“The blues ain’t nothin’ but…” You can fill in the blank here. Like most people, I started appreciating the blues through the English guitarists of the 1960’s, like Eric Clapton. For me it was a quick step to the electric blues of Chicago as characterized by Muddy Waters. Then I got even deeper into the blues, exploring the old-time blues stylings of the late 1920’s – early 1930’s. Great stuff, much of which was covered by The Rolling Stones, etc. When I heard the original “Outside Woman Blues” I was stunned to hear that the guitar was exactly the same as Eric Clapton’s version on Cream’s Disraeli Gears album. And that song was from 1928 (or abouts). Great stuff.
Today I have put together a blues playlist of mostly the electric blues of the Chicago (well, Memphis and environs) era. Lots of great stuff – songs that you may know from the rock versions done by your favorite wanna be blues musicians from England. Listen to Elmore James, Howlin’ Wolf, Lightnin’ Hopkins, B.B. King, Johnny “Guitar” Watson, Lowell Fulson, Roosevelt Booba Barnes, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Otis Rush, Freddie King, Son Seals, Lonnie Brooks, Albert King, Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Guitar Slim.
This podcast is, as always, available to stream or download at brennick.net. There should be more content there, and I will try to put more things up this year. The podcast is also available to download as a podcast at your favorite podcast streamer – iTunes, Stitcher, etc. The podcast is called brennick.net. Check that out sometime. I welcome suggestions and comments, too – leave them as you will. Thanks for everything you do to encourage me.
Leave a Reply