The blues...

Larry Gude

Larry Gude

Strung Out
...I'm talking first generation, originals, who do you like and why?

Robert Johnson (Sweet Home Chicago, Crossroads)
Muddy (Hootchie coochie man, got my mojo working)
Howlin' Wolf (Smokestack Lightning)
Hooker (Boom, boom...one bourbon, one scotch, on beer)
Bo (I'm a man)
Lightning Hopkins, various...

Johnson, they say, is the king. I don't get it. Never liked his voice but he could play.

Thoughts? Opinions?

:popcorn:
 
BOP

BOP

Well-Known Member
Skip James' version of "I'm so Glad." Most of us are more familiar with the Cream's version. This one is pretty scratchy, but that's okay.




Just for fun, a comparison (or contrast) between an early live version by Cream, and a version from their Royal Albert Hall gig in 2005. I have that 2005 album, btw. A great addition to any collection.




 
BOP

BOP

Well-Known Member
I always get a kick out of the not-so-subtle innuendo in the blues, especially this guy:



 
BOP

BOP

Well-Known Member
This is a bridge between ragtime and the blues that I discovered quite recently. I like it a lot; Fred Van Eps:

 
BOP

BOP

Well-Known Member
I actually have a spreadsheet on my desktop that I keep a running account that lists, by genre, singers, songs, groups, styles, and so on, of stuff I come across in my musical journeys. I came across the Mississippi Sheiks back around the first of this year. I really like the interaction between the voice, the guitar, and, unusually (I think), the fiddle.

 
BOP

BOP

Well-Known Member
Naturally, you can't talk about the blues without talking about Lead Belly.

 
Larry Gude

Larry Gude

Strung Out
BOP said:
Just for you, Larry:
Click to expand...

Fantastic harmonica playing. Incredible feel.

Then, he's done with the song and looks out at a bunch of white cultural elitist beatnik snobs looking at him and applauding wildly like they just done seen some chimpanzee do some unthinkable trick.
 
BOP

BOP

Well-Known Member
The Women of the Blues

We can't forget the women folk. One of the earliest recorded female blues singers that I'm aware of. Bessie Smith is more well known, but Ma Rainey is awesome!



This one is by Lucille Bogan. Don't know if she wrote it, but it's R-A-U-N-C-H-Y!



From wikipedia: "By 1930 her recordings had begun to concentrate on drinking and sex, with songs such as "Sloppy Drunk Blues" (covered by Leroy Carr and others) and "Tricks Ain't Walkin' No More" (later recorded by Memphis Minnie). She also recorded the original version of "Black Angel Blues", which (as "Sweet Little Angel") was covered by B.B. King and many others. Trained in the rowdier juke joints of the 1920s, many of Bogan's songs, most of which she wrote herself, have thinly-veiled humorous sexual references. The theme of prostitution, in particular, features prominently in several of her recordings."

Emphasis added. There's nothing thinly veiled about "Shave 'em Dry."
 
BOP

BOP

Well-Known Member
The Women of the Blues

I think I posted Sweet Emma in another thread I started about the blues, but here she is again.

 
BOP

BOP

Well-Known Member
Think that's something, do a google on him. He invented the genre we know as "hot" jazz. Wait til you read how that came about!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top