I have an Instagram page titled, the_blues_list that I think is a good playlist for the Blues, whether you are new to them, or just curious, or even a long time fan. I have been thinking about posting this to HF for a little while now, and so here it is. To date, there are almost a hundred posts, and I will post them here as time permits. Some posts are videos of concerts, or my wife and I, or whatever---I'll see how I can post those. Please feel free to add your own favorite blues songs. That is a cool thing about HF, is you can post on this thread with YouTube videos really easily too. And I would be happy to post those songs/musicians on my IG page too, you know, assuming I like it, but hell, its the blues---I probably will! The first two pages are an introduction to the page. Here is the first one: THE BLUES LIST (Part 1 of 2) ABOUT THIS PAGE: You've gotta love the Blues, man. There's no other music like it. For example, in just about every other genre of music the fundamental style of the music has evolved as time goes on. There has been some evolution in the blues, the electric guitar was added, it was modernized a bit, but overall there has been very little comparative change. Countless songs are replayed by new bands, and sound fresh each time. The old songs evoke the same feelings as the new ones. Beats, riffs, melodies, even the words can be reused over and over, and enjoyed as much, if not more, as when they were first written. If you are a musician, and have an ear for the blues, I dont think there is anything as easy to play, or as enjoyable. And you can improvise the hell out of it and sound really good. It is truly an American-born and bred music. But Americans have often underappreciated it. (American racism was a big part of that.) Many Americans might know famous Blues artists, like BB King, Muddy Waters, or Buddy Guy, but how many know Frank Bang, Brandon Santini, or Victoria Spivey. Back in the 70's there were a lot of blues stations scattered across the US, now it's hard to find any in many parts of the country. But there are thousands of blues bands, there are blues festivals, and the music is still alive and well. Almost every post on this page will introduce a favorite song and musician of mine. I probably won't play much on here, because instagram is kind of funky about copyrights and so forth. But I will post links to YouTube videos, most of them should be easy to find and play yourself. I think this page would be a great resource for anyone interested in the blues, whether brand new to them, or a well seasoned listener. There are so many good blues songs, and musicians, that no one can know them all. In fact, there are blues songs and musicians that I heard many decades ago, and have looked for them without success ever since. And I have introduced a lot of people to the blues over the years. I warn them that it is addictive, and jokingly tell them, like a pusher, that the first songs are free. (TO BE CONTINUED) And the second page: THE BLUES LIST (Part 2 of 2) ABOUT THIS PAGE: I tend to drive with the volume up, listening to music the way it's meant to be. I get the most comments on the Blues. "Who is that you're listening to?" "What band is that?" "They're really jamming! I like that." "I like the beat!" "Watch where you're going buddy!" "Its green! Go!" You know, stuff like that. And the blues goes great for anything. Background music quietly accompanying dinner, or loud from a juke box while you sip whiskey in a roadhouse bar. Turn up the volume and open up your windows while you sit in your backyard, and it sounds like you're sitting outside a juke joint, or you have a live band in your yard. Seriously--try it. Any old hippie worth his or her weight in acid, mushrooms, or patchouli, knows the band, Canned Heat. The two founders, Robert (The Bear) Hite and Alan (The Blind Owl) Wilson, loved the blues. In fact, The Bear went around the country collecting obscure and hard to find blues albums, and many believe he amassed the greatest collection of Blues ever. (In fact, The Bear, and Canned Heat are mentioned in numerous blues songs). Anyway, his collection had music they say could be found nowhere else. This page is no where near what his collection was, but I hope to many people it provides an introduction to music you would never find otherwise. I'll give some history, and personal stories about the songs. Now, I am no expert, so feel free to correct me when I'm wrong. You know, I am just sure that Muddy Waters helped write our Declaration of Independence, and signed it with everyone else. People keep insisting that can't be right. But... Tell me your favorite songs, and I may post them too. Share your stories too. Share this page with any blues lovers, or anyone interested. Play the songs, and if you like them, share them! Play them! Keep the Blues alive! As the Blues Brothers said, "We are on a mission from God." And I add, a mission from god, or whomever or whatever you believe (or dont believe)---but a mission to save the blues, spread it, and keep it alive, man! So there you go. I will now post the pages from the oldest ones first. Most of the posts are about the musicians and a song, which is indicated in the meme of the post. I don't have all those memes I posted, so here I will list the musician first, and the song at the top of each post.
CANNED HEAT On the Road Again Since I mentioned this band in the introduction to this page, I figured my first post should be this song. It was based on a 1920's blues song, Bull Doze Blues, by, Henry Thomas. I have heard many people refer to this and their hit one year earlier, On the Road Again, as 'hippie blues,' with the falsetto vocals by The Blind Owl, Alan Wilson, as somehow druggy. They certainly strike one as what can you say? Very hippie. The song has also been dubbed as the 'rural hippie anthem' and indeed follows that 'back to the garden' ideology. I probably first heard this in 1969 on a small handheld transistor radio my parents gave me, and their other big hit a year earlier. Canned Heat was named after Tommy Johnson's 1928, Canned Heat Blues. Though many of us assumed it was off of the sterno cans (Canned Heat) that could get you high. They are both a hippie and a biker band, harking back to before the music festival at Altamont Speedway when bikers and hippies got along. I've seen them play about 4 times, but only one of the original members is still alive, the drummer, and he wasn't even the original drummer. In the last concert I saw, part of it was a replay of their Woodstock set, accompanied by the joke anouncement to not take the brown acid...
SAMANTHA FISH Shake 'em On Down Samantha Fish is not only an incredible blues musician with a great voice, she is also quite hot...! After watching this video, recorded by the, Bluesbroad, of Samantha playing this song, I posted the following: 'I recently had a life changing experience, I watched Samantha Fish play, Shake 'em On Down, with a cigar box guitar. ...Ok, it wasn't life changing, but I did have to go out and buy a Cigar Box Guitar. I've seen them played before in concerts. I love the blues and I love slide guitar, so it's very strange that I didn't have one. It is so much fun to play. I have fun just playing it like this, or plugging it into an amp, as did Samantha Fish, and adding distortion. A lot of the old blues musicians used these. Especially since they tended to be dirt poor and couldn't afford a guitar, so they made these cigar box guitars themselves. A lot of the great guitarists who were grounded in the blues, such as Jimi Hendrix, played them. Two summers ago I was watching a blues band play a summer concert in the park, and the lead guitarist switched to a 3-string CBG. The guy next to me said, "What is that thing he's playing?! I love it!"' This song was originally written by, Bukka White in 1937, and I will post about that next (I'm sure you will find it interesting...). A number of people have played this, but Samantha Fish uses a 4 string cigar box guitar, and adds an extra note in the main riff, that is pretty cool. I bought a 3 string cigar box and quickly proved that you could do it on a 3 string just as easily (not to take away from her playing, but...) Cigar Box Guitars are are fairly unique. (Note to self: Don't tell anyone that my CBG was an easy to make kit that only cost $35 at Guitar Center. Also protect the mystique, and don't mention to anyone that you can learn to play Shake 'em On Down on YouTube and that they even show you how to play it the way Samantha Fish does it...)
BUKKA WHITE Shake Em On Down In my last post, in the video, Samantha Fish describes the song as, "...about, well, shakin' em on down." No one knows for sure what Bukka White meant by 'shake em on down,' when he wrote it in 1937, but he admitted to extorting money from hobos when he was freight hopping. This was the first song he recorded, and was done two weeks before he went to prison. But the song became a big hit and the prisoners and warden put their money together and bought him a guitar, and he was able to spend his time in prison practicing and performing for the prison, rather than hard labor. This 12-bar blues song has been done many times, and has had titles like Truck 'em On Down, Ride 'em On Down, or Break 'em On Down. But listen to this song, and you will probably recognize it---and if you can't place from where, it was in Led Zeppelin's song, Hats Off to (Roy) Harper, and also in Custard Pie. Another song Bukka White song, Parchman Farm, about his experience in prison, was redone by the the 60's acid rock band (and father of metal), Blue Cheer.
MICHAEL JUAN NUNEZ Pack My Bag Blues Here is a great blues song, and blues musician that many of you may not have heard of. Sadly, I don't know a way of posting YouTube links that you can just click on and listen, and it seems that you cant really copy paste the link. I've experimented with various ways of doing it, and nothing seems to work. If any of you know how I can do this, please let me know. There are 3 videos of this song that I would share, I will post them in the comments, and maybe if you search by title and musician, you can recognize them. The first video is about 4 minutes 10 seconds and has a picture of his hands on a guitar, and the name of the album, 'About to snap.' The second video is a live video from a club, where they are playing on stage. It is a bit different version where Nunez begins by playing a lone solo intro. And the last is a live video, which gives a better view of him playing his guitar and so forth which is what the picture I used for this post is from. In any event, it's a great song.
OTIS SPANN Temperature is Rising (100.2F) Here is a great slow-blues number by Otis Spann. There are many that consider him to be the best postwar Chicago blues pianist. Otis died in 1970 and was buried in an unmarked grave. 30 years later some fans put money together and bought him a gravestone. It is inscribed, 'Otis played the deepest blues we ever heard -- he'll play forever in our hearts.' Try putting this in the background when you eat dinner. Or to have Alexa play some great blues like this, ask Alexa to play Otis Spann. She pronounces it more like, Otis Shpawn
SCISSORMEN Mattie Sweet Mattie This one is a fun little ditty about a girl in jail, and the one who loves her has no money for bail. 'What possessed you to cut that girl?' This one has slide guitar, piano, and even some fiddle. Mattie apparently may be headed to Parchman Farm, we hear, which is the Mississippi State Penitentiary we mentioned in the post on Bukka White, and that Blue Cheer as well sang about, based on White's song.
TEN YEARS AFTER Good Morning Little Schoolgirl If you've seen the Woodstock Movie, which was recorded live at Woodstock, you've seen Alvin Lee and Ten Years After playing, I'm Going Home. They played some great rock blues. One of my favorites is, Hello Little School Girl, which was originally a song by Sonny Boy Williamson, which he recorded in 1937. The Ten Years After version, was first released, I believe, on their Ten Years After Recorded Live album, which was recorded at a concert in Frankfurt, and released in 1973. These two pictures are from a video of a concert at Winterland in '75. Leo Lyons, plays the bass so hard, it makes my hands hurt. Imagine the callouses on his hands, man. Alvin Lee always plays his iconic guitar, seen in the second picture, equally hard, and he was once voted as the fastest guitar player in history. Alvin starts out by sliding his guitar on the mic stand, and then comes the rocking riff that goes through out the song. The lyrics may not be so appropriate today. "Hello little school girl... Baby, I wanna ball you. Wanna ball you all night long..." But times were different in 1937, and songs weren't always as innocent as we think they should've been. Times were still different in 1973. And of course, love was free... And it was of the youth---so yeah, it could be a school boy singing...
HUMBLE PIE Blues I Believe to My Soul Speaking of Winterland, the 70's, great rock bands and so forth as I did in my last post, here is Humble Pie doing a great version of the Ray Charles song, I Believe to my Soul. Humble Pie gave it the title, Blues I Believe to my Soul. Humble Pie was formed by Peter Frampton and Steve Marriott. Marriott was on vocals, and I've heard people say Frampton was on guitar, but I believe he left by then and Clem Clempson was the guitarist. For example, in the video I suggest, recorded live at Winterland, a commenter said "Frampton just melts the guitar on this one"---he's right though, either Frampton or Clempson literally melt their guitar. The back up singers---listen to them---were the famous Blackberries: Venetta Fields, Clydie King, and Sherlie Matthews. They performed with Ike and Turner as the Ikettes, with Ray Charles as the Raettes, and other bands, as well as putting out their own album or two. (One of them carried my baby. Though my wife says that was in my dreams, but how can we really know, it was the 70's and, you know, a lot of memories and fantasies are foggy...) ...ok, who said they were old enough to be my mother? Quiet you! This is a great blues piece, about a man who heard his woman call out another man's name in her dreams. ('Ohhhhh, Charlie!' 'Well who the hell is Charlie, when you know my name is Steve...')
MISSION SOCIETY Sweet Thing What happens when you take a pin-up model, give her a good blues singing voice, and then a band? You get Moonshine Society. Pin-up model, Black Betty (Jenny Langer), heads up this band, and they don't disappoint. This is the title song of their album, Sweet Thing, and apparently this model doesn't want to be your sweet thing on the side. This band comes from Washington DC, and that is her on the cover. Yeah, she definitely would not be a side dish, and if a married man happened to fall in love with all that, well, the wife would very likely have to settle for the house, the kids, the car, and his savings, because the model would probably get the man. Just saying---I know how those things work...
One of my favorite groups. Notice their stage persona. No glamour, flash or pretense. Alan Wilson was a National Merit Scholarship winner, conservationist, slide guitarist and according to Mike Bloomfield, "the best goddamn harp player there is. He can do things that you've never heard before." ~1 Wilson also, at the request of John Hammond, retaught legendary bluesman Son House, who had fallen on hard times, "...how to play like Son House." Bob Hite was an avid blues enthusiast owning over 15,000 78 rpm recordings. Here's an interview with Hite. i don't have the time right now to comment on the others.
They were one of my favorites too, and still are. Ive seen them multiple times. There is another post on them coming up in a couple of posts.
SAM & DAVE Soul Man Soul Man was one of the biggest hits of the Blues Brothers, and was performed in their movie and even on Saturday Night Live (and I hope everyone younger knows that they (Belushi and Ackroyd) began as Not Ready for Prime Time Players on SNL). It was written in 1967 by Isaac Hayes and David Porter. And became a big hit when sung by Sam & Dave (Sam Moore and Dave Prater). Sam & Dave were big influences to the Blues Brothers and they paid many homages to Sam & Dave. When Soul Man was written, Isaac had heard that during the race riots in Detroit, if you wrote SOUL on the door of your business it would be spared in the riots. Soul was not really defined at the time, but it was a word that reflected unity among African-Americans and was used with pride. The song begins, 'Comin to ya on a dusty road...' and later says, 'I was brought up on a side street...' Isaac wanted to express that a man should not be defined by his humble beginnings. Sam & Dave brought a gospel influence to pop music and were big influences on soul and R&B. My one time in a black church was the funeral of my daughter's father-in-law. Damn the music was good, with plenty of familiar blues chord progressions! The Blues Brothers claimed they had a blues epiphany in the same kind of church, which was symbolized in their movie. (At the funeral I learned that this father-in-law was a music promoter in the 70's and a Black Panther in the 60's. Damn, I wished I had a chance to talk to him more!)
