as he plays. His singing is HAUNTING. The vibrato in his wails feels so dark and ominous. His vocal style was very influential on Howlin' Wolf (who was very influential upon Cap'n Beefheart... Who influenced Waits' vocals, etc ) This man was definitely one of the all time great bluesmen. These recordings are essential listening.
The greatest blues man of all time. Also the most influential blues man of all time. Also one of the greatest songwriters in American music history. Also one of the greatest songbooks ever by one man. Here is square one for anyone interested in getting into the deep deep deep blues. You can here a lot of where a lot of the greats came from in this album, Bob Dylan, The Stones, Muddy Waters, Led Zeppelin, Chuck Berry, etc. Here is the root of so much greatness.
Skip was a veritable early blues genius. One of the towering figures to emerge from the scene, really. He was not only a beautiful and unique acoustic blues guitarist, but a formidable pianist with a fabulous ear for the darkness that consumes his music. And his vocals... I think he is only rivaled vocally by Tommy Johnson in the haunting, spooky, bone-deep emotion of his voice. It kinda reminds me of Roy Orbison in a way with the way it sort of soars completely outside of worldly substance and becomes something totally different and totally detached. He seemed to be some kind of tormented medium between this place here and...some place sad.
Bukka lived an interesting life. The man was Charley Patton's direct pupil, he played some Negro League basketball and he was even an aspiring boxer for a bit. He shot a man, went to prison, etc. and he was also a magnificently direct songwriter that could cut deep to the heart of emotional issues with ease. "Fixin' To Die Blues" and "Parchman Farm Blues" being prime examples.
This album is a concise collection that captures the magic and engaging power of Delta Blues as good as any. Everything from the passion of the vocals to the sliding guitar, it's an organic experience. This should be required listening for anyone wanting to get deeper into Delta blues.
Hurt was a musician more akin to his nimble-fingered east coast brethren than his intense slide guitar-occupied Mississippi peers. His dexterous guitar picking style, warm and beautifully welcoming vocal style (one of my fave vocalists - it feels like I'm hearing an old friend every time i hear him sing) and nearly unmatched repertoire of songs made him not only one of the best blues men of the Delta, but one of the absolute best songsters and folk musicians in American history.
John Lee Hooker's sound is so sexy and primal and ominous. The deep boom of his voice and the stirring guitar accompaniment is so intense. Yeah, Hooker had an intensity to him and his music that was legendary. It sounded downright elemental. Love this collection. And although these recordings are a bit later than the others you'd be hard pressed to find better deep blues than this.
Tommy was a can't-miss gravel-throated growler. He had passion and fire and fury in spades and a propulsive guitar attack. This whole collection is a pretty down and dirty, no frills affair that will probably win you over completely. Absolutely, no doubt, he is one of the most criminally underrated of the whole delta blues bunch.
The Mississippi Sheiks were a string band blues act who's most legendary song "Sittin' On Top Of The World" has been covered by about a million acts. They also had a beautiful, rich sound and style that took their Mississippi delta blues style and stretched it into other forms of country blues and ballads. This collection is a perfect 1 disc representation of their at times joyous and always warm sound.
There's even more! check out the entire thread at ...
I would say :
Some Led Zeppelin album
David Bowie : Hunky Dory
Sugar : Copper Blue
T Rex : Electric Warrior
The Police : first 3 albums
Bruce Springsteen : Born in The USA
Guns' n' Roses : Appetite for destruction
Elastica : Elastica
and for the experimental stuff : My Bloody Valentine: Loveless
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