Europa - Santana

Is this the blues? This is Carlos Santana at his best. Pre Hype, pre PRS guitars (playing a Yamaha Les Paul knockoff)just choking the life out of his guitar and playing with feeling. Not going through the motions cause it's what the people want to hear. Playing it cause he feels it! Sure there are better quality films... but this is the real deal.

Matte Kudasai - King Crimson

King Crimson? Blues? Remove the name of the band, have Stevie Ray play it in concert and it's taken in totally different context. I have an open mind. Who else does. Son House says the blues got no jumpin'. I know the blues got slide guitar...

Let me know what you think!
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Black Maria - Todd Rundgren

This is a good example of how the blues can morph. Todd Rundgren, always a musical innovator began singing blue eyed soul in the suburbs of Philly in the mid '60s and by the late seventies was using all of his blues chops to play this blues rock infested music. I know it's outside the realm of pure blues... but not outside of the realm of what can make us better listeners and appreciate deviation from the base. I just have to remind myself that one of the most influential blues writers of all times, Robert Johnson, probably doesn't appeal to most listeners in his pure form. It is far too primitive and many don't like his howling voice. Not a lot unlike Jack White. I for one love it. But my job here is to find the best blues and blues influenced music available and get it to you (and me) to listen to.
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Love Rears It's Ugly Head - Living Color

Is this blues? Sounds like blues to me. I think this song is just terrific!
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I Want You - Elvis Costello

Ok. Never thought of Elvis Costello as a blues artist I'll bet. Looks like a new waver...or just an old waver. Plays that funky Jazzmaster. I mean...that guitar doesn't even make the blues list. But he is from Britain. Ok, here.s a song to check out that may make you wonder. What is the blues. He's got the hurt, he's got the drama.... even the guitar though short.

Check it out...let me know.
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Diabolic Scene - The Hives

Ok...here's a few to stretch your thinking. What makes up a blues song. Is it guys in ties... how but a Son House tie.... is it the soloist on tele.... is it someone singing with the howl of Robert Johnson... is it emotion? (these guys do wear Son House ties). Do they use Hiwatt amps...you betcha!

I seem to remember the British taking the original delta blues and bringing it back to America in a new form so we could hear it...

Tell me what you hear.
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Bad Things - Jace Everett

Ok. Here we go blurring the lines again. Is it the blues? Sure as hell ain't country...just watched Porter Wagoner show last night...that's country! Ok lets look for the clues... no cowboy hats... got a steel guitar... plays a Gibson J200... but he has a girl bass player and the guitar player plays an SG through a Vox amp. This ain't your daddy's country... this ain't your sisters country... it just good music... I think it might be the blues!
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No I haven't lost my mind- Aretha Franklin

I'm serious. I want to see what you got. Bring me some real blues. I don't want the star search blues. I want the real blues!! Bring it on!!

Enjoy some Aretha on me.
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Post something I haven't seen!

I'm always looking for new music. I have an open mind and love to find something new. Got a band. Got a friend with a band. Just know of a well kept secret? Lay it out here for us. We want to know who's hiding out there. A lot of the best music never gets heard. We're trying to change that. Again, I will state... the blues is a feeling. It isn't a particular sound. It doesn't have to have 8 bars... it doesn't have to have 12 bars. Hell...it doesn't even have to have harp or guitar. I think it usually does. But I want to see what you got. Turn me on!!

This is a band that would not normally be considered a blues band. When you consider all of the qualities that a blues band must have it has it. It is someone singing about a time of life that was tough. It is someone expressing their feelings. She actually has a lot of the qualities in her voice of Janis Joplin... you just have to open your mind. Mine is open. Bring it on!!






Brody Dalle was born Bree Leslie Pucilowski on New Year's Day, 1979, in Melbourne, Australia. As every good punk star should, Brody came from a turbulent family, her early days engulfed in anger and hate. Her mother booted her biological father out of the house when she was very young, then remarried and had a second child. The ensuing feelings of alienation prompted Brody to seek solace in the streets.

By the time she was 13, Brody and her mother coexisted in a state of mutual hatred, their relationship founded on screams. Brody had turned to drugs, regularly skipped classes and would cut herself out of angst and frustration. Two years later she was expelled from her school and sent to a strict Catholic girls' institution.
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OK OK I Know you want it!! - Jimmy Page

Jimmy Page has always had a way with his guitar. He played some terrific blues with the Zep and after, but this song just gives me goose bumps just listening to him. It was on the Death Wish Soundtrack for those of you who don't know.
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Whammer Jammer - J Geils Band

This is a band that was formed last year from a number of the participants on the Annual Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise. This was a new concept to actually tour after the cruise was completed and resulted in an album. Magic Dick has always been one of my favorite contemporary harmonica players. This is Magic Dick leading the band "let me hear ya Dickie"....
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It's a Mans Mans Mans Mans World - James Brown

There will never be another James Brown. James was a unique talent. James was a voice of the people in the 60's but gained universal fame with his appearance in the Rocky movies. James lived the blues.

Here's a little taste
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Country Boys Get the Blues - Charlie Daniels

People think of Charlie Daniels as a country or gospel fiddle player but prior to hitting it rich with the tremendously popular but uninspiring "Devil Went Down to Georgia" he actually had a real decent blues band. Here's a taste! Give it a chance... Charlie is a damn fine slide player and his lead guitar player, Tommy Crain was no slouch either.
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Charlie spent a good amount of his early time in the studio as a session musician with the likes of Bob Dylan.

Blues can be fun! - Hound Dog Taylor

Doesn't have to be sad... Houndog had a blast...even if he got drunk and cut off his own finger (leaving just 10)!
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Is this Blues - John Lewis

Blues crosses many boundaries. This is a terrific song that has been performed by many artists. John wrote this song. If you like it ...tell me...I'll turn you on to some beautiful interpretations of it.
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Definitely Maybe - Jeff Beck

The blues doesn't always come in a nice little package where you'd think to look. Here's another instrumental number from someone who is not customarily though of as a blues artist.
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Wayfairing Pilgrim - It's just that thing

I remember the first time I heard Roy Buchanan. I was 16 years old and living 50 miles from nowhere. I was listening to "underground radio" and the advertisement was talking about a guy... Roy Buchanan and the Snake Stretchers coming to Pittsburgh. Now this was back when they talked between songs...not screamed. I'd never heard of him. Big deal... then this song is playing in the background and he gets to the solo... no..not the melody...the solo... this guy was making his guitar cry... scream... wail... it was making the hair stand up on the back of my neck! I called my buddy Anthony and told him to turn on the radio. We had never heard of him only a few hundred miles away. I of course went out and bought his album... song wasn't on it. Then the second album ...not there either. It showed up on a later album thankfully.

The concert was amazing. Here is this guy smokin' up the fretboard with his comb over, turtleneck sweater, plaid pants ... sitting on a bar stool and nothing moving but his mouth and his hands. Now this is like 1971 and he's Surrealistic! This was a small venue in Pittsburgh at Heinz Hall. This place was very small located on Pitt's campus. Maybe a year later he would appear at the now defunct Syria Mosque. Over the years it held numerous events such as Buddy Holly (4 times in 1957-1958), Bob Dylan in 1966, The Who in 1969, The Allman Brothers Band in 1971, Carly Simon in 1972, Pink Floyd in 1972, Frank Zappa in 1974, Genesis in 1976 and Count Basie's final public performance in 1983.

I was fortunate to see the Allmans there before Duane passed with an opening act of Taj Mahal. The Mosque was an amazing place all duded up like a real concert hall. I saw Roy at least 3 times before I left Pittsburgh as an adult. The 2nd time my date, Michelle, puked on my platform shoes. OK...I admit it... it was the 70's. I also saw Edgar Winter with Ronnie Montrose, Grin with Nils Lofgrin, David Crosby, CSN and Frank Zappa and Pink Floyd in this fine establishment. This was the big small hall in Pittsburgh at the time. You'd go to the Civic Arena to see the likes of Clapton, Led Zep or Humble Pie or the Stanley Theatre to see Jeff Beck and the Mahavishnu Orchestra or the New Riders of the Purple Sage. In any case I was fortunate enough to see Roy many times and through many iterations of his career both in Pittsburgh and now out west where I have settled. Hope you got a chance to see him before he passed. He was known as the worlds greatest unknown guitar player (a title later claimed by Danny Gatton) and there was a PBS special done on Roy during his lifetime named just that. Roy most always played a telecaster although did play a short stint on a Les Paul and even co designed /endorsed a tele like guitar called the Blues Master. If you are new to Roy, Check out the Livestock album. It's a good starting point.
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What are the blues? - Son House

The blues is a way of life. The blues is an outlet for emotion. The blues is experiencing someones life ... the turmoil... the strife... actual feelings. But who knows why, it makes you smile. It's happiness, it's sorrow, its a lot of things... it's the expression of emotion in one note of a song or the story that is told that just gets you. It isn't always fast, it isn't always slow it doesn't always swing. I'm just glad that it is. This is a good intro to the blues... can't think of a better place to start.
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