cover image source: PBS Digital Studios
So, last week we covered Jazz and this week we're turning our heads to another great old genre that we have Black Americans to thank for, the Blues! The Blues are in the roots of rock'n'roll and well, pretty much all modern music. I can't compete with Wikipedia, so if you wanna read up on the history and influence of the Blues, check out the entry here. One reason I chose this genre for this week is that over the weekend I went up to the Appalachian Mountains to meet up with my cousins and jam. My cousin Scott has been deep into the blues and slide guitar... he showed us tunes by Junior Kimbrough, Skip James, and R.L Burnside and I was absolutely blown away. I'm now digging through the virtual crates to feed my rekindled interest in Blues music.
How we do
In this weekly series, folks can chime in and drop links to whatever it is they've been listening to recently + browse others suggestions. You can follow the suggested genre if you'd like, but don't feel confined to it; you're free to suggest whatever you wanna. 🙌
If you're interested in having other discussions about music, consider following the aptly named #music discussions organization.
Take me up to Chicago, down into the Delta, or anywhere else where they're making Blues music! Note: you can embed a link to your song using the following syntax {% embed https://... %}. This should work for most common platforms!
Looking forward to listening to y'all's suggestions! 🎶
Top comments (9)
Alright, so Skip James' brand of blues is phenomenal. His falsetto voice is airy, eerie, and awesome... it sits on top of his guitar playing in such a perfect way. Check out his performance of "Hard Time Killing Floor Blues" here and you'll see what I mean.
If it sounds familiar, perhaps you remember this song being performed by Chris Thomas King from this scene in O Brother, Where Art Thou?:
Here's the full version, btw... side note: I absolutely love this soundtrack:
I have two favorite Blues tracks to share today, a classic and a modern tune!
Speaking of the Blues being foundational to all modern American music, I gotta shout out the legendary Robert Johnson. It almost feels sacrilegious to pick a favorite song of his, but I do love "Hell Hound On My Trail."
And for a more modern Blues take, can't go wrong with Gary Clark Jr.! I had the opportunity to see him live a few years back at a festival and it was breathtaking. This particular live version of "Things Are Changin'" is a big time favorite of mine.
Oooooo YES!!
Both excellent inclusions!
I also love "Hell Hound on My Trail!" — the guitar playing, those vocals, it's just so damn soulful.
On the note of Robert Johnson, I remember stumbling on this video a little while back that talks about the myth of someone traveling out to the crossroads, meeting a mysterious stranger (the devil), and selling their soul in exchange for otherworldly guitar playing skills.
And ooooo yeah, I'm so glad you brought up Gary Clark Jr.! He is def a great modern blues musician. I had not heard this song that you linked to and it's absolutely wonderful. The first one of his that I heard was this performance of "Bright Lights" ... I still love this!
Today, I've been tuning into You Better Run: The Essential Junior Kimbrough... my current faves in this mix are both from the album Most Things Haven't Worked Out, but I'm still pretty new to Junior Kimbrough and the favorites are likely to morph as I get more into this world. As I mentioned in the opening paragraph of this post, my cousin just intro'ed this stuff to me so I'm still marinating on all of it. Anywho, here's a couple recordings for y'all to check out.
Also, in my brief exploration of Junior Kimbrough, I discovered that he has many modern admirers.
Most notably, The Black Keys did a tribute album called Chulahoma: The Songs of Junior Kimbrough and it's damn good. It opens with "Keep Your Hands off Her":
Annnnnd, Daft Punk apparently helped edit (not really remix) some of his tunes for a fashion show. Strange? Yes, but it apparently happened.
BB King - Bluesman
Oh hell yeah BB King! Good one, Imam! 🙌
I've been learning blues harmonica this week(!) so here's Sonny Terry Whoopin' The Blues
Just wanted to follow up because I didn't say it first time around... I hope that your harmonica learnings are going well.
I love playing bluesy guitar and it's always such a treat to have a bluesy harmonica player to accompany me. If ya got some guitar playing friends, I bet they'll be so siked to play with ya, Ruth!
So dope! 🔥
Blues harmonia is awesome and this tune is where it's at. Gotta love all the whoops! 😎