ddw,

Don't get me wrong. I love the originators, I very rarely find myself listening to the modern guys these days. But I found Robert Johnson, Son House, Blind Willie McTell, Blind Willie Johnson, Lightnin' Hopkins, Mississippi through having heard the modern guys. When I first heard Johnny Winter doing Broke Down Engine on a National steel I realized that I had to find out where that came from. It's been a long road and from the looks of this thread one that I will never finish exploring. This thread started because a colleague of my Girlfriend's heard that I loved the blues and loaned her a few CD's for me to listen to. It is primarily modern stuff and it just got me thinking about some of the guys I've listened to before.

I think that both Pre-Muddy Waters electric and Post Muddy Waters electric are valid forms of the blues.