Essential Blues

Oops......thought you had originally said jazz....


Only other I can think of off the top of my head is Memphis Slim

Hounddog Taylor

Mighty Joe Young too

How old is Hounddog Taylor? Sounds familiar but I can't place it.

Album reccommendations are also appreciated.

Oh and Etta James

Always safe to go with the Best of CD's.

Hounddog Taylor (1917-75) played electric blues in Chicago, I believe. A friend sent me a CD of a live show in a bar; it was terrific.

Thanks, I have been meaning to buy some Etta James and I think I am going to pick up a Hound dog Taylor album too.



That sounds right up my alley.

You Need:

ROBERT JOHNSON
Howlin' Wolf
Albert King's "Lovejoy" or "I Wanna Get Funky" or "I'll Play the Blues for You"
Elmore James "Dust My Broom"

I think you have a really good start here. What about Big Mama (can't remember the last name - Thornton?).

I wanted to build up my Blues collection as well. Last year I got a couple mixed CDs so I could sort out who I liked and who I could pass up. I haven't gotten very far, but I got some Muddy Waters and some Etta James among others.

I've been listening to this program for about 20 years.

http://www.cbc.ca/snb/host.html

Anything on his past show playlists is bound to be fantastic.

Check out the link to the video at the bottom of this page

http://www.cbc.ca/snb/index.html

It was a fantastic show.

http://www.bluesmusicassociation.org/about/index.html

BLUES RADIO ON THE WEB

Sonny Terry and Brownie MaGee
Lightning Hopkins
Jimmy Reed
Mississippi Fred McDowel
Blind Lemon Jefferson
just to get you started...

http://www.yearoftheblues.org/index.asp

Sonny and Brownie.

<big smile>

went to a performance about 25 years ago

phenomenal

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone.

I have a list and am going to try to get as much as I can without spending a fortune.



I picked up Martin Scorsese presents The Best of the Blues. That is a great compilation cd. Here is the song list for it.

Just Won't Burn - Susan Tedeschi

Am I Wrong? - Keb' Mo'

Pride & Joy - Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble

One Way Out - The Allman Brothers Band (live)

Red House - The Jimi Hendrix Experience

One Good Man - Janis Joplin

All Your Love - John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers/Eric Clapton

Thrill Is Gone, The - B.B. King

I'd Rather Go Blind - Etta James

Hard Times (No One Knows Better Than I) - Ray Charles

Death Letter Blues - Son House

Boom Boom - John Lee Hooker

Hoochie Coochie Man, (I'm Your) - Muddy Waters

Evil (Is Going On) - Howlin' Wolf

Devil Got My Woman - Skip James

Muddy Water (A Mississippi Moan) - Bessie Smith

Cross Road Blues - Robert Johnson

Voodoo Music - Los Lobos

Vietnam Blues - Cassandra Wilson

Round & Round - Bonnie Raitt

I Pity The Fool - Robert Cray/Shemeika Copeland (live)


A little bit of everything on this one.

Bobby Blue Bland, too.

good choices...I believe Hound Dog was around in the early 80's...but I may be mistaken.
About 20 years ago I saw an ad in the classifieds for blues albums for sale. I hurried over and although a lot of em were gone i managed to buy about 100 great blues albums. Some of them were even autographed by the artists.
RL Burnside out of Mississippi is my current blues champ. He has a tune on the Soprano's soundtrack that is a modernistic mix of sharecropper blues and trance hip-hop. The tune is called "It's Bad You Know"
"Someday Baby" combines rap with blues and will curl your hair.

March
1903

W.C. Handy sees a "ragged loose-jointed black" playing the guitar in a Tutwiler, Mississippi railroad station. The unknown guitarist used a knife as a slide to play the guitar. Handy remarked "The event was unforgettable. His song, too, struck me instantly.
Goin' where the Southern cross the Dog.


March
1912 The first appearance of the word 'blues' in a piece of music: "The Dallas Blues" by Hart Wand. The story goes that a black porter overheard Hart playing his violin and the porter remarked "That give me the blues to go back to Dallas."

Some recommendations in a "sort of" timeline:


Charlie Patton The Founder of the Delta Blues Yazoo

Muddy Waters The Chess Box (3CD Set) Chess/MCA

Blind Willie Johnson Dark Was The Night Columbia

Robert Johnson The Complete Recordings(2CD Set) Columbia

Howlin' Wolf The Real Folk Blues Chess/MCA

Bukka White The Complete Bukka White Columbia

Blind Lemon Jefferson King of the Country Blues Yazoo

Robert Wilkins The Original Rolling Stone Yazoo

Sonny Boy Williamson The Original The Bluebird Recordings Bluebird/RCA

Sonny Boy Williamson The Second The Real Folk Blues Chess/MCA

Henry Thomas The Complete Recorded Works 1927-1929 Yazoo

Robert Pete Williams Free Again Prestige/ Bluesville

Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup That's Alright Mama Bluebird/RCA

John Mayall and the Blues Breakers Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton Polygram

Stevie Ray Vaughn Texas Flood Epic

RL Burnside Mr. Wizard Fat Possum