What Are Your Favorite Blues Albums

[jcmusic]

As the title says, I have been buying more Blues lately as I have enough Jazz for a lifetime. Just wondering what everyone else likes I want some new titles.

[Beaur]

Something Old: John Lee Hooker's Alone LPs on Tomato label. Awesome music and excellent recording.

Something New; Gary Clark Jr. Young guy electric blues but a fun ride.

Something Blue; Any of the artists from Fat Possum records. The George Mitchell Collection is a dive into the Delta. fatpossum.com

[mkuller]

I like Gary Clark Jr. but the fuzz on his guitar bothers me. A number of modern albums, like the Black Keys, use it too.

[MylesBAstor]

Here's five albums that immediately come to mind.

[Johnny Vinyl]

Some electric blues:

Jimi Hendrix - :blues
Muddy Waters & The Rolling Stones - Checkerboard Lounge
John Mayall - Jazz/Blues Fusion
Roy Buchanan - In the Beginning (US) Rescue Me(UK)

[mkuller]

My favorite Hendrix song is his version of "Red House" from his first album.

[nc42acc]

[Bruce B]

I like Johnny Lang and anything with Muddy Waters. Getting into Sonny Boy Williamson now....

[Johnny Vinyl]

I like Johnny Lang and anything with Muddy Waters. Getting into Sonny Boy Williamson now....

Great talent, but always wondered why he never broke bigger.

[Bruce B]

Great talent, but always wondered why he never broke bigger.

I saw him way back when he was first starting out around '99. Thought he would be a lot bigger too. Go figure....

[Dre_J]

Mississippi John Hurt - Today!


Big Bill Broonzy - Trouble in Mind [Smithsonian/Folkways]


Dre

[jcmusic]

Awesome start guys thanks, I have some Muddy, Lightnin, Hooker, and Vaughan already and some others.

[my2sons]

Here 3 blues albums I would highly recommend..

[MylesBAstor]

I like Johnny Lang and anything with Muddy Waters. Getting into Sonny Boy Williamson now....

Chad did a couple of good Sonny Boy.... Plus Chad did that whole series, some of them direct to disc of old, legendary blues artists just a couple of years ago.

[MylesBAstor]

Here's a few more albums that are in my LP collection that come highly recommended. The Otis Spann is OOP but can be had. Look for Chad's reissue though. Same goes for the Jimmy Weatherspoon. Have Chad's old reissue but he is reissuing it again in the new Prestige jazz series. I have the Memphis Slim and Lightnin' in New York City on tape and LP and they are really, really good. My only caution is the PP copy of Memphis Slim had some groove narrowing. The John Lee Hooker 45 rpm took me totally by surprise. Awesome music and sound!

[Bill Hart]

Myles, re your question on Chad's d2d, I have not. Are these recorded at his church when he does his blues festivals? Any recommendations?

[MylesBAstor]

I believe they were. Lot's of older blues artists that he brought in, suspect some for the Blues Festival Chad holds every year.

[Gusf]

Just picked up a mint reissue of this Freddie King album. Excellent music.

[Rust]

If any of you want to seriously get into blues and jazz roots you need to check out the below link . This is the single largest source of roots blues and jazz of which I am aware. Some of it came from single surviving examples of a record from collectors vaults. Some of it is as early as 1914 in the Edison series.

They have also started working with Jack White with his Third Man Productions for vinyl reissue. Admittedly some of the sound quality leaves a bit to be desired but what would you expect when trying to put out recordings up to a century old?

[Bill Hart]

Yep, on Devil Got My Woman, there are, I believe, only 4 copies extant and one or two are unplayable. Almost all the copies you hear in any form come from a single copy owned by a collector. John Fahey did a lot--and Revenant helped Jack White put the Paramount boxed sets together (they won a Grammy for their Charlie Patton collection, though it was only on CD). Yazoo had some good stuff, the label is back, but I'm not sure it is the same as the earlier stuff. The early blues is fascinating. Especially when you compare the popularized versions, e.g. Zep's When the Levee Breaks with the original, from Memphis Minnie. I don't have the wherewithal at this point to collect the original 78s, so I mainly buy later transcriptions on vinyl. You know that Paramount- home to a lot of the famous blues records- was really a furniture company that made phonograph players and signed artists and recorded them simply to have catalog to sell for their phono cabinets?

[Beaur]

Well if Third Man is going to release them I can't wait. I am on their subscription list and these old recordings will hopefully be a welcome addition no matter the format.

[JCOConnell]

Crossroads, original soundtrack album
Music by Ry Cooder

[Johnny Vinyl]

Love that album. I have it on LP and CD. Had "The Duel" been on it I would have said great!

[Gusf]

Really enjoyed the movie. Excellent soundtrack.