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Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help
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Subject: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: GUEST,Jonathan Swift Date: 26 Mar 06 - 10:42 PM So I saw Robert Johnson's "King of the Delta Blues" for a good price at a used music store around town. Picked it up, listened to it, really started digging it. I went online and found Memphis Slim who I also liked and currently have a CD of him on its way to my house via Amazon. I just need help from folks to find good artists. Knowing I like Johnson and Slim, what artists would you recommend? Also, where is a good place to go online to listen to blues music...whether it be new, old, signed, or independent. I'd like to hear some newer blues if possible. Thanks for the help! |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: GUEST,M.Ted Date: 27 Mar 06 - 12:50 AM Charlie Patton, Son House, Muddy Waters, Elmore James, Howlin'Wolf, to name a few--Basically, you want to hear Delta Blues, and Chicago Blues, which is electric blues by guys that moved north from the Delta. But it's all good. |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: JohnInKansas Date: 27 Mar 06 - 01:27 AM Click on the "Mudcat Cafe" name at the top of any page here, and you'll go to the real front page for the Mudcat Cafe. You'll find several links there to blues - since Max originally created Mudcat to be a blues site. (click "Lyrics and Knowledge" to get back to the threads.) John |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: Purple Foxx Date: 27 Mar 06 - 01:55 AM I would also add the often overlooked Robert Petway to M.Ted's excellent list. |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: GUEST Date: 27 Mar 06 - 10:38 AM Jimmy Reed (singer and blues harpist), who I think doesn't get much deserved notice from the blues aficionados here on this site (big influence on the Stones, according to Mick and Keith)... and Buddy Guy ... the late Roy Buchanon (spelling may not be right on the last name) ... T-Bone Walker ... Etta James for sultry blues singing ... |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: wysiwyg Date: 27 Mar 06 - 10:41 AM Don't take this wrong-- I didn't title the book/CD: Blues for Dummies ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: Ebbie Date: 27 Mar 06 - 12:20 PM Have a listen to our own Bobert, Guest J.S. He does Delta blues, including Robert Johnson and Son House among many others. He has a new CD out, called '13 Shades of Blues'. If you join us a member (it's easy, free and safe) you can PM him. Although my guess is that he will see this thread very soon. The man loves blues. |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: Jonathan Swift Date: 27 Mar 06 - 04:16 PM "Don't take this wrong-- I didn't title the book/CD: Blues for Dummies ~Susan" Thanks for the link. And I don't care if you're calling me a dummy...we all gotta start somewhere. ;) "Have a listen to our own Bobert, Guest J.S. He does Delta blues, including Robert Johnson and Son House among many others. He has a new CD out, called '13 Shades of Blues'. If you join us a member (it's easy, free and safe) you can PM him. Although my guess is that he will see this thread very soon. The man loves blues." Cool, I hope to hear from him soon. I just signed up, so maybe I can get in touch with him sometime. |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: Wesley S Date: 27 Mar 06 - 05:59 PM Jonathan - Welcome. There are several different kinds of blues. I like delta blues { Son House ect } but I LOVE Piedmont blues - check out Mississippi John Hurt sometime. There are other websites that deal with blues more than the Mudcat by the way. So check out all of the different styles. Some you'll like - some you won't. Where do you live ? Is there a live blues scene you can check into ? |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: Leadfingers Date: 27 Mar 06 - 06:28 PM Tweed (long time Catter) has a blues site - PM him for info - and there is a Blues Forum at - http://blindman.forumhoster.com/ - if you are interested . And I have been playing Blues Whistle since 1965 ! |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: Azizi Date: 27 Mar 06 - 06:32 PM Welcome to Mudcat, Jonathan Swift! I joined this community a little over a year and a half ago, and also started a thread seeking information on the Blues. That thread is Feelin The Blues . That thread may be of some interest to you. Share, Learn, Enjoy! Azizi |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: bobad Date: 27 Mar 06 - 06:45 PM This is a link to some old time blues recorded in the field by John and Ruby Lomax in the 1930's. Look around in this site, The Library of Congress, it is a treasure trove of Americana. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/S?ammem/lomaxbib:@field(SUBJ+@od1(Blues+songs)) |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: Amos Date: 27 Mar 06 - 07:01 PM My own immersion in the blues began with Bill Broonzy, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, and Bessie Smith. I recommend them all whole-heartedly. A |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: wysiwyg Date: 27 Mar 06 - 07:11 PM Welcome to Mudcat, Mr. Swift! ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: Kaleea Date: 27 Mar 06 - 07:55 PM When I was still working, some fellers in the office played some alleged "blues" recording which sounded like acid rock to me. The kids were flabbergasted when I told them that blues was invented by musicians who did not have electric instruments. I played for them some of my recordings which I had taped from 78's & LP's. Some were even-dare I mention it-not even guitar! They had never heard anything close to Blues befoe. One kid was in a "Blues band." He had his band learn several songs. I had to teach the guitar riffs & some of the progressions to him, & the piano parts to the keyboard player. They performed them at the local Blues Crawl contest & won the top honor. |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: GUEST,khandu Date: 27 Mar 06 - 08:12 PM And, meaning no disrespect to this very knowledgeable forum, I would also recommend Tweedsburg, a pitiful excuse for a website, but some rather smart blues lovers abide there. ken |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: GUEST,Penguin Egg Date: 27 Mar 06 - 08:56 PM Probably the best thing to do is buy a compilation CD with all the major names-elmore james, muddy waters, et al- and decide for yourself who you want to check out. That is how I did it all those years ago when I was a mere slip of a lad. |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: Jonathan Swift Date: 27 Mar 06 - 09:18 PM "Where do you live ? Is there a live blues scene you can check into ?" I live in South Carolina...close to the border to North Carolina, and I'm not sure. I've been wanting to check out some live blues for a while now, but haven't been able to locate anywhere really close. And I appreciate everyone's help. "Blues" is a very large genre, and starting out is a bit overwhelming to even a college student. |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: wysiwyg Date: 27 Mar 06 - 09:20 PM JS, I believe the thread Azizi linked for you a few posts back had links in it to some online blues radio-- good place to start for free. ~Susan |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: Bobert Date: 27 Mar 06 - 09:24 PM Yeah, go on over to tweeds and we'll talk there... BTW, go to CD Baby and listen to some of my stuff then get out yer credit card an order a couple hundred copies of "13 Shades of Blues"... Thank you for yer support... Bobert (Alias "Sidewalk Bob" @ CD Baby) |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: open mike Date: 27 Mar 06 - 09:36 PM i would second the recommendation to chck out Mississippi John Hurt. A trio of musicians who admire his music have put together a recording (and a tour) called Avalon blues. Chris Smither, Peter Case, and Dave Alvin are this trio. in order to play blues most often the "12 bar blues" pattern is used. In order to learn which chords to play, you must first find the foundation chord -- the one which denotes which key the song is in. this is number one -- or l (roman numeral one) using the circle of fifths, you determine which chords are the 4 (IV) and 5 (V) chords. for instance in the key of A , A=I, D=4, and E=5 I, I, IV, I, V, IV, I somehow that is only 7 bars, so now i really have the blues cuz i can't count to twelve...i am sure there is a place where you can get the information blues are often in teh key of E... |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: Ebbie Date: 27 Mar 06 - 09:47 PM Often in the key of E- or in some kind of arcane tuning very few people know. Hey, Bobert! |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: GUEST,.gargoyle Date: 27 Mar 06 - 09:48 PM Welcome to the MudCat (sorry to see you took the "membership bait")
Congradulations on finding the BLUES - you are in for a lifetime of education and FUN...it is a broad field...from slide-guitar to slut-house-whore.
I am a MudCat "troll." I know nothing and remain a GUEST. Be CAREFUL of MC "members" with animal-names, because some of What-You-Sea - Indoubtably Will Make You Gag....In otherwords, this place (once an American Folk haven) now abounds in menopausal women - and imbecilical UK inbreds....
As you discover the BLUES - affectionados on other boards send them over to the MC to the tip the balance....perhaps, we can, together, make this once again a HOME FOR THE BLUES.
Sincerely,
For "stride-piano" type blues I recommend heros of the Harlem Renaissance:
Donald Lambert |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: Bobert Date: 27 Mar 06 - 10:01 PM Okay, yeah, lotta stuff is in E but lotta stuff in A or G or D.... C tunin's is "C"hick tunings... Might of fact I had never palying no open C stuff until I got into a battle of the bluesmen and it was 'bout 2 o'clock in the mornin' an' iot was between me and one of the instructors and he borrowed my Stell bodied reso and stuck it in open C... He was trying to mess me up... Well open C is like E but everything just kinda does a shift and so I did "Rollin' and Tumblin" in C... But now, JS, you go on over to Tweeds and check out the thread about my new CD and if you pay attention and read it real good yer gonna get turned on to the baddest open tuning I have ever come onto which I learnt from listening night aferr night to a 1949 recording by John Lee Hooker... BTW, you barely scratched the surface here, my frined... Wait until you hear Mississippi Fred McDowell and RL Burnside and Lightnin' Hopkins and Blind Lemon, etc.... Bobert |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: Jonathan Swift Date: 27 Mar 06 - 10:11 PM What forum is your CD post in? There are several of them. |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: Bobert Date: 27 Mar 06 - 10:51 PM JS, Just go on over to Tweedsblues... ... 'er to CD Baby and check out "Sidewalk Bob" (me)... 'er better yet, do both... Bobert (alias Sidewalk Bob) |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: Jonathan Swift Date: 27 Mar 06 - 11:02 PM Found you on CD Baby. You sound good and there's a lot of other good stuff on the site. Thanks for the recommendation. |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: KT Date: 28 Mar 06 - 02:05 AM Welcome, Jonathan! Glad you found Bobert. He's a blues man all right . And a good one, too. I taught him everything he knows about blues. (Ain't that so, Bobert? I need a copy of that CD! I'll be sending a PM!) |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: GUEST Date: 28 Mar 06 - 04:47 AM Open Mike: I/// I/// I/// I7/// IV/// IV/// I/// I/// V7/// IV/// I/// V7/// Stu |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: Big Al Whittle Date: 28 Mar 06 - 05:01 AM I always had an affection for the Koerner , Ray and Glover. They did two albums Bues Rags and Hollers 1 and 2, and I thought they were very talented. Like Bobert said Lightnin Hopkins is a great place to start. What he did was so simple, but in a way so unpredictable. He could really play ingeniously. |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: GUEST,Gadaffi Date: 28 Mar 06 - 06:57 AM If you're British, then certainly tune in to Paul Jones's rhythm & blues programme on BBC Radio 2 on Thursday nights at 8 p.m. I've also been able to buy good cheap copies of key electric bands from the 1960s who are well worth listening to, e.g. The Animals, Spencer Davis Group, John Mayall, Booker T, etc. Until you hear Bo Diddley, you cannot grasp what an influence he was on the early Rolling Stones until Jagger and Richard started writing their own songs. |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: Big Al Whittle Date: 28 Mar 06 - 09:22 AM there used to be these wonderful Chess compilations when I was a kid. you don't see them anymore. They had First Time I met the blues - Buddy Guy Roadrunner- Bo Diddley Fattening Frogs for Snakes - Sonny Boy Williamson Smokestack lightning- Howling wolf walking the boogie - John Lee Hooker Reconsider - Lowell Fulson got my Mojo workin' - Muddy Waters |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: GUEST,me Date: 28 Mar 06 - 09:54 AM Love the title of this thread - there's help out there, don't despair - find someone to talk to, your clergyman, a friend or relative, call a helpline; you'll get through this ... |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: Wesley S Date: 28 Mar 06 - 01:16 PM Here is a website I found recently that is devoted to acoustic prewar blues. http://weeniecampbell.com/mambo/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=83 By the way - the Carolinas are at the heart of the Piedmont blues. |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: Ebbie Date: 28 Mar 06 - 01:36 PM "affectionados" Gargoyle It may not be a word, gg, but I like it. |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: GUEST,Fred McCormick Date: 28 Mar 06 - 01:59 PM I've been racking my brains trying to think of a largish introductory blues anthology, and I just can't. There are plenty of cheapo labels about though and I would particularly recommend Indigo and Catfish if they are still in existence. Otherwise, a good way of getting to grips with the idiom is to listen to The Dick Spottswood Show on Station WAMU, Washington DC. You can pick it anytime via the station's Listen Again facility on http://www.wamu.org/ The programme covers the whole gamut of race, country and ethnic music which was issued on 78 records from the 1920s through to the late 1950s. So there isn't actually all that much blues on it. However, Spottswood is a world renowned authority in this area and it's the best way I know of understanding the blues in relation to all the other music that was being played and recorded in the American south. Cheers, Fred McCormick |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: GUEST,Hootenanny Date: 28 Mar 06 - 03:12 PM Would have to agree with Gargoyle above,that there is much crapola on these mudcat threads and a few informative and interesting ones. That is why I also only remain a guest. Some of the above reccomendations are not bluesmen (or women) but people who play and try and sing the blues. Sadly the real live Bluesman is almost a thing of the past. I would suggest that you try some of the cheap compilations which are around particularly on the JSP label (an English label it's true but then it was us that taught you guys across the pond to appreciate the treasure that you once had there) JSP do 4/5 cd box sets at a very good price and if you don't like what you get you won't have thrown away a lot of money. There is a mail order company over here called Red Lick Records, it's on the web and their stock and service is excellent. That's the place to go for all things BLUES. Don't be suckered into buying from the opportunistic pretenders pushing their own discs, listen to the real thing first. I guess Robert Johnsosn was a good intro. I hope you enjoy the voyage of discovery as much as I did. Hoot |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: Wesley S Date: 28 Mar 06 - 03:22 PM Hoot - Please oh PLEASE tell us who gets your vote as a real bluesman vs a pretender. Those boxed sets are a good deal. I've got the Blind Boy Fuller set, the Carter family, Gus Cannon's Jug Stompers, and a Jimmie Rogers set. Good stuff for a good price. |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: Elmer Fudd Date: 28 Mar 06 - 05:01 PM Check out this website: http://www.chicagobluesreunion.com/ There's a little link on left-hand side of the home page (skip the introduction to get to it) that is marked in pink that says "Check out the CBR Audio Player" to hear some songs by this group of terrific electric Chicago-style blues musicians and singers who have been around for a long time, and have gotten together to record and tour this year. Elmer |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: Elmer Fudd Date: 28 Mar 06 - 05:02 PM Dang, I tried to make a blue clicky of that website--if a clone could kindly do what I failed to do in the above post, I'd me grateful. E. |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: GUEST Date: 28 Mar 06 - 06:06 PM try here |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: GUEST Date: 28 Mar 06 - 11:04 PM imbecilical Now there is another Gargoyle word that says a lot. Read some of the Mudcat threads from 1998 to 2001 for additional suggestions on original roots. Type in Blues and set the dates in the Advanced Search area. |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: Scoville Date: 29 Mar 06 - 10:28 AM I started on Brownie McGhee, whom somebody already mentioned. My father loves Bessie Smith, and I recently got him some Ma Rainey. We're big fans here of Etta Baker and Elizabeth Cotten, who are more what I think is called Piedmont blues--sort of an early blues/country combination. Whether you like the style or not, Etta in particular was (is?) an amazing guitarist and worth a listen. I also like Mance Lipscomb but he's very primitive and not as purely blues as a lot of people would like. |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: Scoville Date: 29 Mar 06 - 10:30 AM And if you want modern stuff, Paul Geremia and Chris Thomas King (the kid from O Brother! Where Art Thou?) are both good, although King is too electrified for me. |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: GUEST,Wesley S Date: 29 Mar 06 - 08:20 PM Paul Geremia does some great stuff. I have one of his CD's and another on order. Steve James, John Hammond and Paul Rishell with Annie Raines are all worth a listen. And Geoff Muldaur is in a class of his own. |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: GUEST,van lingle Date: 29 Mar 06 - 10:08 PM Compilations or sampler CD's ain't a bad way to go because otherwise you might miss some great artists whose didn't record much like Blind Joe Reynolds, Tommy Johnson, Willie Walker, the several Willie Browns and quite a few others. Columbia Masters of the Blues series and various Blue Goose anthologies might be a good place to start. vl |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: GUEST,Hootenanny Date: 30 Mar 06 - 01:08 PM Somebody above wanted to know who I meant by "pretenders". The reccomendations made by Wesley S are exactly the sort of musician I mean. I do not knock their musicianship and entertainment value and I am sure that many, many people enjoy what they do. However if somebody has just got fired up about blues by listening to Robert Kohnson & Memphis Slim it would appear that he is interested in the real thing. Virtually everything recorded by the blues masters over the years since the twenties is now pretty easily available much of it on reasonably priced compliations. Listen to some of these and then make your choice. The Yazoo catalogue (which is not a cheapo label) has a huge amount of top- notch pre-war material from which to chose, people like Frank Stokes, Furry Lewis, Blind Blake, Bill Broonzy etc etc. So I would say the way to go is as suggested by van lingle FINALLY before any abuse comes, I repeat I AM NOT KOCKING the worth of those guys mentioned by Wesley S (well not all), just pointing out the fact that they are not the original article. Hope you find what you are looking for, it's all out there. Hoot |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: Lonesome EJ Date: 30 Mar 06 - 05:10 PM Don't forget the two Sonny Boy Williamsons(Sonny Boy the First and Rice Davis) if you dig good blues harp. Blind Willie Johnson if you want to get a grip on some blues that gets away from the 12 bar format. |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: GUEST,Hootenanny Date: 31 Mar 06 - 06:26 AM Hey Lonesome EJ am I being a nit-picker ? you mean Aleck "Rice" Miller don't you ? Couldn't agree more with your choices though. There is so much that is essential and enjoyable listening that would take for ever to list them all. Hoot |
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Subject: RE: Just Getting Into Blues - Need Help From: Bobert Date: 31 Mar 06 - 07:14 AM Well, not to be nit-pickin' myself but, hey, music is evolutionary in nature and defining the birth of blues by what was recorded when recording became possible is a tad narrow... I mean, the Blind Lemon's and Willie Brown's didn't just "wake up one morning" and think, "Hey, I'm going to invent a new sound today"... They heard it somewhere just at the Elmore James and Lightnin' Hopkins heard it from them and added their take, just as the Skip James's and the Sidewalk Bob's heard it and added their take... "Pretenders", irregardless of how innoncent it was meant to be, is not the right word, especially for those of us who take what has been passed down and put our own interpratations on it... Like I said, Lemon Jefferson heard it somewhere.... End of nit-pickin'... Bobert p.s. And thankee, KT, fir leranin' me up this stuff... You are a dear... Maybe next year you'll let be play in yer band... LOL... |
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