Discovering the Blues (music)

You forgot the latest version, and in my opinion the worst .
So, I listened to it without knowing who Billy F Gibbons is....and I thought, "hmmm sounds like a ZZ top version"..and then looked him up to find out why it sounded that way :)

..and yeah, I don't much care for it either.

It is always interesting to me to learn how certain old blues songs have been latched onto and re-made over a few generations. Yes, it is because they are good songs, but that does not completely explain it in my view.

It also makes me keen on "new" blues songs, i.e., new artists doing original blues music. "Keep Blues Alive" is a theme, but given the limited quantity of 1925-1940 Blues, the "keeping alive" might need more than remakes. Don't get me wrong, I became aware of all this great music largely because of the remakes in the 60s and 70s.
 

shortbus

Joined Sep 30, 2009
10,049
It also makes me keen on "new" blues songs, i.e., new artists doing original blues music. "Keep Blues Alive" is a theme, but given the limited quantity of 1925-1940 Blues, the "keeping alive" might need more than remakes. Don't get me wrong, I became aware of all this great music largely because of the remakes in the 60s and 70s.
I heard them growing up, most of the old stuff on 78 RPM records, originals. Don't know what ever happened to them, but my oldman probably sold them in his antique shop.

Billy Gibbons has gotten weird over the years. He is a much better player than his new blues album shows. The stringy hat he wears now he copied from a Cleveland TV personality back in the 60's, Ghoulardi. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghoulardi

Do you have Sirius radio in your car? Channel 74 has continuous blues on it. A lot of old stuff mixed in with some good new stuff.
 

wayneh

Joined Sep 9, 2010
18,125
Mannish Boy
One of my fondest Christmas memories, which I hadn’t thought of for a long while until I saw your post, is going downtown Chicago with my brother to see Muddy at the Quiet Knight. He’d do a show there every year right before Christmas. It was a small, intimate club and it felt like about a third of the audience was Muddy’s family. (He lived in Westmont, a suburb near where I grew up.) Definitely a festive event. Muddy, Pine Top Perkins on piano, Bob Margolin on guitar, and I can’t recall the other names but they were consummate pros all. Long live Muddy. Merry Christmas
 

Thread Starter

joeyd999

Joined Jun 6, 2011
6,338
Would Tracy Chapman be considered as a blues artist ?
I've never considered her such. But I am not a blues expert.

If you are asserting that she is, post some evidence to back it up.

(oh...and, IMHO, a "blues artists" is someone whose work is principally blues related (or even blues derived/inspired). One who occasionally covers blues artists is not herself a blues artist.)
 

DrewStupid

Joined Nov 28, 2018
64
I've never considered her such. But I am not a blues expert.

If you are asserting that she is, post some evidence to back it up.

(oh...and, IMHO, a "blues artists" is someone whose work is principally blues related (or even blues derived/inspired). One who occasionally covers blues artists is not herself a blues artist.)
I am not a blues fan either ! Lets talk about best guitarist ever. I would go for Eric Clapton !
 

Thread Starter

joeyd999

Joined Jun 6, 2011
6,338
I am not a blues fan either ! Lets talk about best guitarist ever. I would go for Eric Clapton !
One of the most renowned blues guitarists, maybe. But not the best blues guitarists. And definitely not the best guitarist.

Clapton admitted Robert Johnson was a better guitarist than he was.
 
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