The Blues: You Dig It?

[gambit88]

Son House.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdgrQoZHnNY&spfreload=10

 

[pappymac]

I start every Sunday morning listening to "finest blues you've never heard" on the Roadhouse Blues podcast. http://roadhousepodcast.com/

 

[captainprophesy]

Im on a big "Big Mama Thornton" kick at the moment.
EDIT - Apparently I forgot how to embed a video

 

[foggymountain]

Love the blues, especially Valerie Wellington. Also love the blues influence on jazz.

 

[mso489]

WUNC FM has a long-standing show, Back Porch Music, that also streams online (I believe). For decades they played a variety of acoustic music including blues back to the twenties and many of the old classics as well as current performers. Lately, I fear, they have veered toward a more contemporary sound, trying to pick up more of the Millennial audience, but they still play many of the greats. I hope they don't lose the classic motif while bringing in a younger audience, and that the younger audience will get to understand some of the old time sounds.

 

[huntertrw]

The one and only Keb' Mo:
Keb' Mo - Dangerous Mood

 

[huntertrw]

Even the Dead can play the blues...
Grateful Dead - Never Trust a Woman

 

[huntertrw]

Then there is the Piedmont style of blues...
Cephas & Wiggins - Hard Liquor

 

[johnnyreb]

Hunter,
Do you know what the deadhead said one night when the drugs wore off a little early?
"Where's that gawd awful music coming from??"

 

[huntertrw]

johnnyreb:
From personal experience I can tell you that when the Dead were firing on all cylinders (admittedly a somewhat rare occurrence), there were few bands that could rival them. Then there were those other nights when what you said above rang oh so true!

 

[huntertrw]

Perhaps a little Steely Dan blues to clear the palate:
Steely Dan - Chain Lightning

 

[johnnyreb]

Not a Blues tune but my favorite Steely Dan song was Haitian Divorce.

Wouldn't be allowed today.
Played here with easy follow-along lyrics.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NiCIyYKJu20

 

[seacaptain]

Not really a fan. Although there might be a few individual pieces I like.

 

[danielplainview]

R.L. Burnside
Raw, mean, and dirty low down blues. And it sounding oh so good on my 3rd glass of Knob Creek.

https://youtu.be/jI5qCXuD4Y4

 

[huntertrw]

Earlier in this thread johnnyreb mentioned Beth Hart, twice. All I can say is that she is worth the mentions! Check her out (with Joe Bonamasa's band backing) here: Close to my Fire.

 

[huntertrw]

Are any of you familiar with Aron Burton? Don't feel bad, as I wasn't either, and I didn't know what I was missing. Give a listen: The Woman I Met Out in the Rain.

 

[huntertrw]

Taj Mahal and Keb'Mo' - a dazzling combination: Please Don't Leave Me Here.

 

[huntertrw]

Here's a favorite from Corey Harris and Henry Butler: What Man Have Done

 

[mso489]

Two footnotes. I've always wondered why I don't hear blues as "sad" music, even though many tunes are downbeat and the lyrics are often melancholy to tragic, yet the music has such power and vitality, it doesn't take me low. (Though I like him and go on binges, the not-mostly-blues performer Leonard Cohen -- now he can depress me.)
Second, I have always mused on why the line occurs so often in blues, "when I woke up this morning." The lyric almost defines a genre of its own.

 

[huntertrw]

Here Memphis Slim presents a wonderful musical explanation of the blues: Blues is Troubles.