World Music

The Heineken commercial did it best. The old guy’s sitting on his porch with his guitar and each time he tries to play he comes out with “Row, row your boat”.

“That aint the blues!” He tells himself, disgusted. Then he opens up a can and in the same moment his wife discovers lipstick on his collar, she leaves him and the dog follows. A thunderstorm breaks out and suddenly he’s free to play:

“_First name is sadness, second name is misery_,
I’ve lost my woman and the rain is coming down on me..”

Sometimes the culture of the blues can be a little self-pitiful. You can’t help but feel that a lot of the troubles that early blues musicians experienced were brought upon themselves.

‘I treated my woman so bad and now she gone and left me’ – What did you expect?

‘I got drunk and spent all my money and now I’m hungry’ – So why did you blow all your cash?

Of course on the other hand there were huge social injustices to sing about and being black in the early 20th century can’t have been much fun. As Big Bill Broonzy sang:

“_If you’re white, you’re alright_,
If you’re brown, stick around,
But if you’re black, oh brother – Get back, get back, get back.”

Also the wit and poetry of blues lyrics cannot be denied as with lyrics like:

“_I asked her for water, she gave me gasoline” (Howling Wolf)_

A lot of the white musicians that followed would have loved to have been blind, picked cotton or rode freight trains and they sounded a little ridiculous as they aped the lyrics of the early masters. Once they found their own style though they came into a field of their own.

Early Country Blues Guitarists

Son House – Powerful slide guitar and singing
Robert Johnson – A legend. The most haunting singer of all.
Blind Willie McTell – An innovator of the blues form and lyrics
Blind Willie Johnson – Lonesome gospel slide blues
Rev Gary Davis – Also blind and a 12 string guitar master
Skip James – Played in spooky minor keys, fine singer.

Urban Blues

Muddy Waters – The man himself. One of the fore runners of rock and roll.
Howling Wolf – A giant of a man and a devastating performer.
B.B King – Godfather of modern blues. Slick electric guitar and great voice.
John Lee Hooker – A virtuoso riff player and singer.

Harmonica Blues Artists

Sonny Terry – Sounds like he rode a train his entire life.
Little Walter – One of the first to use amplified harp. A legend.
Big Walter Horton – Considered to be one of the best harp players of all time.
Sonny Boy Williamson I – Had teeth missing down one side of his mouth and could thus pay the harp with no hands.
Sonny Boy Williamson II – Great Chicago harp player and singer. Funny as hell.

White Blues Artists

John Mayall – Funky English blues
Eric Clapton – Needs no introduction.
The Rolling Stones – Early stuff very bluesy
The Beatles – They took the blues and made ballads.
The Animals – No one sings it like Joe Cocker.

Female Blues Singers

Ma Rainey – Sang the first recorded versions of “House of the Rising Sun” and “Stackolee”.
Bessie Smith – Brought blues to public attention in the 1920’s.
Billie Holiday – ‘Lady ‘Day’, adored by millions.

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