He is one of the historic links between Chicago electric blues pioneers Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf and popular musicians like Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page as well as later revivalists like Stevie Ray Vaughan.” – Wikipediaģ8 Lightnin´ Hopkins (1912 – 1982) – My starter won´t start this morningģ7 Sonny Terry (1911 – 1986) & Brownie McGhee (1915 – 1996) – Cornbread, Peas And Black Molasses “Buddy Guy has been called the bridge between the blues and rock and roll. Slide guitarist from Chicago – singing about the great Mississippi flood of 1927.Ĥ4 Charlie Patton (1891 – 1934) – High water everywhereĪnd this too is about the great Mississippi flood, by the “father of Delta blues”.Ĥ3 Memphis Slim (1915 -1988) – Beer Drinking Womanīlues pianist who moved north to Chicago in 1937 where he performed with many of the greats.Ĥ2 Blind Willie Johnson (1897 – 1945) – God moves on the waterīlues and spirituals singer on the sinking of the Titanic.Ĥ1 Otis Spann (1930 – 1970) – T’Aint Nobody’s Business If I DoĤ0 Arthur Big Boy Crudup (1905 – 1974) – My mama don’t allowĭespite writing songs covered by Elvis Presley, he never received the wages or the royalties to which he was entitled, and some of his last decade of life was spent bootlegging and working as an agricultural labourer.ģ9 Buddy Guy (1936 – ) – What kinda woman is this Written while serving a sentence at Parchman Farm prison for killing a man (he claimed in self defence).Ĥ5 Casey Bill Weldon (1909 – 196?) – Flood Water Blues She recorded over a forty year period, almost unheard of for any woman in show business at the time, and was an important part of the early Chicago blues scene.Ĥ7 Victoria Spivey (1906 – 1976) – Detroit Moanīlues singer and pianist who described hre own vocal style as the “tiger moan”.Ĥ6 Bukka White (1909 – 1977) – Parchman Farm Blues Recorded in 1958 with Fenton Robinson on guitar, this song was later popularised by Stevie Ray Vaughan.Ĥ8 Memphis Minnie (1897 – 1973) – Kissing In The Dark The song was popularised by Leadbelly who recorded it in 1941, and reinvented as a rock song by Ram Jam in 1977.Ĥ9 Larry Davis (1936 – 1994) – Texas Flood The call and response of the work gang is led by convict James Baker. This earliest recording of Black Betty was made by John and Alan Lomax in 1933 at Central State Farm, Sugar Land, Texas. One of the most important antecedents was African American worksongs. Full tracklisting and download link here, or just listen :įirst, something that gives a sense of the roots of blues. UPDATE AUGUST 2010 : I’ve made a podcast aimed at fans of traditional blues. And please let me have your feedback by leaving a comment at the bottom of the page. So I would say to those of you who aren’t familiar with many of these artists, don’t just check out the top 10, there is some real quality music right through this chart.Ĭlick on the artist’s name to see their Wikipedia entry, and on the song title to watch a youtube video of the song. They often speak about the life experiences of America’s poor in a very direct and forthright way and there is a great rawness and passion to many of the vocals. But these songs are also superb music in their own right. In my notes I have pointed to how much they influenced a variety of later musicians. So these songs are ‘traditional’ in that they represent the forms of blues, instrumentations and styles of playing that existed before the advent of rock’n’roll. I’ve chosen not to include blues/rock fusion musion in this chart. Any time you’re thinking evil, you’re thinking about the blues.” – Howlin’ Wolf If you ain’t got no money you got the blues, because you’re thinking evil. A lot of peoples holler about ‘I don’t like no blues,’ but when you ain’t got no money, and can’t pay your house rent and can’t buy you no food, you damn sure got the blues. When you ain’t got no money to pay your house rent, you still got the blues. When you ain’t got no money, you got the blues. “A lot of peoples wonder, ‘what is the blues?’ I hear a lot of people saying ‘the blues, the blues,’ but I’m gonna tell you what the blues is.
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